Parliamentary Career
Anderson was first elected at the 2005 general election, after the sitting Labour MP for Blaydon John David McWilliam stood down.
In Parliament, Anderson has been a member of the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee since 2005, having long been interested in the peace process in Northern Ireland, and was also a member of the House of Commons Procedure Committee for a year. In 2006 he was appointed as the Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Education and Skills Minister Bill Rammell.
Anderson chairs the Labour Friends of Iraq group, a body dedicated to supporting ordinary Iraqis as they attempt to rebuild their lives. In a 2008 interview with SOMA Digest Anderson urged the implementation of article 140 of the Iraqi constitution regarding the normalization process of Kirkuk and other formerly Arabised towns. He also called for solving the Kurdish issue in Turkey in a democratic way.
Anderson was nominated as the Parliamentary Champion for Education and Sport by the anti-racist group Show Racism The Red Card. He has been active in the campaign to overturn a House of Lords ruling that would have had a devastating impact on people suffering from asbestosis, pleural mesothelioma and peritoneal mesothelioma, all crippling diseases caused by exposure to asbestos.
Despite Labour losing the 2010 UK General Election, Anderson almost doubled his majority in the Blaydon constituency from 5,335 in 2005 to 9,117 on a turnout of 44,913 (66.2%).
Read more about this topic: David Anderson (British Politician)
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