Richard Caborn
Richard George Caborn, (born
October 6,
1943) is a
British politician. He is the
Labour Member of Parliament for
Sheffield Central. He is the Minister of Sport with the rank of
Minister of State at the
Department of Culture, Media and Sport.
Dick Caborn was born in
Sheffield and was educated at the Hurlfield
Comprehensive School, Sheffield; Granville College of Further Education; and the
Sheffield Polytechnic, where he qualified as an
engineer. He began an engineering
apprenticeship in
1959, and became a
convener of shop stewards at Firth Brown Ltd in
1967. He was elected as the Vice President of the Sheffield
Trades Council 1968-
1979. He became a governor of the
BBC for three years in
1975. In
1979 he was elected as a
Member of the European Parliament for Sheffield where he remained until
1984. He contested the new
parliamentary seat of Sheffield Central at the
1983 General Election, following the decision to retire of the Labour MP for Sheffield Park and former
Cabinet member
Fred Mulley, and was elected somewhat easily with a majority of 16,790, and has remained the MP there since.
Dick Caborn joined the
frontbench under
Neil Kinnock in
1988 when he became an opposition spokesman on
Trade and Industry, becoming a spokesman of Regional Affairs in
1990. After the
1992 General Election he became the chairman of the Trade and Industry
Select Committee where he served until
1995 when he became an opposition spokesman on the
Lord Chancellor's Department. Following Labour's decisive victory at the
1997 General Election, he entered the government of
Tony Blair as the Minister of State at the
Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions, in which role he was closely involved in establishing the
English Regional Development Agencies. He was also a strong supporter of English regional government, but after negative responses from
referendums in the north of England in 2004 this was dropped by government. He then moved with the same position at the Department of Trade and Industry in
1999. He became a
Member of the Privy Council in 1999, and since the
2001 General Election he has served as the Minister of Sport. In relation to the
Wembley Stadium rebuilding project, he announced in
October 2005: "They say the
Cup Final will be there, barring six feet of snow or something like that".
Dick Caborn is seen as a close ally of
John Prescott, having ran his campaigns for the deputy leadership of the Labour Party in
1992 (whilst supporting
Bryan Gould for leader). He also ran Prescott's campaign for both deputy and
leader in
1994. He is very much one of the more old Labour figures in government and is a former
Bennite, and was very active on
South Africa issues, being very pro-
Mandela and
anti-apartheid, and has even run concerts in support of the
African National Congress. He was an active supporter of
Arthur Scargill during the
1984-1985 miners' strike. Since becoming Minister of Sport he has run in many
marathons and fun runs. He has been married to Margaret Hayes since
1966 and they have a son and a daughter and he enjoys a round of
golf to relax.
On the
30 December 2005, Caborn publicly announced his support for capped wages in British football.
*
Department for Culture, Media and Sport - Rt Hon Richard Caborn MP official profile
*
Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Richard Caborn MP*
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