- Dave Nellist
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Dave Nellist Coventry City Council
St Michaels WardIncumbent Assumed office
7 May 1998
Serving with- Jim O'Boyle (Labour)
David Welsh (Labour)
Majority 307 (9.08%) Member of Parliament
for Coventry South EastIn office
9 June 1983 – 9 April 1992Preceded by William Wilson Succeeded by Jim Cunningham Majority 6,653 (17.57%) Personal details Born 16 July 1952
Cleveland, EnglandNationality British Political party Socialist Party (1997-present)
Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (2009-present)Other political
affiliationsLabour (until 1991) Spouse(s) Jane Warner (Wife) Children 1 son- Dave Nellist Jr, 3 daughters- Charlotte Nellist, Clara Nellist David John Nellist (born 16 July 1952) is a British Trotskyist activist and former Labour Member of Parliament (MP) for the now abolished constituency of Coventry South East. He is a member of the Socialist Party of England and Wales and a sitting councillor in Coventry as well as formerly being an active member of the Amicus trade union and is now active in Unite the Union since Amicus merged with the Transport and General Workers' Union.
Contents
Political career
From 1982-86, Nellist was a Labour councillor for Coventry on West Midlands County Council.
Member of Parliament
A long-standing supporter of the Militant tendency, Nellist was the MP for Coventry South East from 1983 to 1992. He was known for his standing as a "workers' MP on a worker's wage", taking only the wage of a skilled factory worker, which amounted to 40% of what he could have earned and what other MPs took for themselves. The rest he donated back to the Labour movement and to charities.
When Tony Blair was first elected to Parliament in 1983, it was intended that he would share an office with Nellist at the Palace of Westminster. The duo's differing political views were considered not to make for the most harmonious working environment, so Blair was quickly allocated office space with another newly-elected Labour MP – Gordon Brown,[1] a friendship which would lead to the creation of New Labour and the party's ideological shift away from the labour movement towards the so-called 'third way'.
Deselection
As one of three MPs associated with Militant, Nellist became a target for the majority element around Neil Kinnock within the Labour Party. After a National Executive Committee meeting in December 1991, he was expelled from the Labour Party and deselected as a candidate for the 1992 general election. Shortly before his expulsion, he had still been awarded the "Backbencher of the Year" prize by the conservative Spectator magazine.[2]
Nellist fought to keep his position, and obtained the support of his Constituency party (which was subsequently suspended by the National Executive Committee) and a number of local trade unions.[3] Standing as an Independent Labour candidate in the elections, he narrowly lost his old seat to the new Labour Party candidate Jim Cunningham. Cunningham received 11,902 votes, Conservative Party candidate Martine Hyams 10,591, and Dave Nellist 10,551, or 28.9% of the vote.[4][5]
Socialist Party and Socialist Alliance
Nellist followed the majority of Militant in founding what became the Socialist Party (not to be confused with the Socialist Party of Great Britain). Due to registration requirements, the party uses the name "Socialist Alternative" on ballot papers. Instead of running candidates independently, however, the party has played a leading role in several political coalitions, most notably the Socialist Alliance in the 1990s.
Nellist was a prominent figure in organising the Socialist Alliance, locally and across the UK, as a loose formation of individuals and groups from the Socialist tradition working together electorally. He became the Chair of the Socialist Alliance, but resigned in 2001, in protest of what the Socialist Party saw as manouverings of the Socialist Workers Party to take control of the Alliance. He is one of the leading figures in the Campaign for a New Workers' Party in Britain, which is a Socialist Party sponsored campaign to create a new party to represent the working class in the UK.
Nellist has run for Member of Parliament in every general election since his deselection by the Labour Party and subsequent narrow defeat in the 1992 elections. In 1997, he ran in the Coventry South constituency, and received 3,262 votes (6.5%). In 2001 and 2005, he ran in the Coventry North East constituency. In 2001, he received 2,638 votes (7.1%). In 2005, he received 1,874 votes (5.0%).
City Councillor in Coventry
In 1998, Nellist was elected as a City Councillor in the Coventry City Council for St Michael's ward, where he was reelected in 2004 and again in 2008, with an increased majority, when he received 48.6% of the vote.[6][7] By 2006, when Rob Windsor was elected, the Socialist Party had won all three of St. Michael's seats.[8] However, Nellist's Socialist colleagues were defeated in the local elections of 2007 and 2010, respectively,[9][10] and now Nellist is again the only Socialist Councillor representing St Michael's ward.
