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The Rt Hon Dr John Reid
Home Secretary
In office 5 May 2006 – 27 June 2007
Prime Minister	Tony Blair
Preceded by	Charles Clarke
Succeeded by	Jacqui Smith
Secretary of State for Defence
In office 6 May 2005 – 5 May 2006
Preceded by	Geoff Hoon
Succeeded by	Des Browne
Secretary of State for Health
In office 13 June 2003 – 6 May 2005
Preceded by	Alan Milburn
Succeeded by	Patricia Hewitt
Lord President of the Council & Leader of the House of Commons
In office 4 April 2003 – 13 June 2003
Preceded by	Robin Cook
Succeeded by	Peter Hain (Commons) Gareth Williams (Lord President)
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
In office 25 January 2001 – 24 October 2004
Preceded by	Peter Mandelson
Succeeded by	Paul Murphy
Secretary of State for Scotland
In office 17 May 1999 – 25 January 2001
Preceded by	Donald Dewar
Succeeded by	Helen Liddell
Member of Parliament for Airdrie and Shotts
Incumbent
Assumed office  5 May 2005
Preceded by	Helen Liddell
Majority	14,084 (42.5%)
Born	08 May 1947 (1947-05-08) (age 60) Bellshill, Lanarkshire, Scotland, UK
Nationality	British
Political party	Labour
Alma mater	University of Stirling
Occupation	Academic (Historian), Activist

John Reid (born 8 May 1947) is a British politician who is the former Home Secretary^[1] and Member of Parliament (MP) for the Scottish constituency of Airdrie and Shotts in the United Kingdom.^[2] He is to stand down from parliament at the next general election.

Contents 1 Background 2 Political ideology 3 Government career 3.1 Cabinet positions 1999-2003 3.2 Secretary of State for Health 3.3 Secretary of State for Defence 3.4 Home Secretary 4 Votes 5 Football 6 See also 7 References 8 External links

Born in Bellshill, North Lanarkshire, to mixed-denomination parents, Reid was educated in Coatbridge. Having left school at 16, Reid worked as a clerk at a Glasgow Law office. Following this he attended the Open University in his mid-twenties to study a Foundation Course and then later attended the University of Stirling, gaining a Bachelor's degree in history and a Ph.D. in economic history, with a thesis on the slave trade written from a Marxist perspective, entitled Warrior Aristocrats In Crisis: the political effects of the transition from the slave trade to palm oil commerce in the nineteenth century Kingdom of Dahomey. ^[3][4]

From 1979 to 1983 he was a research officer for the Labour Party in Scotland, and from 1983 to 1985 he was a political adviser to Labour leader Neil Kinnock. From 1986 to 1987, he was Scottish Organiser of Trade Unionists for Labour.^[2] He entered parliament at the 1987 general election as MP for the Motherwell North constituency. After boundary changes, he was returned at the 1997 election for the new constituency of Hamilton North and Bellshill; and after further boundary changes in 2005, he was returned at the 2005 election for the new constituency of Airdrie and Shotts with 59% of the vote.^[3]

Reid was married to the late Cathie McGowan from 1969 until her sudden death from a heart attack in 1998.^[2][3] In 2002 he married the Jewish Brazilian film director Carine Adler ^[5]. An alcoholic, Reid stopped drinking alcohol in 1994, allegedly as a consequence of his sexual harassment of fellow government Minister Dawn Primarolo,^[6] and stopped smoking cigarettes in 2003 ^[7]. According to George Galloway, Reid is an accomplished singer and guitar player and "taught a whole generation of Labour activists, including yours truly, the entire I.R.A. songbook".The claim about his musicianship is supported by the fact that, in January 2001, he was named an honorary member of the Scottish group "The Big Elastic Band" and promised to play guitar on their next album^[8]. He was an early member of Labour Friends of Israel.^[9]

Reid grew up in a very working-class environment. He left school at 16, worked as an insurance clerk, and married, only later returning to education through the Open University.^[3] At university, Reid for a time became a 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"^[3]. However, the secretary of the Young Communist League, Jim White, who went to university with Reid, recalls: "He told us he was a Leninist and Stalinist. Although I was suspicious about his transition, we couldn't tell if he was acting. We let him join." On securing the support of the Communists and Labour students, Reid was able to run for president of the student's union and win the election. His political career was launched.^[10]

He moved on from Leninism after leaving university with his doctorate, and became a researcher for Scottish Labour party.^[11]

