Frank Dobson

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Frank Gordon Dobson (born March 15, 1940) is a British politician and member of Parliament for Holborn and St. Pancras, for Labour.

Dobson was born in York and attended the London School of Economics where he studied economics. He worked for the Central Electricity Generating Board and the Electricity Council. After fighting for a seat on Camden Borough Council in 1964, he was elected in 1971 and rose so rapidly that he was chosen as Labour Group Leader (and therefore Leader of the Council) after the resignation of Millie Miller in 1973.

He stood down as Leader in 1975 and resigned from the Council on taking up a non-partisan job as Assistant Secretary of the Office of Local Ombudsman. In 1979 he was elected as MP for Holborn and St. Pancras. His naturally pugnacious style of politics earned him rapid promotion to the front bench where he served in several important posts from 1982; his liking for 'dirty jokes' and conviviality won him many friends despite his partisanship. As Spokesman on Environment and London from 1994 he led the national Labour response to the series of scandals over Westminster City Council and its former leader Shirley Porter.

However, when Labour won power in 1997, Dobson was appointed as Secretary of State for Health. This was a high-profile post but Dobson found it difficult to make a significant impact because of the decision to stick within spending limits set by the previous Conservative government. The government's proposal to introduce Private Finance Initiative Hospitals was highly controversial.

Dobson was manoeuvred by the Labour Party leadership into announcing his resignation in order to stand as Mayor of London in the inaugural elections. He managed to beat Ken Livingstone in the Labour Party's internal selection, helped by an electoral system which was designed to favour him. Livingstone then fought the election as an independent, and Dobson obtained a derisory share of the vote. He has since been a critical friend of the Government and was re-elected as an MP, albeit with a reduced majority, in the May 2005 general election. He was one of the priciple opponents of the Iraq war from within the Labour party, proposing the anti war motion in the crucial House of Commons debate on the subject.

In the Labour leadership controversy following Tony Blair's declaration he would step down within a year of September 2006, Dobson called for Blair to step down right away and end uncertainty. He also attacked Alan Milburn for making a 'terrible mess' of the NHS. Milburn had some hours been earlier been mentioned by Charles Clarke as a possible future Labour leader. [1]

In late 2006 he underwent a quadruple bypass and was away from parliament for a considerable time but is believed to be recovering well

[edit] External links

• Frank Dobson MP Weblog
• ePolitix - Rt Hon Frank Dobson official site
• Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Frank Dobson MP
• TheyWorkForYou.com - Frank Dobson MP
• "..since 1997" when Dobson became Health Secretary

Preceded by Stephen Dorrell

Secretary of State for Health 1997–1999

Succeeded by Alan Milburn