Bob Blizzard

Background

Bob Blizzard was born in 1950 in Bury Street Edmunds, West Suffolk and was educated at Culford School in Bury Street Edmunds and the University of Birmingham, from where he was awarded a Bachelor degree in 1971.

Education

University of Birmingham.

Career

After his own education, he became a teacher. He was appointed as the Head of the English Department at the Crayford School on Iron Mill Lane in Bexley in 1976. In 1986, he became the Head of English at the Lynn Grove High School in Gorleston-on-Sea, Norfolk.

He was elected as a councillor to Waveney District Council in 1987, and became its leader in 1991.

He stepped down from the council on his election to Westminster. Bob Blizzard was selected to fight the Conservative held seat of Waveney at the 1997 General Election.

In the year of the Labour landslide he defeated the sitting Member of Parliament David Porter by over 12,000 votes, and he was elected as the first Labour Member of Parliament for Waveney. He made his maiden speech on 10 June 1997.

From 1997-1999 he served on the Environmental Audit Select Committee.

In 1999, he became the Parliamentary Private Secretary (Parliamentary Private Secretary) to Baroness Hayman as Minister of State at the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. After the 2001 General Election he became Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Rt Honorary Nick Brown Member of Parliament in Brown"s role as Minister for Work at the Department for Work and Pensions. Blizzard resigned this position in March 2003 in protest at the Iraq War.

After the 2005 General Election, Blizzard was appointed as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Europe Minister at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Douglas Alexander, and remained Alexander"s Parliamentary Private Secretary when his boss became Secretary of State for Transport in 2006.

In the reshuffle following Gordon Brown"s appointment as Prime Minister in June 2007, he was promoted to the position of Assistant Whip. Following Gordon Brown"s October 2008 reshuffle, Blizzard was promoted from an Assistant Whip to a Government Whip otherwise known as a "Lord Commissioner of Her Majesty Treasury".

He has also been Secretary of the Jazz Appreciation APPG (2004–2007). The policy areas in which he has a special interest include energy, employment, health, transport, education and foreign affairs

Following his own, and Labour"s defeat in the 2010 election, Bob produced a report which provided "An unflinching look at the bad results Labour suffered in the East, and ideas for how Labour can change its policies and the way it does business, to reclaim the ground it has lost".

lieutenant can be seen on Bob"s website. On 21 October 2011, Blizzard was overwhelmingly selected as Labour"s Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Waveney, by the Constituency Labour Party. The selection sets up a re-run of the 2010 election contest against Peter Aldous.

Aldous held the seat with an increased majority ending Blizzards political career.

Achievements

• He won the ballot on members" first preference votes.

Politics

Blizzard has been Chair of several All Party Parliamentary Groups (APPGs), including: the British Offshore Oil and Gas APPG (1997–2007). The Renewable Transport Fuels APPG (2007). The British-Brazilian APPG (1997–2007).

The British-Chilean APPG (2005–2007). The British-Latin America APPG (2004–2007).

Membership

52nd United Kingdom Parliament. 53rd United Kingdom Parliament. 54th United Kingdom Parliament]

He served as the Member of Parliament for Waveney from 1997 to 2010.

Connections

teacher:

Southfields Secondary