- Syd Rapson
Sydney Norman John Rapson, known as Syd Rapson, a
politician in theUnited Kingdom , was born on17 April 1942 in theIsle of Wight and moved to thePaulsgrove area ofPortsmouth as a young child [He attended Paulsgrove Modern (now King Richard School): Garlick,M: Memories of Wymering and Paulsgrove(1998, Hampshire WEA) HAM 30108] . After leaving school he worked in the aeronautical industry for nearly forty years until becoming LabourMember of Parliament (MP) for Portsmouth North from1997 until he stood down at the 2005 general election. A former long servingcouncillor ["Deputy Leader" of the Council andLord Mayor of the City: Voices from Paulsgrove: Lee,S & Stedman, J (Ed) (1992,Portsmouth City Council Leisure Department) ISBN 187041215X ] , he was succeeded bySarah McCarthy-Fry MP.He had stronger
trade union credentials than many of the 1997 intake, having spent many years as anAmalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union activist and convenor. In Portsmouth, previously a Conservative Party stronghold, Rapson, a man from an "old school" tradition, disproved the claim of the Lib-Dem and Conservative parties that Labour was unelectable in the south of England. During his time in Parliament, the Labour party enjoyed healthy majorities in the three major economic hubs of the south coast of England: Portsmouth,Southampton andBrighton .His union links came from his career as an aircraft fitter, which also gave him the strong interest in defence which has been the hallmark of his parliamentary career.
He joined the Commons Defence Select Committee after the 2001 election. He generally had a very low profile around Parliament; he rarely contributed to debates and sat for four years on the low-key Accommodation and Works Committee.
Rapson appeared in the controversial TV show
Brass Eye , in which he was duped into presenting a segment on "trust-me trousers", supposedly worn by paedophiles and inflated to hide an erection.Notes
External links
[http://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/syd_rapson/portsmouth_north Political profile]
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