Stephen Hesford | |
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Member of Parliament for Wirral West |
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In office 2 May 1997 – 12 April 2010 |
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Preceded by | David Hunt |
Succeeded by | Esther McVey |
Personal details | |
Born |
Lowton St Mary's |
27 May 1957
Nationality | British |
Political party | Labour |
Alma mater | University of Bradford, University of Westminster |
Website | www.stephenhesfordmp.co.uk |
Stephen Hesford (born 27 May 1957) is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Wirral West from 1997 to 2010. Since leaving Parliament he has become a guest lecturer at the University of Chester.
Hesford was born in Lowton St Mary's, near Leigh, Lancashire and was educated at the Urmston Grammar School and the University of Bradford where he was awarded a BSc in Social Science in 1978. He went on to study at the Polytechnic of Central London and earned his LLM in 1980. He was called to the bar at Gray's Inn in 1981 and worked as a criminal law barrister in Altrincham, Cheshire until his election to Parliament.
He worked as an assistant to Joan Lestor, Labour MP for Eccles, in 1992 and also contested that year's General Election in South Suffolk where he finished in third place, 18,170 votes behind the sitting Conservative MP and junior environment minister Tim Yeo. He was elected to the House of Commons at the 1997 General Election for Wirral West when he defeated the former Cabinet minister David Hunt by 2,738 votes. He made his maiden speech on 3 July 1997, in which he recalled a constituency predecessor and former Commons Speaker Selwyn Lloyd.