Background
Hesford was born in Lowton St Mary's, near Leigh, Lancashire and was educated at the Urmston Grammar School and the University of Bradford where he was awarded a BSc in Social Science in 1978.
Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom
Hesford was born in Lowton St Mary's, near Leigh, Lancashire and was educated at the Urmston Grammar School and the University of Bradford where he was awarded a BSc in Social Science in 1978.
University of California at Santa Cruz (Bachelor of Arts, with honors, 1979). Hastings College of Law, University of California at San Francisco (Juris Doctor, 1982).
Since leaving Parliament he has become a guest lecturer at the University of Chester. He was called to the bar at Gray's Inn in 1981 and worked as a criminal law barrister in Altrincham, Cheshire until his election to Parliament. He worked as an assistant to Joan Lestor, Labour MP for Eccles, in 1992 and also contested that year's General Election in South Suffolk where he finished in third place, 18,170 votes behind the sitting Conservative MP and junior environment minister Tim Yeo.
He was elected to the House of Commons at the 1997 General Election for Wirral West when he defeated the former Cabinet minister David Hunt by 2,738 votes. He made his maiden speech on 3 July 1997, in which he recalled a constituency predecessor and former Commons Speaker Selwyn Lloyd. He was the Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Leader of the House of Lords Valerie Amos from the 2005 General Election until September 2006, and was PPS to Vera Baird until Sept 2009 when he resigned in protest against Baroness Scotland remaining in government.
On 23 January 2010, Hesford announced that he would not stand at the 2010 general election.
[52nd United Kingdom Parliament. 53rd United Kingdom Parliament. 54th United Kingdom Parliament]
In parliament, Hesford served as a member of the Northern Ireland select committee for two years from 1998, and also spent two years from 1999 as a member of the health select committee.