Bob Blackman (politician)

Biography

Blackman was Head Boy at Preston Manor High School, where he now serves as a school governor; and was president of University of Liverpool Students Union. He joined the sales team of Burroughs Machines (later Unisys) on graduation. He worked in various sales and management positions for BT and worked at their training school in Milton Keynes as a tutor and later as a Regulatory Compliance Manager for BT until his election to Parliament.

Political career

Blackman was a council member in the London Borough of Brent from 1986 to 2010, representing Preston Ward. He was the leader of the Conservative group on Brent council from 1990 to 2010, having been council leader between 1991 and 1996. He stood as a parliamentary candidate for Brent South at the 1992 election, for Bedford at the 1997 election, and for Brent North at the 2005 election.

He was elected as a member of the London Assembly at the 2004 assembly elections, taking the constituency seat of Brent and Harrow, defeating Toby Harris who had been a successful rival candidate for the seat at the 2000 elections. He was elected as the Conservative's Group Whip on the London Assembly.

In the 2008 elections, Blackman lost his seat to the Labour candidate, Navin Shah by a 1,649 votes. In 2012, Shah managed to secure the seat by almost 30,000 votes.

From June 2006 to May 2010, he was also Deputy Leader of Brent Council, the Conservatives having formed a coalition with the Liberal Democrats.

Parliament

In the 2010 general election, Blackman gained the Harrow East constituency from Labour's Tony McNulty.

In 2010 he was elected a member of the Communities and Local Government Select Committee. and was elected Secretary of the 1922 Committee in 2015.

Smoking and Health

He called for the adoption of plain packaging legislation for cigarettes, and supported Cameron's plan calling for energy companies to provide simplified energy bills to their customers. On 1 July 2015, Blackman was elected Chair of the All Party Political Group on Smoking and Health, after serving as its Secretary for several years.

Opposition to same-sex marriage bill

In December 2012, Prime Minister David Cameron announced his approval for same-sex marriage. In response, on Friday 7 December 2012, Blackman told the BBC News Channel that David Cameron's backing of religious same-sex marriages was wrong "on principle" and that marriage had to be "between one man and one woman". According to the Harrow Times, he was accused of hypocrisy by a former fellow Brent council colleague who claimed she had an 11-year affair with him whilst he was married. On 5 February 2013 MP Bob Blackman rebelled, voting against the bill in the House of Commons Second Reading vote on marriage equality in Britain.

Other interests

Blackman is an Officer of the Conservative Friends of Israel group and has been part of several delegations to Israel, including during the Operation Defensive Shield conflict when he visited for an Israeli military briefing on the Iron Dome defence system.

Brexit

Blackman supported Brexit in the 2016 referendum.

The Homelessness Reduction Act

In 2016, he was drawn second in the annual Parliamentary ballot for a Private Member's Bill and subsequently put together a Homelessness Reduction Bill in partnership with national charity, Crisis. It was the first Private Member's Bill to be supported by a Select Committee.

After receiving Government support at 2nd Reading, it passed through all stages in Parliament unopposed in both Houses and received Royal Assent on Thursday 27 April 2017.

Expenses

In 2015, the Compliance Officer for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) made a judgement that Blackman had submitted 732 inaccurate mileage claims. According to IPSA he claimed up to 10 miles for a 2-mile journey, making him the highest mileage MP, claiming almost twice the mileage as the 10 next highest MPs.

Personal life

Blackman is married to former councillor Nicola Blackman, and the couple live in Wembley.