Geoff Hoon
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| The Right Honourable Geoff Hoon MP |
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 28 June 2007 |
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| Prime Minister | Gordon Brown |
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| Preceded by | Jacqui Smith |
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| In office 6 May 2006 – 27 June 2007 |
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| Prime Minister | Tony Blair |
| Preceded by | Douglas Alexander |
| Succeeded by | Jim Murphy |
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| In office 5 May 2005 – 6 May 2006 |
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| Prime Minister | Tony Blair |
| Preceded by | Peter Hain |
| Succeeded by | Jack Straw |
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| In office 11 October 1999 – 5 May 2005 |
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| Prime Minister | Tony Blair |
| Preceded by | George Robertson |
| Succeeded by | John Reid |
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Member of Parliament
for Ashfield |
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 9 April 1992 |
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| Preceded by | Frank Haynes |
| Majority | 10,213 (24.3%) |
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| Born | 6 December 1953 Derby, UK |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Labour |
| Spouse | Elaine Anne Dumelow |
| Residence | 12 Downing Street |
| Alma mater | Jesus College, Cambridge |
Geoffrey William Hoon (born December 6, 1953) is a British politician. He is Labour Member of Parliament for Ashfield, and Chief Whip and Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury since Gordon Brown became Prime Minister.
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[edit] Early life
Geoff Hoon was born in Derby, England, the son of railwayman Ernest (who also saw action in the RAF in World War Two, serving in India and Burma) and June Collett. He was educated at the independent Nottingham High School (joining the CCF from 1967-70 - few recent Labour politicians have had any type of military experience). Before university, he worked as a labourer in a furniture factory for a year from 1972-3, then went to Jesus College, Cambridge, being the first in his family to go to university, where he earned a BA degree in law in 1974, followed by a master's degree. He was a law lecturer at the University of Leeds from 1976 until 1982, and was a warden at the all-male Devonshire Hall. He was called to the Bar at Gray's Inn in 1978, and was also a visiting law professor at the University of Louisville, Kentucky from 1980-1. He became a practising barrister for two years in 1982, in Nottingham.
He claims to be not very politically correct, especially with his blunt and forthright views on female colleagues or the role of women in the armed forces.
[edit] Member of Parliament
Hoon was elected as a Member of the European Parliament for Derbyshire in 1984 and served in Brussels and Strasbourg for ten years. He was elected as a member of the British House of Commons at the 1992 general election for Ashfield following the retirement of the sitting Labour MP Frank Haynes. Hoon held the seat with a majority of 12,987 and has remained the MP there since, making his maiden speech on May 20, 1992. His notorious skill is stonewalling - deflecting difficult questions by playing a straight bat, or appearing to do so.
[edit] Shadow Cabinet and in government
In Parliament, he was promoted by John Smith in 1994 when he was appointed as an opposition whip, and in 1995 he joined the frontbench team as a spokesman on Trade and Industry. Following the 1997 general election he became a member of the government of Tony Blair as the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Lord Chancellor's Department, being promoted to the rank of Minister of State in the same department in 1998. In 1999, he was briefly a minister at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, before entering the cabinet later in the year as the Secretary of State for Defence. He became a member of the Privy Council in 1999. He served as the Lord Privy Seal and the Leader of the House of Commons from the 2005 general election until 5 May 2006. He was appointed on that day as Minister for Europe.
[edit] Secretary of State for Defence
Hoon was in charge of the MoD during a period of massive deployments of British troops, including;
- 2000 - Operation Palliser - Sierra Leone
- 2001 - Exercise Saif Sareea II - Oman
- 2001 - Operation Veritas - Afghanistan
- 2003 - Operation Telic - Iraq
Like many who have held the office before him Hoon was forced to make some difficult defence procurement decisions. The MoD is committed to competitive procurement and operates perhaps the most open defence procurement process in the world.[citation needed] The adherence to this policy caused significant friction between the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and its largest supplier, BAE Systems. Hoon, and the MoD as a whole, refused the company's arguments that it should be treated as a "national champion." BAE have been accused of demanding contracts, e.g the Type 45 destroyers. Recent events have demonstrated that the MoD will not entertain such practices, following the delays to the Nimrod MRA4 maritime patrol jet and Astute class submarine projects BAE was force to write off £750m against the contracts.
