Jim Knight

Jim Knight, Baron Knight of Weymouth

Jim Knight's voice

James Philip "Jim" Knight, Baron Knight of Weymouth (born March 6, 1965 in Bexley , London Borough of Bexley ) is a British cultural manager and politician of the Labor Party .

Life

Professional and local political activities

After visiting the Eltham College studied Knight geography , social and political sciences at Fitzwilliam College of the University of Cambridge and was after graduating first from 1988 to 1990 Manager of Central Studio in Basingstoke , then director of the West Wiltshire Arts Center Ltd and most recently between 1991 and 2001 Director of Denton's Directories Ltd .

In addition to his professional activities, he began his political career in local politics in the 1990s and was a member of the city ​​council of Frome , a small town in Somerset from 1993 to 2001 , of which he was mayor from 1998 to 2001. He was also a member of the District Council of Mendip from 1997 to 2001, where he was initially deputy chairman and between 1999 and 2001 chairman of the Labor Party parliamentary group .

Member of the House of Commons and Minister

After he unsuccessfully sought a seat in the House of Commons in the general election of May 1, 1997 as a candidate for the Labor Party in the constituency of South Dorset , he was first elected member of the House of Commons in the general election of June 7, 2001 in this constituency elected and belonged to this until 2010. During his parliamentary membership he was first a member of the House Committee on Defense and then from 2003 to 2004 Parliamentary Private Secretary to Rosie Winterton , the Minister of State in the Ministry of Health, and then Parliamentary Private Secretary of the Representative of the Ministry of Health in the House of Commons.

In May 2005 he took over a government post as "Junior Minister" for the first time after becoming Parliamentary Undersecretary of State in the Ministry of Environment, Food and Spatial Affairs, where he was responsible for rural affairs, landscape and biodiversity until May 2006 .

In May 2006 he was appointed Minister of State in the Ministry of Education and Skills, where he was initially responsible for schools, then from August 2006 to June 2007 for schools and 14 to 19-year-old learners, and most recently between June 2007 and June 2009 for schools and learners .

In June 2009 Knight became Minister of State in the Department of Labor and Pensions, where he was Minister for Regional Affairs and South West England until the Labor Party was defeated in the general election on May 6, 2010 .

In the 2010 general election, he personally suffered a defeat and lost the constituency of Dorset South to its conservative challenger Richard Drax , so that he had to leave the House of Commons. In the election he received more than 5,000 votes and 11.3 percentage points less than in the 2005 general election.

Member of the House of Lords

After leaving the House of Commons, he was promoted to Life Peer with the title of Baron Knight of Weymouth , of Weymouth in the County of Dorset, and has been a member of the House of Lords ever since .

There he was initially spokesman for the opposition Labor group on work and pensions and has been the opposition spokesman for the environment, food and rural affairs since 2011. He has also been Vice President of the Local Government Association since 2010 .

He is also a member of the board of directors of various companies such as the consulting firm Step-A International Ltd , Egale Limited and Alderwood Education Ltd , both of which are involved in educational projects. He is also a board member of the Fanshare Society Ltd of Arsenal FC . He is also a trustee of the Institute of Education Business Excellence and the E-Learning Foundation .

Web links

• Entry on the homepage of the British Parliament (accessed December 20, 2011)
• Jim Knight at Hansard (English)
• Entry in They Work For You
• Jim Knight: Electoral history and profile ( Memento April 25, 2010 in the Internet Archive ). In: The Guardian (accessed December 20, 2011)