Summary
Peter Christopher Dowd[1] (born 20 June 1957) is a British Labour Party politician. He was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bootle in May 2015.[2] From 2017 to 2020, he served as the Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury.
Peter Dowd | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2017 | |
| Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury | |
| In office 9 February 2017 – 6 April 2020 | |
| Leader | Jeremy Corbyn |
| Preceded by | Rebecca Long-Bailey |
| Succeeded by | Bridget Phillipson |
| Shadow Financial Secretary to the Treasury | |
| In office 6 October 2016 – 9 February 2017 | |
| Leader | Jeremy Corbyn |
| Preceded by | Rob Marris |
| Succeeded by | Anneliese Dodds |
| Member of Parliament for Bootle | |
| Assumed office 7 May 2015 | |
| Preceded by | Joe Benton |
| Majority | 34,556 (70.2%) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Peter Christopher Dowd 20 June 1957 Bootle, Lancashire, England |
| Political party | Labour |
| Alma mater | Hugh Baird College University of Liverpool Lancaster University |
| Website | peterdowd |
Early life edit
Dowd was born and raised in Bootle in a large working-class family with a long history of activism in the Labour Party. His great-uncles, Simon and Peter Mahon, served as Labour MPs. Educated at local primary and secondary schools and college, he gained undergraduate and postgraduate degrees from Liverpool and Lancaster Universities, as well as other postgraduate qualifications.
Political career edit
Dowd was a Merseyside County Councillor from 1981 to 1986 for Bootle number 1 ward (Hawthorne), which is around the Hawthorne road area of Bootle and Derby park area.[3] He became a Sefton Borough councillor in 1991 when he replaced Joe Benton for the Derby ward.
He was a councillor for Derby from 1991 to 2003, before he moved to St Oswalds ward (covering Netherton and Marion Square). He was also chair of Merseyside Fire Authority in the 1990s. Dowd was elected Sefton Labour group leader after the death of Dave Martin, and was leader until 2015. He was consequently elected Leader of Sefton Council from 2011 to 2015.
In 2015, he was elected to the House of Commons as the Member of Parliament for Bootle, which forms part of the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton where Dowd was in local government. Bootle has traditionally been one of the safest Labour seats in the UK; Dowd succeeded Benton as the seat's MP.
Dowd was one of 48 Labour MPs to vote against the second reading of the Conservative government's Welfare Reform and Work Bill, which included £12bn in welfare cuts, on 20 July 2015. In doing so they defied the party's leadership, which had ordered MPs to abstain.[4]
In February 2017, Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the Labour Party, appointed him to the position of Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury.[5]
Personal life edit
On 6 October 2020, Dowd's daughter, Jennie, died at the age of 31 following a cycling collision.[6] The driver was sentenced to 12 months in prison.[7]
References edit
- ^ "No. 61961". The London Gazette. 19 June 2017. p. 11778.
- ^ "Bootle parliamentary constituency - Election 2015". BBC News. 1 January 1970. Archived from the original on 6 December 2015. Retrieved 17 December 2015.
- ^ "Contact information for Peter Dowd - MPs and Lords". parliament.uk.
- ^ "Welfare cuts backed amid Labour revolt". BBC News. 21 July 2015. Archived from the original on 30 August 2015. Retrieved 17 December 2015.
- ^ @jeremycorbyn (9 February 2017). "I'm pleased to announce appointments to Labour's Shadow Cabinet @RLong_Bailey @SueHayman1 @Rees4Neath @Peter_Dowd" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ O'Reilly, Luke (14 October 2020). "Sir Keir Starmer leads tributes to daughter of Labour MP killed in crash on Merseyside". Evening Standard. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
- ^ "Liverpool MP tells of 'unbearable' loss after daughter Jennie killed". BBC News. 5 October 2021. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
External links edit
- Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom
- Contributions in Parliament at Hansard
- Voting record at Public Whip
- Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou
- Appearances on C-SPAN
