John Spellar

Bromley-born John Spellar has been Labour MP for Warley West since 1992 and is former vice-chair of Labour Friends of Israel. Spellar began his career as a Bromley Borough Councillor between 1970 and 1974. He was subsequently elected to parliament to represent the Birmingham Northfield in a 1982 by-election, taking the seat from the Conservative MP Jocelyn Cadbury. He lost his seat in the 1983 general election to Conservative Roger King. Spellar returned to parliament as the MP for Warley West in the 1992 general election. He was appointed as opposition whip with responsibility for employment, trade and industry and parliamentary business. Since then, Spellar has held a number of roles both in government and opposition, most recently holding the role of shadow foreign minister between 2010 and 2015. Seen as being on the right of his party, Spellar has not held back on criticising former Labour party leader, Jeremy Corbyn. He was the only Labour MP who, in March 2019, voted against legislation for amended LGBT education in schools. He sits on the Defence Committee and Sub-Committee, as well as the Committees on Arms Export Controls and on the Fixed-Term Parliaments Act.