Preceded by Estelle Morris Name John Hemming Majority 3,002 (7.3%) Role British Politician | Nationality British Party Liberal Democrats Political party Liberal Democrat Succeeded by Jess Phillips | |
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Born 16 March 1960 (age 64) ( 1960-03-16 ) Alma mater Magdalen College, Oxford Books Family Justice (Transparency, Accountability and Cost of Living) Bill: Explanatory Notes Education Magdalen College, Oxford, King Edward's School, Birmingham Profiles | ||
John Alexander Melvin Hemming (born 16 March 1960) is a British Liberal Democrat politician and businessman. He served as the Member of Parliament for Birmingham Yardley from 2005 to 2015.
Contents
- Early life and career
- Parliamentary career
- Action on injunctions and free speech
- Mumsnet controversy
- Later activities
- Personal life
- References
Hemming was an elected councillor for the South Yardley Ward and Group Chair of the Liberal Democrats on Birmingham City Council until 1 May 2008 and was elected as Member of Parliament for Birmingham Yardley at the 2005 general election. He was the first Liberal or Liberal Democrat to represent a Birmingham constituency since Wallace Lawler briefly held the seat after the 1969 Birmingham Ladywood by-election. In 2004, Hemming became deputy leader of Birmingham City Council in a deal where the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats formed a coalition to jointly control the council. He stood down from this position on his election to parliament in 2005.
In 2007, Hemming became Liberal Democrat Spokesman for the West Midlands and led the West Midlands Liberal Democrat team of spokespeople with Lorely Burt as the Deputy Leader.
Early life and career
Hemming was born in Birmingham. His father was an electrical contractor and his mother a supply teacher. He was educated at King Edward's School, Birmingham, where he won the Rickard Prize for Arithmetic and was a Scholar specialising in Theoretical, Atomic and Nuclear Physics at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he showed an early interest in politics, standing as the Liberal Party candidate for Secretary of the Oxford University Student Union. He was beaten into fourth place by the 'Silly Party' candidate – the pet dog of the master of St Catherine's College, Oxford.
Hemming is a director of JHC plc, a provider of software applications and related services for the securities industry. Their products include trading, asset management and settlement systems for brokers and investment managers. JHC made Hemming a millionaire by the age of 27, and the company had an annual turnover of £12m by 2011. In 2009, Hemming was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award for his work with the company. In 1997, Hemming also set up his own record company, Music Mercia International.
Hemming was first elected to Birmingham City Council in 1990, in Acocks Green ward. He moved to the South Yardley ward following boundary changes in 2004, but did not stand for re-election in May 2008.
Parliamentary career
Hemming was a candidate in Birmingham seats at all general elections since 1983: in that year at (Hall Green), 1987 (Small Heath) and 1992, 1997 and 2001 (Yardley) before winning in 2005. He was re-elected in 2010, with a slightly increased majority.
Following Charles Kennedy's announcement that he would resign as leader of the Liberal Democrats, Hemming announced on his weblog that he was taking soundings as to whether to stand. When Kennedy subsequently resigned, Hemming said that he would stand to ensure there was a contest. Hemming was a rank outsider in the contest (some betting odds were in excess of 400–1). The Times reported that he was "an eccentric who left colleagues aghast by threatening to stand". On 13 January 2006, Hemming withdrew his candidature, saying that Lib Dem members did not believe he should stand. He was a nominator for Mark Oaten, but said he would be willing to do the same for any serious candidate. He subsequently declared for the eventual winner, Sir Menzies Campbell.
On 6 December 2010, Hemming's constituency office was temporarily closed by the police after it was occupied by protesters.
Hemming chaired both the All Party Parliamentary Group on Peak Oil and Gas (APPGOPO), a parliamentary group looking at the issues of fossil fuel depletion, and the All Party Parliamentary Group on Family Law and The Court of Protection set up to address the concerns raised by both the public and professionals working within the family justice system.
Hemming is a member of the Beveridge Group. He won the "Reform" maths prize.
Action on injunctions and free speech
Hemming is an opponent of super- and hyper-injunctions, and in March 2011, used parliamentary privilege to reveal the existence of a super-injunction granted to former Royal Bank of Scotland chief Fred Goodwin during a sitting of the House of Commons. Following an incident in spring 2011, in which the names of celebrities who had allegedly taken out superinjunctions were revealed on Twitter, he again used parliamentary privilege to speak about the issue. On 23 May 2011 during a Commons debate he mentioned Ryan Giggs as the footballer involved in one privacy injunction.
In the final meeting of the Commons in the summer of 2011 before the session closed for summer recess, he mentioned details of an injunction and alleged cover-up involving a doctor employed by a Welsh NHS trust. The said doctor is accused by a fellow doctor and surgical assistants of performing surgeries on cancer patients beyond his expertise, against guidelines and in so doing, endangering the lives of patients.
Hemming also aided the case of financial journalist Leah McGrath Goodman, who was banned from the UK for two years during her reporting work on the Jersey child abuse investigation 2008 and Haut de la Garenne. The ban was reduced to one year after his actions on behalf of her. He also made a motion in 2012 regarding St Helier Parish Deputy Trevor Pitman's petition to have her UK visa restored.
Mumsnet controversy
A regular contributor to Mumsnet (a British parenting forum) for 11 years, Hemming posted in late 2013 about the case of an Italian woman sectioned in Britain with her newborn baby taken into care by British Social Services.
During this debate, he posted extracts from un-redacted documents which named the children of the woman involved, potentially breaking a court order. Confirming the poster was Hemming who had broken the site's terms and conditions by revealing posters' identities, Mumsnet removed the documents that he had posted and he was subsequently suspended as a website user.
Later activities
In the 2015 general election, Hemming lost in Birmingham Yardley to Jess Phillips of the Labour Party by 6,595 votes. Hemming stood as the Liberal Democrat candidate in his old seat at the 2017 general election, but was defeated by Jess Phillips who increased her majority.
Personal life
Shortly after his election in 2005, it was revealed that he was the father of a child with his personal assistant and (then) fellow councillor Emily Cox, although he continued to live with his wife and the couple's three children. His wife, Christine, commented that she forgave him and is standing by him, as he has always been honest about his extramarital affairs, of which she said this was "about number 26". Following the publication of details of his affairs, Hemming voted for himself for the News of the World's 'Love Rat of the Year' competition.
Hemming's wife appeared in court charged with stealing a kitten that belonged to his mistress. After a three-day trial at Birmingham Crown Court, she was found guilty of burglary on 30 September 2011, and later given a suspended nine-month sentence.