His intellectual familiarity with Marxism helped him in the early 1980s when he compared the split within Labour between the left-wing Tony Benn and Neil Kinnock as one between Bennite "quasi-Leninists", and "Luxemburgers", (named after the German revolutionary Rosa Luxemburg), who favoured the more soft-left Neil Kinnock. He lent his support to Kinnock.^[4]

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 later indicted war-criminal) Radovan Karadžić; Reid admitted he spent three days at a luxury Geneva lakeside hotel as a guest of Karadžić in 1993.^[4] This was during the period (April 1992-July 1995) in which the crimes for which Karadžić was indicted in 1995 were committed.^[12]

John Reid was Opposition Spokesman on Children from 1989 to 1990, and Opposition Spokesman on Defence from 1990 to 1997. He served as Minister of State for Defence from 1997 until he became Minister of State for Transport in 1998. Reid held seven Cabinet posts in seven years while Tony Blair was Prime Minister: ^[2]

• Secretary of State for Scotland
• Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
• Minister Without Portfolio and 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
• Home Secretary

Reid was appointed Secretary of State for Scotland on 17 May 1999. His time in this position was characterised by conflict with the newly devolved Scottish Parliament, and Reid was labelled "a patronising bastard" by Henry McLeish. ^[13] John Reid became Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in January 2001 following the resignation of Peter Mandelson. Reid was the first Roman Catholic to hold the position ^[14]. Reid was appointed Chairman of the Labour Party and Minister Without Portfolio on October 24, 2002.^[15]

In March 2003, Robin Cook resigned as Leader of the House of Commons due to his objections to the legality of Britain's involvement in the Iraq war. John Reid was appointed to take over the Office brief on 4 April as a heavyweight figure was more likely to ensure the Commons' continued support for the war.^[16] He was soon needed elsewhere in the Government however and held the position for only three months and was succeeded by Peter Hain.

John Reid was made Secretary of State for Health in June 2003, replacing Alan Milburn after the latter's resignation. He was reportedly less than happy with the appointment, being quoted by Private Eye at the time as reacting "Oh fuck, it's health."^[17] His autocratic management style came under considerable fire from National Health Service (NHS) leaders. A former director at the Department of Health criticised Reid's style of leadership, saying: "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 [the NHS managers] didn’t feel the same level of ownership [of the policy changes]"^[18].

As Health Secretary, John Reid had been in favour of limiting the government's proposed smoking ban as much as possible. In their 2005 election manifesto, Reid introduced a pledge to ban smoking in all places where food was served. However, his successor Patricia Hewitt favoured a complete ban. Reid won in the cabinet, gaining an exemption for private clubs and pubs that did not serve food ^[19]. However, the House of Commons rebels proposing a complete ban were successful when MPs were given a free vote on the issue. Patricia Hewitt voted with the rebels against the Cabinet's proposals ^[20].

In March 2005, Reid called BBC Newsnight presenter Jeremy Paxman a "West London wanker", after Paxman introduced John Reid in an interview as "an all-purpose attack dog" who "came out snarling and spent less time promoting Labour policy than trying to put the opposition into intensive care". Paxman later accused Reid of having a chip on his shoulder.^[21]

Following the incumbent Labour Party's 2005 general election victory, John Reid was appointed Secretary of State for Defence. He replaced Geoff Hoon.^[22]

Reid took an aggressive approach to defending his government's international policy. After speaking ahead of a conference on NATO modernization in Germany on 4 February 2006, Reid asserted in a press interview that "no institution has the divine right to exist" ^[23]. Similarly 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 defended the British Government's contrary view. He stated: "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".^[24]

On 29 April 2006, police found a small quantity (less than 1 gram) of cannabis resin in a guest room of his home^[25]. Reid denied all knowledge of the drug, and Strathclyde Police have stated that he is not under suspicion of having committed any offence. The street value of the drugs would have been less than 85p.

By the time of the 2006 Israel-Lebanon Conflict, Reid was no longer Defence Secretary, having been succeeded by Des Browne.

Reid was appointed Home Secretary on 5 May 2006, replacing Charles Clarke after the latter was removed in the wake of a Home Office scandal involving the release of foreign national prisoners.^[14] Reid caused considerable controversy by attacking the leadership and management systems previously in place in the Home Office. He declared it to be "not fit for purpose" and vowed to "make the public feel safe"^[26]. An early decision during his time at the Home Office was to move child molesters living in hostels near schools further away from them.^[27] Reid also caused controversy in August 2006 by calling for the creation of an independent committee to impose a national annual limit on the number of immigrants entering the UK ^[28]. The Guardian claimed that Reid was "playing to the racist gallery" and compared his plans to Soviet-style central planning of the economy. ^[29]

Because of the prisons' overcrowding crisis in Birmingham he announced emergency measures on October 9, 2006 amid fears that the prison population was nearing maximum capacity ^[30]. John Reid has announced his support of measures to restrict the ability of extremist messages to be disseminated on the internet so as to make the web a more hostile place for terrorists ^[31].

