Bob Blizzard - Political Career

Political Career

He was elected as a councillor to Waveney District Council in 1987, and became its leader in 1991. He stepped down from the council on his election to Westminster. Bob Blizzard was selected to fight the Conservative held seat of Waveney at the 1997 General Election. In the year of the Labour landslide he defeated the sitting MP David Porter by over 12,000 votes, and he was elected as the first Labour MP for Waveney. He made his maiden speech on 10 June 1997.

From 1997-1999 he served on the Environmental Audit Select Committee. In 1999, he became the Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to Baroness Hayman as Minister of State at the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. After the 2001 General Election he became PPS to the Rt Hon Nick Brown MP in Brown's role as Minister for Work at the Department for Work and Pensions. Blizzard resigned this position in March 2003 in protest at the Iraq War.

After the 2005 General Election, Blizzard was appointed as PPS to the Europe Minister at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Douglas Alexander, and remained Alexander's PPS when his boss became Secretary of State for Transport in 2006. In the reshuffle following Gordon Brown's appointment as Prime Minister in June 2007, he was promoted to the position of Assistant Whip.

Following Gordon Brown's October 2008 reshuffle, Blizzard was promoted from an Assistant Whip to a Government Whip otherwise known as a 'Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury'.

Blizzard has been Chair of several All Party Parliamentary Groups (APPGs), including: the British Offshore Oil and Gas APPG (1997–2007); the Renewable Transport Fuels APPG (2007); the British-Brazilian APPG (1997–2007); the British-Chilean APPG (2005–2007); the British-Latin America APPG (2004–2007). He has also been Secretary of the Jazz Appreciation APPG (2004–2007).

The policy areas in which he has a special interest include energy, employment, health, transport, education and foreign affairs.