Alan John Simpson (born 20 September 1948 in Bootle, Liverpool) is a British Labour politician and Member of Parliament for Nottingham South. September 20 is the 263rd day of the year (264th in leap years). ... 1948 is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ... Bootle is a town in Merseyside, North West England. ... Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough on Merseyside in north west England, on the north side of the Mersey estuary. ... The Labour Party is the principal centrist/centre-left political party in the United Kingdom (see British politics). ... A Member of Parliament, or MP, is a representative elected by the voters of an electoral district to a parliament; in the Westminster system, specifically to the lower house. ... Nottingham South is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. ...

Simpson came to Nottingham as a student, studying economics at Trent Polytechnic (now Nottingham Trent University). After graduating in 1972 he became a community worker, and later a research officer for the city's Racial Equality Council. Arkwright Building Nottingham Trent University (NTU) is a university in Nottingham, England. ... 1972 was a leap year that started on a Saturday. ...

He joined the Labour party in 1973, his initial taste of elected office coming in 1985 when he became a county councillor, a post he held until 1993. He first stood for the seat of Nottingham South in 1987, losing to the Conservative incumbent Martin Brandon-Bravo, who had taken the seat in the Tory landslide of 1983. He won the seat at the 1992 election and has held it since. 1973 was a common year starting on Monday. ... 1985 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1993 is a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003). ... 1987 is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Conservative Party is the largest political party on the centre-right in the United Kingdom. ... 1983 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1992 was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ...

Simpson is on the left wing of the Labour party, a member (and currently treasurer) of the Socialist Campaign Group and on the board of the Tribune. His stances on many issues are opposed to those of the leadership of his party -- for instance, he is a supporter of unilateral nuclear disarmament and opposes globalisation, genetically modified foods, and the euro. In the mid-1990s, he led the campaign to retain Clause IV, and more recently launched the "Labour Against the War" group, opposed to the invasion and occupation of Iraq. He is one of the most rebellious MPs in the current UK Parliament -- only three have voted against their party line more often. The Socialist Campaign Group is a left wing grouping of Labour Party Members of Parliament in the UK. The group is generally Eurosceptic and has many socially conservative members. ... Tribune is a democratic socialist weekly, currently a magazine though in the past more often a newspaper, published in London. ... Unilateral nuclear disarmament, the policy of independently revoking nuclear arms, has been advocated in Britain by the Labour Party left and by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament since Britain became a nuclear power in the 1950s. ... Globalization is a term used to describe the changes in societies and the world economy that are the result of dramatically increased trade and cultural exchange. ... Genetic engineering, genetic modification (GM), and gene splicing (once in widespread use but now deprecated) are terms for the process of manipulating genes in an organism, usually outside of the organisms normal reproductive process. ... The euro (€; ISO 4217 code EUR) is the currency of twelve European Union member states: Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain, collectively known as Eurozone. ... Clause IV of the Labour Party constitution sets out the objects of the Party, and has been the scene of political fights over its direction. ... The 2003 invasion of Iraq was the first military act of the Iraq War, and was launched by the United States and the United Kingdom on March 20, 2003, with support from some other governments, making up what was described as the coalition of the willing. After about three weeks... This article deals with the post-invasion period in Iraq and its occupation. ...

External links

• Alan Simpson MP official site
• ePolitix - Alan Simpson MP
• Guardian Politics Ask Aristotle - Alan Simpson MP
• TheyWorkForYou.com - Alan Simpson MP
• The Public Whip - Alan Simpson MP voting record
• BBC News - Alan Simpson profile 10 February, 2005