Steve Rotheram

Steve Rotheram MP
Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Leader of the Opposition
Incumbent
Assumed office 12 September 2015
Leader	Jeremy Corbyn
Preceded by	Karen Buck
Member of Parliament for Liverpool Walton
Incumbent
Assumed office 6 May 2010
Preceded by	Peter Kilfoyle
Majority	27,777 (72.3%)
Lord Mayor of Liverpool
In office 1 May 2008 – 7 May 2009
Preceded by	Paul Clark
Succeeded by	Mike Storey
Personal details
Born	4 November 1961[1] Anfield, Liverpool, Lancashire, England
Nationality	British
Political party	Labour
Spouse(s)	Sandra Rotheram
Alma mater	John Moores University Liverpool Hope University
Website	www.steverotherammp.org.uk

Steven Philip Rotheram (born 4 November 1961) is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Liverpool Walton since 2010. He also served as the Lord Mayor of Liverpool from 2008 to 2009 and a Councillor for Fazakerley from 2002 to 2011.^[2]

Early life

Rotheram was born in Liverpool in 1961, the son of Harry Rotheram, a Kirkby factory forklift driver and Labour councillor, and Dorothy, née Phillips. He was one of eight children. His parent's marriage broke up when Rotheram was in his teens, with Rotheram citing his father's absences due to politics as part of the cause. His secondary education was at Ruffwood School in Kirkby.^[3]

Career

Rotheram left school at 16 to become a bricklayer, setting up his own company at the age of 22.^[4] He spent eight months rebuilding war-torn infrastructure in the Falkland Islands in 1983, an experience that Rotheram did not enjoy. On his return, disillusioned by what he saw as exploitation of employees on UK building sites, he was determined not to work for anyone else again, and set up his own company 'Rotheram Builders'.^[3] Alongside his work in the construction industry, he studied part-time in order to gain admittance to John Moores University where he studied full-time before completing a Masters in Contemporary Urban Renaissance at Liverpool Hope University. He worked as a Business Manager for the Learning and Skills Council for many years after graduating, and was elected to represent Fazakerley as a Labour Councillor on Liverpool City Council in 2002. He later served as Lord Mayor of Liverpool from 2008 to 2009, which coincided with Liverpool's period as European Capital of Culture.^[4]

Member of Parliament

After incumbent Labour MP Peter Kilfoyle announced that he would be standing down as MP for Liverpool Walton in 2010, Rotheram was overwhelmingly selected to be the Labour candidate securing 101 out of 113 votes cast. At the 2010 general election, Rotheram won the seat with a majority of 19,818, one of the largest majorities in the United Kingdom.^[5] Shortly after becoming an MP he was elected to serve on the Communities and Local Government Committee where he was influential in challenging Eric Pickles and Grant Shapps on a number of key cuts that they were making. In October 2011 Rotheram joined the Culture, Media and Sport Committee where he famously asked James Murdoch if he would close The Sun newspaper following the News International phone hacking scandal in 2011.

He was one of 16 signatories of an open letter to Ed Miliband in January 2015 calling on the party to commit to oppose further austerity, take rail franchises back into public ownership and strengthen collective bargaining arrangements^[6]

Hillsborough disaster

Rotheram has long played a key role in campaigning for the release of all government papers relating to the Hillsborough disaster. In a speech whilst Lord Mayor of Liverpool on the twentieth anniversary of the disaster, he said, "I'm one of the fortunate ones, as I swapped my Leppings Lane ticket for a stand seat 15 minutes before kick-off...if I can go from being a brickie in Kirkby to the Lord Mayor, who knows what these ninety-six people may have achieved in their lives."^[7] In October 2011, he gave an emotional speech to the House of Commons where he read out the names of all ninety-six victims so that they would be recorded in Hansard, and called for the release of all government papers relating to the disaster. The speech later won an award as the Parliamentary Speech of the Year.^[3] After papers subsequently released in September 2012 showed widespread corruption from South Yorkshire Police, Rotheram called upon Prime Minister David Cameron to issue an apology on behalf of the government, which he later did.^[8][9]

Rotheram was the chief organiser of a charity single designed to raise funds to cover the legal costs of the Hillsborough families which attracted the attention of the award-winning music producer Guy Chambers. In September 2012, along with members of The Farm, Mick Jones, and former Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish, Rotheram arranged for a number of artists to record a cover of "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" as "The Justice Collective", in an attempt to reach the coveted Christmas number one.^[10] The cover included contributions from artists such as Paul McCartney, Robbie Williams, Holly Johnson and Melanie C, as well as featuring Rotheram himself. On 23 December 2012, it was confirmed that the cover had become Christmas number one, which Rotheram called "an honour".^[11]

Personal life

Rotheram is married to Sandra, a community psychiatric nurse, and they have three children.^[4] He is an avid Liverpool F.C. supporter, having a season ticket for many years.

References

1. "Steve Rotheram MP". BBC News. Retrieved 25 July 2010.
2. Stewart, Gary (26 March 2010). "Cllr Steve Rotheram chosen to fight Liverpool Walton constituency for Labour". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 22 February 2015.
3. "The Big Interview: Liverpool Walton MP Steve Rotheram 'My plan was not to become overinvolved in politics'". Liverpool Post. 25 January 2013.
4. "About Steve". Steve Rotheram MP: Liverpool Walton. Retrieved 22 February 2015.
5. "Election 2010: Liverpool Walton". BBC News. Retrieved 22 February 2015.
6. Eaton, George (26 January 2015). "The Labour left demand a change of direction - why their intervention matters". New Statesman. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
7. "3.06pm - a time to remember: Hillsborough 20 years on". Liverpool Echo. 15 April 2009. Archived from the original on 11 October 2012. Retrieved 20 April 2010.
8. "Hillsborough papers should be released - MPs". BBC News. 17 October 2011. Retrieved 29 December 2011.
9. Quinn, Ben (17 October 2011). "Hillsborough disaster: MPs debate disclosure of secret documents - as it happened". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 February 2015.
10. "Interview with Steve Mullin". Blue Kipper. 7 December 2012. Retrieved 22 February 2015.
11. "Official Singles Chart Top 100: 23 December 2012 - 29 December 2012". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 22 February 2015.

External links

• Official website
• Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom
• Voting record at Public Whip
• Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou
• The full transcript of Rotheram's Hillsborough debate speech, delivered in the House of Commons on 17 October 2011