Elliot Morley | |
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Member of Parliament for Scunthorpe Glanford and Scunthorpe (1987–1997) |
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In office 12 June 1987 – 12 April 2010 |
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Preceded by | Richard Hickmet |
Succeeded by | Nic Dakin |
Personal details | |
Born |
Liverpool, England |
6 July 1952
Nationality | British |
Political party | Labour |
Spouse(s) | Patricia Hunt |
Children | Son and daughter |
Residence | Winterton, Lincolnshire |
Alma mater | Hull College of Education |
Profession | Teacher |
Website | elliotmorley.co.uk |
Elliot Anthony Morley (born 6 July 1952) is a British former Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Glanford and Scunthorpe from 1987 to 1997 and then Scunthorpe from 1997 to 2010. In 2009, he was accused by The Daily Telegraph of continuing to claim parliamentary expenses for a mortgage that had already been repaid. Morley was prosecuted and on 7 April 2011 pleaded guilty in Southwark Crown Court to two counts of false accounting, involving over £30,000. On 20 May 2011, he was sentenced to 16 months' imprisonment. He was released from prison on 20 September 2011 having served a quarter of his sentence.
He attended St Margaret's C of E High School on Aigburth Road in Aigburth in south Liverpool and received a BEd from Hull College of Education. He was head of Special Needs at Greatfield High School in Hull.
Before entering Parliament, Morley was a Labour member of Hull City Council representing Drypool Ward from 1979 to 1986. He stood unsuccessfully for Beverley in 1983.
He served as Fisheries Minister from 1997 to 2003, followed by Minister of State for the Environment and Agri-Environment in DEFRA, but left government in the May 2006 reshuffle. During his time in government, Morley pushed strongly for a series of environmental causes. In 2004, he sought to strengthen the United Kingdom's efforts to purchase legally harvested lumber and aided the launch of a programme to manage flooding and coastal erosion called 'WaveNet'. In 2005 Morley assisted in the establishment of a Governmental Decontamination Service, to provide decontamination and cleansing assistance after chemical, radiological, biological, or nuclear incidents and major accidental releases of harmful materials.