Andrew Dismore

Andrew Hartley Dismore (born 2 September 1954) is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of the London Assembly for Barnet and Camden since 2012, and was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Hendon from 1997 until 2010.

Early life

Dismore was born in Bridlington, Yorkshire, the son of a hotelier. He was educated at Bridlington Grammar School before attending the University of Warwick, where he received a LLB in 1975, and the London School of Economics, where he was awarded his LLM in 1976. He graduated from The College of Law in 1978.

Professional life

Dismore joined the Labour Party in 1974. After a brief time during his studies when he worked as an education officer with the General, Municipal, Boilermakers and Allied Trade Union, he began his professional career as a partner with Robin Thompson and Partners Solicitors in 1978. He became a partner in the firm Russell Jones & Walker Solicitors in 1995.

He was elected as a councillor in the City of Westminster in 1982, becoming the Labour group leader in 1990. During his time there, he led the criticism of Shirley Porter and the so-called "homes for votes" scandal.

Member of Parliament

He was elected to the House of Commons at the 1997 general election for the new seat of Hendon, defeating John Gorst, the sitting Conservative MP for the former constituency of Hendon North, by 6,155 votes. He made his maiden speech on 6 June 1997, in which he criticised the government of John Major for closing the Edgware general hospital.^[1] He became a member of the Social Security select committee in 1998, and after the 2001 general election its replacement, the Work and Pensions Select Committee, on which he remained until 2005. He has been a member of the Standards and Privileges Select Committee since 2001, and has also been a member of the Human Rights and Liaison committees since 2005.

Dismore asked Tony Blair a parliamentary question about Holocaust memorial and education, and received a written answer on 10 June 1999. This led to the establishment of Holocaust Memorial Day in the UK.^[2] He set the 21st century record for a filibuster in the House of Commons^[3] by talking for 197 minutes during the debate of the Criminal Law (Amendment) (Protection of Property) Bill,^[4] a Private Members Bill which would have enshrined greater protection for householders who confront home invaders, citing that it amounted to "vigilante law".

In the 2010 general election Andrew Dismore lost his seat by 103 (0.2%) votes to Conservative candidate and former Hendon ward councillor Matthew Offord. In his losing speech Dismore accused Offord of "mud-slinging" and “name calling” and being disrespectful to his long term partner. He also stated that “This has not been a clean fight, in my view it's been a pretty dirty campaign. It's my eighth public election and I have never seen such a barrage of personal slurs and lies in this campaign."^[5] He is currently attempting to legally challenge the result of the election as he blamed it on a "string of errors" on behalf of Barnet Council.^[6]

He is the chair of the Joint Committee on Human Rights and a member of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Tribal Peoples.^[7]

Following his defeat, he was selected as the Labour Party candidate for the Barnet and Camden constituency in the 2012 London Assembly election, defeating Conservative incumbent Brian Coleman.

Criticism

He was criticised in 2001 for allowing the Mayor of London Ken Livingstone to campaign for him at the election, even though Livingstone had been expelled from the Labour Party for standing against the Labour mayoral candidate Frank Dobson.

Dismore, who voted very strongly against a transparent Parliament,^[8] is a member of the Commons committee that governs the conduct of MPs. Following allegations of flipping, he is currently facing a call to step down over alleged misuse of £65,000 in parliamentary allowances.^[9] Mr Dismore was accused of splitting £65,000 of "second home" allowances between two London properties. One of the properties had been used as a homoeopathy clinic run by his partner. Mr Dismore was subsequently cleared of these charges by The Committee on Standards in Public Life.

Concerns have been raised about Dismore's use of travel expenses. In 2007-2008, the Daily Telegraph reported that he had claimed expenses equivalent to 487 journeys between Parliament and his constituency home, although the Commons only sat for 145 days. ^[10] Mr Dismore was subsequently cleared of these charges by The Committee on Standards in Public Life.

It was revealed by the BBC in March 2010, that Mr Dismore had annual trips to Cyprus, funded by the Cypriot Parliament. Mr Dismore failed to declare this interest on a number of Parliamentary Questions and Early Day Motions, despite providing this information on the register of members’ interests.^[11]

References

External links

• Andrew Dismore MP's website
• Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Andrew Dismore MP
• TheyWorkForYou.com - Andrew Dismore MP
• BBC Politics
• Entry on list of MPs
• Joint Committee of Human Rights

News items

• Long speech in December 2005 blocks householder v intruder bill
• Long speech in July 2004 blocks bill on volunteers activities bill
• Discusses evidence of torture by UK troops
• Rejection of anti-Israel boycott
• Andrew Dismore MP: Foreign trips and rule breaches