Constituency : Colchester 1997-2015
Bob took Colchester from the Tories.
Bob is a local man. He first stood for Colchester in 1979 as a Labour candidate. He became a Labour councillor in 1978 but defected to the SDP in 1981. He was Mayor of Colchester in 1986-87 and sometime leader of the Borough Council.
Bob was firmly a constituency man but gave up his council seat and became spokesman on culture, media and sport from 2002 to 2005. He then joined the shadow defence team until 2010. As representative of a garrison town he took a keen interest in military welfare and earned the nickname, "Battling Bob".
Bob increased his majority at each election until 2015.
Bob did not take office in the coalition government but sat on the select committee to scrutinise the Armed Forces Bill. He was knighted in 2012.
Bob spoke out against celebrity tax exiles. He supported voting at 16 . He opposed plans for Colchester's new Visual Arts Facility suggesting that its supporters were "expecting the council to fund their social life". He is sympathetic to the Palestinian cause.
Bob went down with most of the rest of the parliamentary party in 2015. He was given the honorary title of High Steward of Colchester and gave hritge tours of the city. He stood again in 2017 but Labour pushed him into third.
In November 2018 Bob came out in support of Theresa May's Brexit deal.
He is now 73.
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