Leeds MPs

HAMILTON, Fabian (born 1955) Labour. Graphic designer and computer systems consultant.

He was born into a Jewish family Fabian Uziell-Hamilton. He was elected to Leeds City Council in 1987 and the same year he became the chairman of Leeds West Constituency Labour Party. He was selected to stand for Leeds North East in 1992 but failed to win the seat. The constituency then decided in July 1995 to opt for an all women short list but the National Executive overturned the decision on account of the potential candidate’s left-wing views. Consequently, Hamilton stood again for Leeds North East in 1997 turning a Conservative majority of 4,244 round to a Labour one of 6,959. He was subsequently re-elected in the 2001, 2010 and the 2015 general elections. He has a particular interest in the Middle East, Europe, Southern Africa, and foreign affairs generally, consequently he became a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee in 2001 and in 2016, with Labour now in opposition, he was appointed Shadow Foreign Minister outside the Cabinet working with Shadow Foreign Secretary , Hilary Benn. He has sat on various committees. An ardent life-long anti-Trident campaigner, he claimed that ‘I’m not a loony leftie nutter. I just can’t see the logic in maintaining such a weapons system.’ For further reading see Yorkshire Post, 8 January 2016; http://www.parliament.uk.