In 2006 Reid and the Home Office lost their appeal against the High Court ruling in the Afghan hijackers case 2006.^[32]. In this controversial case, a group of nine Afghan men who hijacked a Boeing 727 in February 2000, while fleeing the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, were granted leave to remain in the United Kingdom.^[33] The original ruling in 2004 ruled that returning the men to Afghanistan would breach their human rights under the Human Rights Act 1998. The Home Office granted the men "temporary leave to remain", which involved restricting their freedom of movement and did not allow them to work^[34]; however, in 2006, the High Court ruled that the men must be granted "discretionary leave to remain", which includes the right to work.^[33] Reid challenged the ruling in the Court of Appeal, arguing that the Home Office "should have the power to grant only temporary admission to failed asylum seekers who are only allowed to stay in the UK due to their human rights".^[34]

In May 2007, Reid announced his intention to resign from the Cabinet when Tony Blair left office, and stated his plans to return to the Labour backbenches. He stated he would support Gordon Brown in the leadership election and his administration.^[1] In September 2007 he announced that he would not seek re-election at the next general election.^[35]

In December 2004 and October 2005, John Reid voted in favour of a bill enabling the British national identity card.^[36][37] He voted for the NHS Foundation Trust proposal.^[38] He also voted in favour of allowing unmarried heterosexual and homosexual couples to adopt,^[39] and for lowering the age of consent for gay sex to 16.^[40] John Reid voted for the replacement of the Trident system.^[41] He voted against all the House of Lords reform options except a fully appointed House of Lords.^[40]

On the issue of Labour anti-terrorism laws, he voted against only allowing people detained at a police station to be fingerprinted and searched for an identifying birthmark if it is in connection with a terrorism investigation. ^[42] He voted against changing the text in the Prevention of Terrorism Bill from "The Secretary of State may make a control order against an individual" to "The Secretary of State may apply to the court for a control order...".^[43]

In March 2003, he voted against a motion that the case had not yet been made for for war against Iraq,^[44] and voted for the declaration of war against Iraq.^[45] In June 2007, he voted against a motion calling for an independent inquiry by a committee of Privy Counsellors into the Iraq War.^[46]

On 28 September 2007 it was announced John Reid would become Chairman of Celtic F.C. and he took over as Chairman on 7 November 2007. His appointment was ratified by Celtic's shareholders on 19 November 2007 despite him being labelled a "war criminal" by some of the club's fans. ^[47] Reid is a lifelong supporter of the club and described the appointment as the next best thing to playing for his heroes.^[48] Additionally he holds 3,000 ordinary shares and 3,000 preference shares in Celtic.^[49]

• House of Commons
• Nye Bevan
• Cabinet of the United Kingdom

• 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
• SourceWatch profile of John Reid MP

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by James Hamilton	Member of Parliament for Motherwell North 1987–1997	Succeeded by constituency abolished
Preceded by new constituency	Member of Parliament for Hamilton North and Bellshill 1997–2005	Succeeded by constituency abolished
Preceded by Helen Liddell	Member of Parliament for Airdrie and Shotts 2005 – present	Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by Donald Dewar	Secretary of State for Scotland 1999–2001	Succeeded by Helen Liddell
Preceded by Peter Mandelson	Secretary of State for Northern Ireland 2001–2002	Succeeded by Paul Murphy
Preceded by Charles Clarke	Minister without Portfolio (Labour Party Chair) 2002–2003	Succeeded by Ian McCartney
Preceded by Robin Cook	Lord President of the Council 2003	Succeeded by The Lord Williams of Mostyn
	Leader of the House of Commons 2003	Succeeded by Peter Hain
Preceded by Alan Milburn	Secretary of State for Health 2003–2005	Succeeded by Patricia Hewitt
Preceded by Geoff Hoon	Secretary of State for Defence 2005–2006	Succeeded by Des Browne
Preceded by Charles Clarke	Secretary of State for Home Affairs 2006–2007	Succeeded by Jacqui Smith

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