Editing Roger Berry

{{Short description|British Labour Party politician|bot=PearBOT 5}}
{{For|the American figure skater|Roger Berry (figure skater)}}
{{EngvarB|date=October 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2024}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix =
| name = Roger Berry
| honorific-suffix =
| image = 
| office = [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] <br /> for [[Kingswood (UK Parliament constituency)|Kingswood]]
| parliament =
| predecessor = [[Robert Hayward, Baron Hayward|Robert Hayward]]
| successor = [[Chris Skidmore]]
| term_start = 9 April 1992
| term_end = 12 April 2010
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1948|7|4|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Huddersfield]], [[West Yorkshire]], England
| death_date =
| death_place =
| nationality = British
| spouse = Alison Delyth
| party = [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]]
| relations = Ruth Berry {{small|(Mother)}}
| children =
| residence =
| alma_mater = [[University of Bristol]]<br />[[University of Sussex]]
| occupation =
| profession =
| religion =
| signature =
| website =
| footnotes =
}}

'''Roger Leslie Berry''' (born 4 July 1948) is a British [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] politician, who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for [[Kingswood (UK Parliament constituency)|Kingswood]] from the [[1992 United Kingdom general election|1992 general election]] until his defeat at the [[2010 United Kingdom general election|2010 general election]].

==Early life==
Roger Berry was born in 1948 in [[Huddersfield]] and educated at the Dalton County Primary School in Huddersfield; [[Huddersfield New College]]; the [[University of Bristol]], where he obtained a BSc in Economics in 1970; and the [[University of Sussex]] where he was awarded a DPhil in Economics in 1977.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rogerberrymp.co.uk/7eb7b953-ac58-4b24-295b-d11e39ce10ed |title=Roger Berry MP – Biography |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080617214632/http://www.rogerberrymp.co.uk/7eb7b953-ac58-4b24-295b-d11e39ce10ed |archivedate=17 June 2008 }}</ref> 
Berry lectured in Economics at the [[School of Oriental and African Studies|School of African and Asian Studies]] in London from 1973–4; Institute of Development Studies at the [[University of Sussex]] from 1973–4; the [[University of Papua New Guinea]] from 1974–8; and the University of Bristol from 1978–92. He was elected as a councillor to the [[Avon County Council]] in 1981, becoming the deputy in 1985 and the Labour group leader from 1986–92; he stood down from the council in 1993.

==Parliamentary career==
Berry contested [[Weston-super-Mare (UK Parliament constituency)|Weston-super-Mare]] at the [[1983 United Kingdom general election|1983 general election]] but was defeated by [[Jerry Wiggin]]. Berry also unsuccessfully fought the seat of [[Bristol (European Parliament constituency)|Bristol]] for the [[European Parliament]] in [[1984 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom|1984]].

Berry was selected to contest the marginal seat of Kingswood at the [[1987 United Kingdom general election|1987 general election]] but was defeated by Conservative [[Robert Hayward, Baron Hayward|Robert Hayward]] by over 4,000 votes. Berry again contested Kingswood against Hayward at the [[United Kingdom general election|1992 general election]] and this time was victorious, winning the seat with a majority of 2,370. He made his [[maiden speech]] on 10 June 1992.

Berry was a frequent "rebel" against the Labour government after 1997. He was a Member of the [[Trade and Industry Committee (House of Commons)|Trade and Industry Committee]]. On 17 January 2007, he criticised the government for halting a corruption inquiry into [[Al Yamamah|arms sales to Saudi Arabia]], saying it would do irreparable damage to
Britain's reputation.<ref>{{cite news | title = Watchdog chief warns Saudi arms probe 'must be re-opened' | date = 17 January 2007 | url = http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23382130-details/Watchdog%20chief%20warns%20Saudi%20arms%20probe%20'must%20be%20re-opened'/article.do | archive-url = https://archive.today/20130506155801/http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23382130-details/Watchdog%20chief%20warns%20Saudi%20arms%20probe%20'must%20be%20re-opened'/article.do | url-status = dead | archive-date = 6 May 2013 | publisher = Evening Standard }}</ref>

In December 2007 Berry added his name to a petition to save the threatened [[Somerdale Factory|Cadbury's Somerdale Factory]] from demolition.<ref>{{cite news | title = Save Our Somerdale | date = 13 December 2007 | url = http://www.saveoursomerdale.co.uk/viewPetition/ | publisher = Thinking Differently Ltd | url-status = dead | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20080407210624/http://www.saveoursomerdale.co.uk/viewPetition/ | archivedate = 7 April 2008 | df = dmy-all }}</ref>

Early on in his parliamentary career, Berry became known as a [[disability rights]] activist, and was Secretary and Co-Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Disability Group.<ref name=druk-trustee/>

Berry lost his seat to [[Conservative Party (United Kingdom)|Conservative Party]] candidate [[Chris Skidmore]] in the [[2010 United Kingdom general election|2010 general election]].<ref>{{cite news | title = Election 2010-Constituency:Kingswood | date = 6 May 2010 | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/election2010/results/constituency/c47.stm | publisher = BBC | access-date = 7 May 2010 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100510042935/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/election2010/results/constituency/c47.stm | archive-date = 10 May 2010 | url-status = live }}</ref> The seat was not very high among the Tory targets, and his defeat was the result of a swing of nearly 10% in favour of the Tories, with Labour Party officials blaming the result on a restructuring of constituency boundaries which were seen to favour the Tory vote.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.thisisbath.co.uk/news/Upset-Berry-loses-Kingswood/article-2128438-detail/article.html |title=Roger Berry ousted in Kingswood in huge vote swing to Tories &#124; Bath News |publisher=This is Bath |date=7 May 2010 |accessdate=4 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100512131411/http://www.thisisbath.co.uk/news/Upset-Berry-loses-Kingswood/article-2128438-detail/article.html |archive-date=12 May 2010 |url-status=live }}</ref> 

After losing his seat, Berry became a trustee of the charity Disability Rights UK<ref name=druk-trustee>{{cite web |url=http://disabilityrightsuk.org/about-us/our-team/trustees |title=Trustees |publisher=Disability Rights UK |accessdate=30 July 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140809200051/http://disabilityrightsuk.org/about-us/our-team/trustees |archive-date=9 August 2014 |url-status=live }}</ref> and served as chair of the Avon and Bristol Law Centre.

==Personal life==
He married Alison Delyth in December 1996 in [[Pontypridd]].

==References==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* [http://www.rogerberrymp.co.uk/ Website of Roger Berry MP]
* {{Hansard-contribs | dr-roger-berry | Roger Berry }}
* [http://politics.guardian.co.uk/person/0,9290,-396,00.html Guardian Unlimited Politics – Ask Aristotle: Roger Berry MP]
* [https://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/roger_berry/kingswood TheyWorkForYou.com – Roger Berry MP]
* [http://publicwhip.org.uk/mp.php?mpn=Roger_Berry&mpc=Kingswood The Public Whip – Roger Berry MP] voting record
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/mpdb/html/349.stm BBC Politics page]

===News items===
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/uk/2000/budget2000/672004.stm 2000 Budget]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Berry, Roger}}
[[Category:1948 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Politics of Bristol]]
[[Category:Politics of South Gloucestershire District]]
[[Category:Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies]]
[[Category:Councillors in South West England]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1992–1997]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1997–2001]]
[[Category:UK MPs 2001–2005]]
[[Category:UK MPs 2005–2010]]
[[Category:British disability rights activists]]
[[Category:People from Huddersfield]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Sussex]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the University of Papua New Guinea]]
[[Category:People educated at Huddersfield New College]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Bristol]]