David Borrow

David Borrow MP
Member of Parliament for South Ribble
In office 1 May 1997 – 6 May 2010
Preceded by	Sir Robert Atkins
Succeeded by	Lorraine Fullbrook
Personal details
Born	2 August 1952 (1952-08-02) (age 59) Huddersfield
Nationality	English
Political party	Labour
Domestic partner	John Garland
Alma mater	Coventry University

David Stanley Borrow (born 2 August 1952) is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for South Ribble from 1997 to 2010.

Education

Born in Huddersfield, David Borrow was educated at Mirfield Grammar School and the Lanchester Polytechnic (now Coventry University) where he was awarded a degree in economics.

Political career

He joined the Labour Party in 1970 aged 18, and in 1973 he became a trainee at the Yorkshire Bank. He was appointed as an assistant clerk at the Lancashire Valuations Tribunal in 1975, being promoted to Deputy Clerk in 1978. He was the Deputy Clerk to the Manchester South Valuations Tribunal in 1981, before becoming the Clerk to The Tribunal at the Merseyside Valuations Tribunal in 1983. David Borrow was elected as a councillor to the Preston Borough Council in 1987, and was the council leader between 1992 and 1994, and again from 1995 until his election to Westminster. He stood down from the council in 1998.

He contested the parliamentary seat of Wyre at the 1992 General Election and he finished second 11,664 votes behind the Conservative MP Keith Mans. At the 1997 General Election David Borrow contested South Ribble, the seat of the former Conservative minister Robert Atkins. Borrow was selected to fight the seat at the last minute after the previous candidate fell ill. South Ribble was one of the many seats which was won by Labour in 1997, and David Borrow was elected to serve as the Labour Member of Parliament for the South Ribble constituency with a majority of 5,084, and held the seat until 2010. He made his maiden speech on 3 July 1997.

He joined the Agriculture Select Committee in 1999, and after the 2001 General Election he joined the newly formed Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee. In 2003 he became the Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to the Minister of State at the Department for Transport Kim Howells, and remained so when his boss moved sideways to the Department for Education and Skills in 2004. He did not remain as Howells's PPS after the 2005 General Election.

He was formerly a member of the Defence Select Committee.

MP's expenses Row

In 2007/2008 David Borrow claimed £172,706 – the eighth highest claim.^[1] David Borrow justified his expenses:

"If people write to me or email me and ask me to do something, if the money is there for me to do the job then I ought to claim it rather than say 'I can't answer your letters'."

However despite spending over £19,000 in 2007/8 on communications it took 2 or 3 weeks to reply to a low number of messages sent via WriteToThem.com during 2007, according to constituents.

The expense forms submitted by David Borrow consistently and regularly submitted the same maximum unreceipted values allowed for items such as food or services. The receipts published by the Commons Authorities,^[2] do not publish details of the items making up these claims so it is impossible to determine if he legitimately spent this money or made a profit from his expense claims.

Despite regularly submitting claims for £2144.75 in 2007/2008^[3] Mr Borrow made the same mistake of adding an extra £30 to his claims five times before it was corrected.

David Borrow has not offered to repay any of his expenses.^[4]

Personal life

Borrow is an openly gay man who has lived with his boyfriend, John Garland, for many years. He came out publicly in 1998 in order to be able to speak honestly during the age of consent campaign and raise issues that are important to all lesbians and gay men. He also contributed articles to the gay rights magazine Outcast.

He entered into a civil partnership with his boyfriend in May 2006, the first MP to do so.^[5]

Footnotes

1. ^ Hookham, Mark (2009-05-13). "Lancs MPs expenses revealed". Lancashire Evening Post. http://www.lep.co.uk/news/Lancs-MPs-expenses-revealed.5123211.jp. Retrieved 2009-05-13. 
2. ^ http://mpsallowances.parliament.uk/mpslordsandoffices/hocallowances/allowances-by-mp/david-borrow/
3. ^ http://mpsallowances.parliament.uk/mpslordsandoffices/hocallowances/allowances-by-mp/david-borrow/david_borrow_0708_ACA.pdf
4. ^ "Who's repaying expenses?". BBC News. 2009-05-14. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8050351.stm. Retrieved 2010-05-01. 
5. ^ Shoffman, Marc (2006-05-08). "Lancashire politician becomes first MP to have gay marriage". Pink News. http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-1402.html. Retrieved 2008-04-23. 

External links

• ePolitix - David Borrow official site
• Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: David Borrow MP
• TheyWorkForYou.com - David Borrow MP
• David Borrow's voting record

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Robert Atkins	Member for South Ribble 1997 - 2010	Succeeded by Lorraine Fullbrook

Persondata
Name	Borrow, David
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1952-08-02
Place of birth	Huddersfield
Date of death
Place of death