Parliamentary Career
Simpson is on the left-wing of the Labour Party, who was a member (and latterly treasurer) of the Socialist Campaign Group of MPs and on the board of the left-wing Tribune magazine. Simpson's opinions ran counter to those of the Labour frontbench. In the mid-1990s, he led the campaign to retain the original wording of Clause IV, and later established the "Labour Against the War" group, which opposes the Afghan war and occupation of Iraq.
On 31 October 2006, Simpson was among the 12 Labour MPs to back Plaid Cymru and the Scottish National Party's call for an inquiry into the Iraq War.
On 18 February 2007 Simpson announced his intention to stand down at the next General Election. In a letter to his constituency party members, he felt his effectiveness would be greater outside parliament campaigning for radical environmental policy changes, rather than remaining on the back benches. Another factor behind his decision was the birth in 2006 of a baby daughter with his third wife.
Read more about this topic: Alan Simpson (British Politician)
Famous quotes containing the word career:
““Never hug and kiss your children! Mother love may make your children’s infancy unhappy and prevent them from pursuing a career or getting married!” That’s total hogwash, of course. But it shows on extreme example of what state-of-the-art “scientific” parenting was supposed to be in early twentieth-century America. After all, that was the heyday of efficiency experts, time-and-motion studies, and the like.”
—Lawrence Kutner (20th century)