John Reid, Baron Reid of Cardowan

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The Rt Hon. John Reid

John Reid (born 8 May 1947) is a British politician, MP for Airdrie and Shotts, and Home Secretary.

Background

Born in Bellshill, North Lanarkshire, to mixed-denomination parents, Reid was educated at St. Patrick's High School in Coatbridge, attending the school at the same time as his Secretary of State for Scotland successor Helen Liddell, before attending the University of Stirling, gaining a bachelor's degree in history and a Ph.D in economic history. After graduation he worked as a research officer for the Labour Party and as a trade union organiser. He entered parliament in 1987 as MP for the Motherwell North constituency (later renamed Hamilton North and Bellshill).

Reid was married to the former Cathie McGowan, with whom he had two sons, from 1969 until her death in 1998. In 2002 he married the Brazilian film director Carine Adler.

Reid gave up his 60-a-day cigarette habit in 2003 for health reasons, although his appointment as Health secretary may have increased his reasons to give up!

Political career

Reid is a senior member of the Labour Party, and as of May 8th 2006 has has held eight Cabinet posts in seven years: Secretary of State for Scotland, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (the first Roman Catholic to hold the position), Minister Without Portfolio (Labour Party Chairman), Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Council, Secretary of State for Health, Secretary of State for Defence and Home Secretary. It was reported by Private Eye that his reaction, on 12 June 2003, to being appointed Health Secretary following the resignation of Alan Milburn, was "Oh fuck, not health": the publication since then has regularly appended the phrase "oh fuck, not health" to any mention of his name.

Other positions held include Minister of State for Defence (1997-1998) and Minister of State for Transport (1998-1999). Following the incumbent Labour Party's 2005 general election victory, he was moved as Secretary of State for Health to the position of Secretary of State for Defence, a move to a department Reid knew well.

An MP since 1987, his seat was abolished in boundary changes prior to the 2005 general election. Reid is a Roman Catholic, and there was much speculation that he would become MP for the predominantly Catholic and rock-solid Labour seat of Glasgow East, however he was nominated for the seat of Airdrie and Shotts, a predominantly Protestant area, which he took with 59% of the vote.

Reid is a former member of the Communist Party of Great Britain (of which he has said: "I used to be a Communist. I used to believe in Santa Claus"); he regards New Labour as a natural development of Bevanism. More controversially, during the 1990s Bosnian War, Reid struck up a friendship with Serb rebel leader and indicted war-criminal Radovan Karadzic; Reid has admitted that he spent three days at a luxury Geneva lakeside hotel as a guest of Karadzic in 1993.

Reid has a reputation as a tough fighter and a shrewd negotiator; he is also regarded as one of the most intelligent MPs in the House. Additionally, he is often considered as a possible 'Stop Brown' candidate when Tony Blair relinquishes the Labour Party leadership. However, Reid denied any such ambitions )

Recently, he caused controversy through calling BBC Newsnight presenter Jeremy Paxman a "West London wanker", after a remark about John Reid being "an attack dog".

After speaking on 4 February 2006, about NATO modernisation process, ahead of a security conference in Germany, which US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and German Chancellor Angela Merkel were attending, Reid asserted in a press interview that "no institution has the divine right to exist".

On 19 March 2006, in response to former interim Iraqi prime minister Iyad Allawi's claim that Iraq is in the grip of civil war, Reid said "Every single politician I have met here [in Iraq] from the prime minister to the president, the defence minister and indeed Iyad Allawi himself said to me there's an increase in the sectarian killing, but there's not a civil war and we will not allow a civil war to develop".

On 29 April 2006, police found a small quantity (less than 1 gram) of Cannabis resin in a guest room of his home. Reid denied all knowledge of the drug, and Strathclyde Police have stated that he is not under suspicion of having committed any offence.

On May 5 2006, Reid was appointed Home Secretary, replacing Charles Clarke who was removed in the wake of a Home Office scandal involving the release of foreign national prisoners..

On May 112006, it was revealed by Frank Field MP that "Home Secretary John Reid would 'certainly' be among those to challenge for a job widely expected to become Mr Brown's".[1]

John Reid's management style is frequently seen as abrasive. He is seen as a hit man who enters a department and often rushes through changes. A former director at the Department of Health said "When John Reid came in we produced a series of major policy changes without consulting people, without even sharing them at draft stage...It’s not surprising, therefore, that they [NHS managers] didn’t feel the same level of ownership". Reid's performance as a 'Tony's Henchman' often means that he goes into a department, makes changes, but leaves before they cause too many problems. In this function he is seen as a 'do-er', although he lives upto the typical New Labour lack of substance.

See also

• House of Commons
• Nye Bevan

External links

• 10 Downing Street - Dr John Reid official biography
• Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: John Reid MP
• TheyWorkForYou.com - John Reid MP
• John Reid — profile from BBC News Online, 17 October 2002
• The Operator - John Reid profile, The Guardian, March 2, 2002

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