Clive Soley Biography
23.05.05Clive Soley comes to Future Heathrow with a long career in national and West London politics. Elected to the House of Commons on 1979 (for Hammersmith, later Ealing, Acton and Shepherds Bush), Clive served front bench spokesperson on Housing, Planning, Local Government Home Affairs and Northern Ireland during Labour’s years in opposition. He was elected as chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party in 1997, was a member of Labour’s National Executive Council (1998-2001) and National Policy Forum (1993-2001). As a serving MP and resident of West London, Clive has first hand knowledge of the importance of Heathrow to the local and wider community as well as its environmental impact. He has long supported further development at Heathrow, but not at any cost. As he told the Ealing Gazette in 2001: “I live in Acton and when I’m in my garden I have to raise my voice; but if people can’t get their connections at Heathrow they’ll go to Paris or Amsterdam. We mustn’t throw the baby out with the bath water.” Prior to his election to Parliament, Clive Soley was a senior probation officer in London. He left secondary school at 15 and had many jobs including a period of National service in the RAF before going to Strathclyde University in 1964 where he gained an Honours degree in politics and psychology and a Diploma in Applied Social studies at Southampton University. Clive retired as an MP in 2005 and was elevated to the House of Lords in the dissolution honours.
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