Geoffrey Lofthouse, Baron Lofthouse of Pontefract

Geoffrey Lofthouse, Baron Lofthouse of Pontefract, JP, (born 18 December 1925, Featherstone), popularly known in his former constituency as Geoff Lofthouse, is a British Labour politician.

Early life

He was born to Ernest Lofthouse, a farm labourer in Micklefield, and Emma Fellows. His father died at the age of 35 when he was four. At the age of 14, he went down the pit at Ackton Hall Colliery in Featherstone. At the age of 29, he was the President of the local branch of the NUM. He went to the University of Leeds, gaining a BA in Political Studies in 1957, when he was 32. In 1962, he became a councillor on Pontefract Borough Council. He was mayor of Pontefract in 1967, and leader of the council from 1969-73.

Parliamentary career

He was MP for Pontefract and Castleford from a 1978 by-election until his retirement at the 1997 general election, when he was given a life peerage as Baron Lofthouse of Pontefract, of Pontefract in the County of West Yorkshire. In the House of Commons, he served as First Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons and First Deputy Chairman of Ways and Means (the Speaker at the time was Betty Boothroyd).

He became a Peer on 11 June 1997.

Publications

His autobiography "A Very Miner MP" is available from a local publisher, Yorkshire Art Circus. The title is an obvious pun on Lord Lofthouse's background as a coal miner and colliery manager.

As well as covering much of Lofthouse's time as an MP, the book also provides an insight on local politics in Pontefract and the Wakefield district in the 1960s and 1970s. Lofthouse was a Labour councillor and union official in an area of the country which was and still is dominated politically by the Labour Party to a unique degree. Lofthouse's readable account points to the peculiar social and cultural factors which bring about such a situation and the political machinations which support it and were typical of that era in politics.

Personal life

He married Sarah when he was 20, and they had a daughter. His wife did not like him being an MP.

References

* "Times Guide to the House of Commons", Times Newspapers Limited, 1992 and 1997 editions.
*

External links

* [http://www.ety2004.co.uk/Wakefield07/54-56.html Wakefield Education Yearbook 2004]