No to the EU – Yes to Democracy
Nellist stood as a No2EU - Yes to Democracy candidate in the 2009 European election in the West Midlands Region of England gaining 13,415 votes (0.9%).[11] No2EU takes a socialist, trade union and alter-globalisation Eurosceptic stance from a workers' perspective.
Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC)
After the 2009 European elections, Nellist played a leading role in the formation of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC), of which he is interim leader. The coalition is composed of his own Socialist Party of England and Wales, Socialist Resistance, the Socialist Workers Party and Solidarity, and is endorsed by Bob Crow, General Secretary of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers, Brian Caton, General Secretary of the Prison Officers' Association and Chris Baugh, Assistant General Secretary of Public and Commercial Services Union. Considering the overlap in constituent parties, TUSC is seen as a successor to the Socialist Alliance and the No to EU – Yes to Democracy alliance.
Nellist stood as a candidate for TUSC in the 2010 general elections in the constituency Coventry North East, although he stood under the label Socialist Alternative.[12] Running against the incumbent MP, the Labour government's Secretary of State for Defence Bob Ainsworth, he received 1,592 votes (3.7%) losing his deposit for the first time in a Westminster constituency.
Personal life
In August 1984, Nellist married Jane Warner in North Yorkshire. They have one son (born May 1989) and three daughters (including two born November 1985 and May 1987). From 1992-7, he worked in Welfare Rights for Robert Zara Ltd solicitors in Coventry. Since 1997, he has worked as a Case Worker for the Citizens Advice Bureau.
Elections contested
UK Parliament elections
Date of election Constituency Party Votes % Results 1983 Coventry South East Labour 15,307 41.09 Elected 1987 Coventry South East Labour 17,969 47.46 Elected 1992 Coventry South East Ind. Labour 10,551 28.88 Not elected 1997 Coventry South SA 3,262 6.5 Not elected 2001 Coventry North East SA 2,638 7.1 Not elected 2005 Coventry North East SA 1,874 5.04 Not elected 2010 Coventry North East TUSC 1,592 3.7 Not elected European elections
Date of election Constituency Party Votes % Results Notes 1999 West Midlands SA 7,203 0.8 Not elected Multi member constituencies; party list 2009 West Midlands NO2EU 13,415 1.0 Not elected Multi member constituencies; party list References
- ^ O'Farrell, John, Things Can Only Get Better: Eighteen Miserable Years in the Life of a Labour Supporter (1997)
- ^ The Rise of Militant: Militant's 30 Years 1964-1994, by Peter Taaffe
- ^ [1]
- ^ Taaffe, Peter, The Rise of Militant (Chapter 47 - 1992 General Election)
- ^ [2]
- ^ Socialist Party: Coventry Election Campaigns
- ^ Coventry City Council: Local election results 2008
- ^ Coventry City Council: Local election results 2006
- ^ Coventry City Council: Local election results 2007
- ^ Coventry City Council: 2010 election results for St. Michael's Ward
- ^ "European Election 2009: West Midlands". BBC News Online. 2009-06-08. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/elections/euro/09/html/ukregion_37.stm. Retrieved 2009-06-12.
- ^ Coventry City Council: Parliamentary Election Results, Coventry North East
External links
- Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Dave Nellist
- Coventry City Council
- Ask Aristotle
- Socialist Alternative Article on Nellist's 1992 election campaign
- Socialist Party website Coventry page
- No 2 EU Party
- Dave Nellist's Facebook (politician page)
Parliament of the United Kingdom Preceded by
Bill WilsonMember of Parliament for Coventry South East
1983–1992Succeeded by
Jim CunninghamCategories:- 1952 births
- Living people
- British Trotskyists
- Committee for a Workers' International
- English communists
- Labour Party (UK) MPs
- Members of the United Kingdom Parliament for English constituencies
- Militant tendency supporters
- UK MPs 1983–1987
- UK MPs 1987–1992
- People from North Yorkshire
- Socialist Party (England and Wales) members
- Coventry City Councillors
- Councillors in the West Midlands (county)
- Jim O'Boyle (Labour)
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