John Reid (UK politician)
The Rt Hon. John ReidJohn Reid, PhD (born 8 May 1947) is a British politician, MP for Airdrie and Shotts, and Home Secretary.
Background
Political career
See also
Born in Bellshill, North Lanarkshire, to mixed-denomination parents, Reid was educated at St. Patrick's High School in Coatbridge, attending the school at the same time as his Secretary of State for Scotland successor Helen Liddell, before attending the University of Stirling, gaining a bachelor's degree in history and a Ph.D in economic history. After graduation he worked as a research officer for the Labour Party and as a trade union organiser. He entered parliament in 1987 as MP for the Motherwell North constituency (later renamed Hamilton North and Bellshill).
Reid was married to the former Cathie McGowan, with whom he had two sons, from 1969 until her death in 1998. In 2002 he married the Brazilian film director Carine Adler.
Reid gave up his 60-a-day cigarette habit in 2003 for health reasons.
Reid is a senior member of the Labour Party, and as of May 8th 2006 has has held eight Cabinet posts in seven years: Secretary of State for Scotland, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (the first Roman Catholic to hold the position), Minister Without Portfolio (Labour Party Chairman), Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Council, Secretary of State for Health, Secretary of State for Defence and Home Secretary. It was reported by Private Eye that his reaction, on 12 June 2003, to being appointed Health Secretary following the resignation of Alan Milburn, was "Oh fuck, not health": the publication since then has regularly appended the phrase "oh fuck, not health" to any mention of his name.
Other positions held include Minister of State for Defence (1997-1998) and Minister of State for Transport (1998-1999). Following the incumbent Labour Party's 2005 general election victory, he was appointed to the cabinet position of Secretary of State for Defence.
An MP since 1987, his seat was abolished in boundary changes prior to the 2005 general election. Reid is a Roman Catholic, and there was much speculation that he would become MP for the predominantly Catholic and rock-solid Labour seat of Glasgow East, however he was nominated for the seat of Airdrie and Shotts, a predominantly Protestant area, which he took with 59% of the vote.
Reid is a former member of the Communist Party of Great Britain (of which he has said: "I used to be a Communist. I used to believe in Santa Claus"); he regards New Labour as a natural development of Bevanism. More controversially, during the 1990s Bosnian War, Reid struck up a friendship with Serb rebel leader and indicted war-criminal Radovan Karadzic; Reid has admitted that he spent three days at a luxury Geneva lakeside hotel as a guest of Karadzic in 1993.
Reid has a reputation as a tough fighter, and a shrewd negotiator; he is also regarded as one of the most intelligent MPs in the House. Additionally, he is often considered as a possible candidate to run as a Stop Brown candidate when Tony Blair relinquishes his leadership of the Labour Party.
Recently, he caused controversy through calling BBC Newsnight presenter Jeremy Paxman a "West London wanker", after a remark about John Reid being "an attack dog".
After speaking on 4 February 2006, about NATO modernisation process, ahead of a security conference in Germany, which US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and German Chancellor Angela Merkel were attending, Reid asserted in a press interview that "no institution has the divine right to exist".
On 19 March 2006, in response to former interim Iraqi prime minister Iyad Allawi's claim that Iraq is in the grip of civil war, Reid said "Every single politician I have met here [in Iraq] from the prime minister to the president, the defence minister and indeed Iyad Allawi himself said to me there's an increase in the sectarian killing, but there's not a civil war and we will not allow a civil war to develop".
On 29 April 2006, police found a small quantity (less than 1 gram) of Cannabis resin in a guest room of his home. Reid denied all knowledge of the drug, and Strathclyde Police have stated that he is not under suspicion of having committed any offence.
On May 5, 2006, Reid was appointed Home Secretary, replacing Charles Clarke who was removed in the wake of a Home Office scandal involving the release of foreign national prisoners.
On May 11, 2006, it was revealed by Frank Field MP that "Home Secretary John Reid would 'certainly' be among those to challenge for a job widely expected to become Mr Brown's".
See also
Charles Clarke
John Prescott -Bully
John Prescott
Max Clifford
Ethos of corruption
Political corruption: sleaze
Crime Pays
Reforming the Lords
Lord Levy - schmoozing Labour into trouble
Arthur Maundy Gregory
Berlusconi & Blair
Bankrolling New Labour
David Mills