Geoffrey Lofthouse, Baron Lofthouse of Pontefract

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Geoffrey Lofthouse, Baron Lofthouse of Pontefract, JP, (born 18 December 1925), popularly known in his former constituency as Geoff Lofthouse, is a British Labour politician.

He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Pontefract and Castleford from a 1978 by-election until his retirement at the 1997 general election, when he was given a life peerage as Baron Lofthouse of Pontefract, of Pontefract in the County of West Yorkshire. In the House of Commons, he served as First Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons and First Deputy Chairman of Ways and Means (the Speaker at the time was Betty Boothroyd).

His autobiography is entitled "A Very Miner MP" and is available from a local publisher, Yorkshire Art Circus. The title is an obvious pun on Lord Lofthouse's background as a coal miner and colliery manager.

Although the book covers much of Lofthouse's time as an MP, it is actually more interesting and useful for its author's insight on local politics in Pontefract and the Wakefield district in the 1960s and 1970s. Lofthouse was a Labour councillor and union official in an area of the country which was and still is dominated politically by the Labour Party to a unique degree. Lofthouse's readable account points to the peculiar social and cultural factors which bring about such a situation and the political machinations which support it and were typical of that era in politics.

[edit] References

"Times Guide to the House of Commons", Times Newspapers Limited, 1992 and 1997 editions.
This page incorporates information from Leigh Rayment's Peerage Page.