Greg Pope - Parliamentary Career

Parliamentary Career

Considered a Blairite, Pope is a signatory of the Henry Jackson Society. He was a member of the backbench committee on Northern Ireland from 1997-2001.

In April 2000 as a whip, Pope inadvertently approved a Liberal Democrat clause in the government's utilities bill, committing the government to meet 10% of electricity requirements from green sources by 2010. Pope said: "We were doing a series of government amendments. I realised I'd shouted aye too many times. I'm not overjoyed about it." The error led the government to instruct its MPs to vote against the clause.

In July 2003, Pope admitted leaking confidential Foreign Affairs Select Committee evidence to The Guardian newspaper chief political correspondent Patrick Wintour. The move was described as an attempt to "bounce" MPs on the committee into clearing Alastair Campbell of "sexing up" the so-called Dodgy Dossier of evidence into the threat posed by Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

On 11 June 2009, Pope announced that he would stand down at the 2010 election.