Editing Colin Challen (section)

==Career==
Challen unsuccessfully stood for [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|parliament]] at the [[1992 United Kingdom general election|1992 general election]] in the constituency of [[Beverley (UK Parliament constituency)|Beverley]]. He finished in third place and more than 22,000 votes behind the winner [[James Cran]]. He entered parliament at the [[2001 United Kingdom general election|2001 general election]] for [[Morley and Rothwell (UK Parliament constituency)|Morley and Rothwell]] following the retirement through ill health of Labour MP [[John Gunnell]]. Colin Challen was elected with a majority of 12,090 and made his maiden speech on 25 June 2001,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2001-06-25 |title=Bound Volume Hansard - Debate |url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200102/cmhansrd/vo010625/debtext/10625-23.htm#10625-23_spnew0}}</ref> in which he spoke of [[Herbert Henry Asquith]] who was born in [[Morley, West Yorkshire|Morley]]. He was re-elected at the [[2005 United Kingdom general election|2005 general election]], retaining his seat with a majority of 12,343.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/vote2005/html/413.stm|title= Election 2005 {{!}} Results {{!}} Morley & Rothwell|work=BBC News|accessdate=8 May 2019}}</ref>

A member of the [[League Against Cruel Sports]] for over 40 years, he served on several [[Select committee (United Kingdom)|select committee]]s: The Environmental Audit Committee (since 2001), the Joint Committee on Consolidation of Bills (since 2001), the Unopposed Bills Panel (since 2004) and the DECC Select committee (2009/10). He is an Honorary Associate of the [[National Secular Society]].

On 29 January 2007 Challen announced that he would not contest the 2010 general election after a Boundary Commission review abolished his constituency, thus letting [[Ed Balls]] contest the new [[Morley and Outwood (UK Parliament constituency)|Morley and Outwood]] constituency, formed from a merger of parts of Morley and Rothwell and Balls' also abolished [[Normanton (UK Parliament constituency)|Normanton]] constituency.

In 2013 Challen opened an art gallery called 'artHERENT' in Scarborough (North Yorkshire) Market, to display recent works. The first exhibition, "Is there any hope for the dead? Reliquaries and other items" started in September 2013. His most recent exhibition "Drawing on Myth" in 2017 was exhibited at the Woodend Creative Workspace in Scarborough. Challen also exhibited in Hull with the Kingston Art Group in 2017 following Hull being named as the City of Culture.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.colinchallen.org/about.html|title=About|publisher=Colin Challen|accessdate=8 May 2019|archive-date=8 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190508125217/http://www.colinchallen.org/about.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 2020 Challen gained an MA in fine art at Teesside University (MIMA School of Art and Design).