In a 2003 interview on the BBC's Breakfast with Frost, Hoon asserted that the UK was willing to use nuclear weapons against Iraqi forces "in the right circumstances."[1][2]
Comment on Geoff Hoon's public persona has varied wildly from that of non-descript minister to a capable Defence Secretary and a "safe pair of hands" during and shortly after the 2003 Iraq War, to adjectives such as "slippery" and "dishonest" during the Dr. David Kelly Affair. The label "Geoff Who?" was applied by many national newspapers and he was given the joke nickname "Buff" (buffoon). He was widely expected to resign on the publication of the resulting Hutton Report. Whilst many were not surprised by the absence of any claim of wrong-doing on Tony Blair's behalf there was widespread disbelief that both Hoon and his Permanent Secretary, Sir Kevin Tebbit, were also completely cleared of any impropriety. Hutton concluded that there was no "underhand" strategy in the naming of Kelly but that the Ministry of Defence failed to inform and advise him of the effects his name entering the public domain. Hoon was unpopular throughout the Armed Forces, who considered him to be an advocate of unnecessary change and accused him of weakening the Forces. In particular, the then Chief of the Defence Staff, Admiral Sir Michael Boyce, publicly accused Hoon of neglecting morale and efficiency in his policies. The military's low opinion of him was long-standing and dated back to his handling of the Chinook helicopter crash on the Mull of Kintyre. This can be summed up in his well-known nickname amongst the services at the time as "TCH", or "That C**t Hoon".
On June 23, 2003 MP Geoff Hoon continued to claim that two trailers found in Iraq were mobile weapons laboratories.[3] This was in spite of the fact that it had been leaked to the press by Dr David Kelly[4] and other weapons inspectors that they were nothing of the sort. The trailers were for filling hydrogen balloons for artillery ranging and were sold to Iraq by a British company, Marconi.[5]
In an interview in April 2004, Geoff Hoon said that more could have been done to help David Kelly, who supposedly killed himself on July 17, 2003, after being named as the source of Andrew Gilligan's controversial Today programme report.
On July 21, 2004 Hoon announced major changes to the British armed forces. This review, Future Capabilities, is an extension of the White Paper Delivering Security in a Changing World which was published in December 2003. Although wide ranging highlights include:
- Reduction in Regular Army personnel from 108,500 to 102,000
- Purchase of the four leased C-17s and one additional aircraft
- Confirmation of two major defence procurement projects, the Typhoon and Future Carrier (CVF)
- Withdrawal of three Type 42 destroyers and three Type 23 frigates
- Reduction in numbers of the Tornado F3
- Withdrawal of entire SEPECAT Jaguar force by 2007 and closure of its base RAF Coltishall
[edit] References
- ^ "UK restates nuclear threat", BBC News, 2003-02-23.
- ^ Geoff Hoon, interview by David Frost, Breakfast with Frost, BBC, February 23, 2003.
- ^ Hansard (June 23, 2003). Hansard - Written Answers - Column 696. House of Commons Hansard. Retrieved on 2008-01-16.
- ^ Hutton (September 24, 2003). Hutton Inquiry Hearing Transcripts - Peter Stuart Beaumont. The Hutton Inquiry. Retrieved on 2008-01-16.
- ^ Peter Beaumont, Antony Barnett and Gaby Hinsliff (Sunday June 15, 2003). Iraqi mobile labs nothing to do with germ warfare, report finds. The Observer. Retrieved on 2007-07-24.
[edit] Publications
- The Royal Navy Handbook: Ministry of Defence by Alan West, foreword by Geoff Hoon, 2003, Conway Maritime, ISBN 0-85177-952-2
[edit] External links
- GeoffhoonMP.co.uk Official Site
- ePolitix - Geoff Hoon
- Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Geoff Hoon MP
- TheyWorkForYou.com - Geoff Hoon MP
- Witnesses: Geoff Hoon in the Hutton Inquiry includes testimony transcripts, from The Guardian
- Mr Hoon's Site at Labour Party
[edit] News items
- Anger of parent of two Black Watch soldiers serving in Iraq
- Guardian profile January 2004
- Times profile January 2004
[edit] Video clips
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Frank Haynes |
Member of Parliament for Ashfield 1992 – present |
Incumbent |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by George Robertson |
Secretary of State for Defence 1999–2005 |
Succeeded by John Reid |
| Preceded by Peter Hain |
Leader of the House of Commons 2005–2006 |
Succeeded by Jack Straw |
| Lord Privy Seal 2005—2006 |
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| Preceded by Douglas Alexander |
Minister of State for Europe 2006–2007 |
Succeeded by Jim Murphy |
| Preceded by Jacqui Smith |
Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury 2007 – present |
Incumbent |
| Government Chief Whip 2007 – present |
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