Colin Pickthall (born 13 September 1944) in Dalton-in-Furness (then Lancashire, now Cumbria) is a politician in the United Kingdom. He is Labour member of Parliament for Lancashire West, was first elected to the Commons in 1992. He became a member of the CND and Labour Party in 1963. He currently is a Labour Party Branch secretary and chair, and a Constituency Chairman.
His father was a shipyard fitter. He attended Ulverston Grammar Shcool , University of Wales, obtaining a B.A. Hons. English Literature and History. He then went on to the University of Lancaster, where he obtained an M.A. with the thesis "The Influence of Socialism on 20th. Century British Poetry."
He married a Canadian, Judith Ann in 1973. Has 2 daughters: Alisoun and Jenny. He initially worked as an English lecturer in the Ruffwood Comprehensive School and Edge Hill Collecte of H.E. (where he became the Head of European Studies)
In 1987 he ran for office in West Lancashire, but lost to Tory by a couple thousand votes. Later, in 1989, he won the Ormskirk seat on the Lancashire County Council. In following elections in 1997 and 2001 he retained his seat by a vast majority. In 1992 he became member of the Select Committe on Agriculture, post that he maintained until 1997. In 1997 he was promoted to parliamentary private secretary to Alun Michael. He later served Jack Straw. However, he had to resign in 2000 over a police investigation of his election expenses. Since the police did not find anything wrong, he was later reinstated. In 2001 he was transferred to the Foreign Office, also under Jack Straw.
Mr. Pickthall is considered a leftist, usually campaigning about animal welfare (he is opposed to hare coursing and hunting) and environmental issues. Strangely, he is also opposed to wind turbines.
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