Tony Banks, Baron Stratford

Anthony Louis Banks, Baron Stratford (8 April 1943 – 8 January 2006), usually known as Tony Banks, was a British politician and Labour Party MP and member of the House of Lords.

He was formerly the Member of Parliament for West Ham and served as Sports Minister from 1997 to 1999. On January 5, 2006 he suffered a serious cerebral hemorrhage while on holiday in Florida, and died in hospital on January 8, aged 62.

Career

He was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and educated in London at St. John's School, Brixton, Archbishop Tenison's Grammar School in Kennington, the University of York and the London School of Economics. In 1964 he unsuccessfully stood for the Liberal Party in the first elections to the new London Boroughs.

He later joined the Labour Party, and during the 1970s and 1980s he was a prominent Labour member of the Greater London Council, representing Hammersmith (1970–1977) and Tooting (1981–1986). He was chairman of the GLC from 1985 until its abolition in 1986. In 1983 he was elected as Labour MP for Newham North West, which he held for fourteen years. He had defeated his predeceasor, Arthur Lewis, who had been deselected as the Labour candidate. Following a 1995 boundary review, Newham North West was expanded and renamed West Ham for the 1997 election and Banks represented that seat until the 2005 election, when he stood down.

Ministerial post

Banks was appointed as a minister in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, with special responsibilities for sport, after Labour's 1997 election victory. During this time, he famously called for foreign players competing in the English Premiership to become eligible to play for the England football team ("can you imagine seeing Cantona and Giggs swapping the Red of Manchester for the White of England?"). He also caused consternation by suggesting that the football teams of the four constituent parts of the UK be merged into one so that they could compete in the Olympic Games.Great Britain United, BBC News, 9 August 2000

Among his other ministerial responsibilities were listed buildings, and he approved some controversial additions including the 1930s Three Magpies pub in BirminghamListed Buildings, Guardian Unlimited gallery and numerous redundant NHS buildings.NHS hospital buildings now listed – Banks Department for Culture, Media and Sport press release, Distributed by PR Newswire, 14 November 1997 He was also responsible for Grade I listing the Severn Bridge.Severn Bridge and Aust Viaduct English Heritage Images of England, shows bridge was Grade I listed on 29 May 1998 during Banks's term in office

After two years in office, he stepped down to become the Prime Minister's envoy for England's bid to host the 2006 FIFA World Cup. The bid failed, with Germany winning the nomination. From then until the 2005 general election he remained a backbencher, though he made a failed bid to become Labour's candidate in the 2004 election for Mayor of London.

Retirement

In November 2004, he announced he would not stand at the 2005 general election and would retire from the House of Commons. Later he said one of his reasons for doing so was because he was tired of the monotony of the job; on his constituency work, he remarked: "I found it intellectually numbing, and tedious in the extreme". On May 13, 2005, it was announced that he would be created a life peer, and on June 23, 2005 the peerage was gazetted as Baron Stratford, of Stratford in the London Borough of Newham (Stratford being part of his former constituency).

Political Views

A vegetarian, Tony Banks was one of Parliament's staunchest supporters of animal rights, often speaking out against fox hunting and vivisection, and he was a vice-president of the League Against Cruel Sports. He was regarded as being on the left of the Labour Party, being staunchly republican, and an opponent of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and at one time a member of the Socialist Campaign Group. His only speeches regarding the 2002 invasion of Afghanistan were to request government money and the help of the Royal Navy for the animals of the Kabul Zoo, particularly for Marjan, the elderly lion which needed air-conditioning for its rheumatism.

An example of Banks' pro-animal rights views surfaced, on May 21, 2004, when he proposed Early Day Motion EDM 1255 in the 2003-04 session of Parliament,Early Day Motion 1255, Parliamentary Information Management Services in response to newspaper reports revealing that MI5 had proposed using pigeons as flying bombs during World War II. The motion condemned the proposal, describing humans as "obscene, perverted, cruel, uncivilised and lethal", and proposed that the House "looks forward to the day when the inevitable asteroid slams into the Earth and wipes them out thus giving nature the opportunity to start again". It was signed by only two other MPs — Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell, both left-wingers. As Early Day Motions can be used for a variety of proposals, both serious and trivial, whether Tony Banks seriously believed this viewpoint is left to the reader to decide.

Banks was also a keen supporter of the Arts, and chaired the House of Commons Works of Art Committee, which has responsibility for historic paintings and sculptures in the Palace of Westminster.

Outspoken behaviour

Tony Banks was also known for his outspoken and often offensive comments. Infamously, at the 1997 Labour Party conference, he described the then Conservative leader William Hague as a "foetus", adding that Conservative MPs might therefore be rethinking their views on abortion. In 1990, responding to a speech opposing any government funding for the arts by Conservative MP Terry Dicks, Banks said that Dicks' presence was "living proof that a pig's bladder on a stick can get elected to Parliament". He described the obese Nicholas Soames as "a one-man food mountain".

His comments were not always directed at his parliamentary colleagues. Once, Banks almost caused a diplomatic rift by referring to Canadians as "dickheads" for culling seals.The wit and wisdom of Tony Banks, BBC News, 8 January 2006

He was also seen crossing his fingers when he took the oath of allegiance to the Queen during a new session of Parliament, which also caused much comment as Banks was a republican, although he insisted that he was doing so to wish himself luck in his new job as Minister for Sport. (The act of crossing one's fingers while making a promise is commonly believed by children to absolve the promiser of the obligation to keep the promise.) The best of his comments have been collected in a book called The Wit and Wisdom of Tony Banks (ISBN 1861052006).

He also annoyed the gaming community, when, during a live debate on UK teatime chat show Richard and Judy he called for San Andreas to be banned, and declared that "Videogames are worse than child pornography"

Although Banks' frequently made abusive comments, particularly about Tories, of whom Banks had an old-Labour tribal distaste, he was generally regarded as an amusing character who added colour to Parliament.

Personal life

He was married to Sally Jones. Though he was MP for West Ham, he was an ardent supporter of Chelsea F.C. and attended games with Conservative Party politician David Mellor, who, despite being a political opponent, was a close friend.

Banks was a member of the British Humanist Association.

Death

On 7 January 2006, it was reported that the Tony Banks had collapsed, suffering a "very serious stroke", whilst having lunch on Sanibel Island in Florida, where he was on holiday.'No hope of recovery' for Banks, BBC News, 8 January 2006 He was flown by helicopter to a hospital in nearby Fort Myers and died on 8 January 2006, aged 62.

Following her husband's death, Lady Stratford has vowed to continue his animal rights work, leading a campaign against the culling of seal cubs in Canada.Canada Defends Seal Cull While World Calls for a Trade Boycott, The Independent, 19 March 2006; reproduced online by Common Dreams Newscenter

- Tony Blair, British Prime Minister Tributes paid to ex-MP Tony Banks, BBC News, 9 January 2006

References

External links

Ask Aristotle - Tony Banks on The Guardian’s politics website
Tony Banks's campaign to rescue the animals of the Kabul Zoo, BBC News Online, November 23, 2001
Request in Commons for Royal Navy transport for the Kabul Zoo animals to the UK, January 14, 2002
Tony Banks to quit Parliament, Daily Telegraph, November 25, 2004
Banks changes name for Lords life, BBC News Online
Obituary from The Guardian
Obituary from the Daily Telegraph
The Right Hon wag – The Guardian

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