Phil Hope

Philip Ian "Phil" Hope (born 19 April 1955) is a British Labour Co-operative politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for Corby since 1997. He is currently a Minister of State in the Department of Health and Minister for the East Midlands.

Early life

Phil Hope was born in Battersea, the son of A.G. Hope, a Metropolitan Police commander, and Grace Thorogood. He was educated at Wandsworth Comprehensive School (became Sutherland Grove School, now knocked down and turned into a development of flats) on Sutherland Grove in Southfields and St Lukes College, Exeter where he was awarded a BEd (1st) degree in 1978. On leaving university in Exeter, he taught science for a year at Kettering School for Boys, before joining the National Council for Voluntary Organisations in 1979 as a youth policy advisor for the National Council for Voluntary Organisations. He was appointed as the head of the Young Volunteers Resource Unit at the National Youth Bureau in 1982, before becoming a management consultant from Framework in 1985, becoming the Director of the Framework in Print Publishing Co-operative.

Parliamentary career

He joined the Labour Party in 1978, and the Co-operative party in 1982. He was elected as a councillor to the Kettering Borough Council in 1983, becoming the deputy Labour group leader in 1986, before leaving the council in 1987. He unsuccessfully contested Kettering at the 1992 General Election where he came second to the sitting Conservative Party transport minister Roger Freeman by 11,154 votes. He was elected to the Northamptonshire County Council in 1993, becoming the chairman of the Labour group in the same year, before standing down in 1997. He was elected to the House of Commons at the 1997 General Election for Corby, defeating the Conservative MP William Powell by 11,860 votes and has remained the MP there since. He made his maiden speech on 14 May 1997.[1]

In parliament he was appointed as the Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to the Minister of State at the former Department for the Environment, Transport and the Regions Nick Raynsford in 1999, and after the 2001 General Election he became the PPS to the Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott. He was promoted to the government of Tony Blair in 2003 as the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State under his old boss at the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. He served as the Parliamentary Under Secretary at the Department for Education and Skills from the 2005 general election as the minister for vocational education until the department was disbanded in the reshuffle on 28 June 2007. He then moved to become a Parliamentary Secretary based in the Cabinet Office. Following a reshuffle on 24 January 2008 he took on additional responsibility as Minister for the East Midlands. He retained the latter role but moved from the Cabinet Office to become a Minister of State in the Department of Health following a reshuffle in October 2008.

Implication in Henry Conway Controversy

Hope was criticised in 2008 for employing his daughter during her university holidays, following the Henry Conway affair. ^[1]

Expenses Controversy

Hope was criticised for claiming £37,000 in expenses from the taxpayer over 4 years for a London flat. Newspapers claimed that the total size of the items claimed for would have difficulty fitting inside the small flat.^[2] Less than a week after this revelation, Hope voluntarily agreed to return £41,709 to the taxpayer, despite claiming that he 'kept to the rules laid down by Parliament'.^[3] Following this announcement there were calls on other MPs to take Hope's lead.^[4]

Personal life

He married Allison Butt on 25 July 1980 in Chipping Sodbury and they have a son (born February 1984) and a daughter (born September 1986). He once appeared on the 1970s television drama series Z-Cars and can also both tap dance and juggle. Hope has recently been diagnosed with Hodgkins Disease. This is a cancer of the lymphatic system and requires treatment which includes 4 months of chemotherapy followed by 4 weeks of radiotherapy. He has been given the all-clear after successful treatment at Kettering and Northampton General Hospitals. He has been a governor of Park Junior School and Montagu Secondary School in Kettering.

Publications

• Ideas into Action: Handbook on Project Planning for Youth and Community Workers by Philip Hope, 1987, National Council for Voluntary Youth Services, ISBN 0-907518-29-X
• Making the Break: Choices and Decisions Facing Young People Leaving Home by Philip Hope, 1989, CVS Advisory Service, ISBN 0907829570
• Education for Citizenship: Resource Pack for Schools" by Philip Hope, 1991, The Children's Society, ISBN 0-907324-59-2
• View to Learn by Philip Hope and Warren Feek, 1991, ITV and Channel Four Community Education
• Making Best Use of Consultants by Philip Hope, 1992, Financial Times Prentice Hall, ISBN 0-582-09824-6
• Diagnosis, Data Collection and Feedback in Consultancy by Philip Hope, 1994, Open University
• Education for Parenthood: A Resource Pack for Young People by Philip Hope, 1994, The Children's Society, ISBN 0-907324-75-4
• Analysis and Action on Youth Health by Philip Hope, 1995, Commonwealth Youth Programme
• Performance Appraisal: A Handbook for Managers in Public Organisations by Philip Hope and Tim Pickles, 1995, Russell House Press, ISBN 1-898924-45-7
• Tomorrow's Parents: Developing Parenthood Education in Schools by Philip Hope and Penny Sharland, 1997, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, ISBN 0-903319-79-9
• User Involvement by Philip Hope and Sarah Hargreaves, 1997, Framework in Print
• Education for Parenthood: A Resource Pack for Young People by Philip Hope, 1998, ISBN 1-899783-10-5

External links

• Phil Hope MP official site
• Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Phil Hope MP
• TheyWorkForYou.com - Phil Hope MP
• BBC Politics page
• Recovering in 2007

References

1. ^ Disorder, Disorder!, The Times editorial, 03 February 2008
2. ^ Phil Hope: How did he fit all this into one tiny flat?, The Daily Telegraph, 09 May 2009
3. ^ Phil Hope agrees to return £41,000 as MPs retreat on expenses, The Daily Telegraph, 13 May 2009
4. ^ MPs should take Phil Hope's lead over expenses row, "The Daily Mirror", 14 May 2009