Background
Sawford was born in Loddington, a small village in Northamptonshire just west of Kettering, in 1950.
Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom
Sawford was born in Loddington, a small village in Northamptonshire just west of Kettering, in 1950.
He was educated at Kettering Grammar School and became an apprentice carpenter.
He went to Loddington Civil Engineering primary school. He went on to become a steelworker in 1977 until the closures and mass redundancies at Corby Steelworks in 1980. He was first elected as a Desborough Town Councillor, then Kettering Borough Councillor, representing the Desborough Loatland Ward from 1977 to 1997.
From 1985-1997, he worked for a training partnership in Wellingborough.
He contested Wellingborough in 1992. Sawford increased his majority in the 2001 election.
Over eight years as an Member of Parliament he established a reputation as a constituency focused Member of Parliament who championed local issues. He lost it to the Conservative Philip Hollobone in the 2005 election, in line with the national swing against Labour.
He was re-selected as the Labour Parliamentary Candidate for the seat in 2007.
The boundaries of Kettering Constituency changed at the 2010 General Election, giving the seat a notional Labour majority, however in the event Sawford was again defeated by Hollobone, by 20 percentage points. He is a sworn republican, an outspoken campaigner for the abolition of hunting, and was an opponent of the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
He forged a career in training and personnel development, in parallel with his political activity in the Labour Party and as a local Councillor. In 1991 Labour became the largest party on the Borough Council and Sawford became Leader of the Council. He is on the left of the Labour Party, and a member of the Socialist Campaign Group.
52nd United Kingdom Parliament. 53rd United Kingdom Parliament.