Clive Lewis

Clive Lewis      (politician)
Born	Clive Anthony Lewis 11 September 1971 London, United Kingdom
Alma mater	University of Bradford
Party	Labour
English Labour Party politician  Shadow Minister for the Treasury In office 12 January 2018 - 9 April 2020 Appointed by Jeremy Corbyn  Shadow Secretary of State for Business,  Energy & Industrial Strategy In office 6 October 2016 - 8 February 2017 Appointed by Jeremy Corbyn  Shadow Secretary of State for Defence  In office 27 June 2016 - 6 October 2016 Appointed by Jeremy Corbyn Preceded by Emily Thornberry Succeeded by Nia Griffith  Member of Parliament for Norwich South In office 7 May 2015 - Present Preceded by Nick Harvey, John Thurso

Clive Lewis is an English Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Norwich South since winning the seat at the 2015 General Election from the sitting Liberal Democrat Simon Wright.

Appointed to Jeremy Corbyn's Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Secretary of State for Defence in June 2016, Lewis became Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy in the October 2016 reshuffle. He left the Shadow Cabinet on 8 February 2017 in protest over the Labour Party's decision to whip its MPs into voting to trigger Article 50 of the Treaty on the European Union. On 12 January 2018, Jeremy Corbyn appointed Clive Lewis Shadow Treasury Minister. When Keir Starmer became leader, Lewis returned to the backbenches.

Clive Lewis stood in the 2020 Labour Party leadership contest, but withdrew shortly before close of nominations having failed to receive the required 22 nominations from MPs and MEPs.

After the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Clive Lewis demanded the Tory government send weapons and helicopters to Ukraine. He is a strong defender of NATO.

Army officer

Clive Lewis was born in London but grew up on a council estate in Northampton. He studied economics at the University of Bradford before being elected to various student union roles and then serving as vice-president of the National Union of Students. Lewis then worked as a TV reporter for BBC News, becoming BBC Look East's chief political correspondent. He was also one of the Labour government's National Black Role Models. In 2006, he passed out of Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst as an infantry officer with the Territorial Army, and he served a three-month tour of duty in Afghanistan in 2009.

Politician

Selected as a candidate for Norwich South in 2011, Lewis often broke the party line on issues including nuclear weapons, tuition fees and immigration. Describing himself as a "proud socialist", he was elected by a comfortable margin as a MP for Norwich South. He was subsequently appointed as the Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Humanist Group. During the 2015 Labour leadership election, he was one of 36 MPs to nominate Jeremy Corbyn, and remains a strong Corbyn supporter.

Speaking on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show on 18 September 2016, Clive Lewis said deselection of MPs was a 'democratic election' for representatives in Parliament.

Brexit

On 22 November 2018, BBC Question Time tweeted Clive Lewis' criticism of Theresa May's Brexit negotiations:

"She had an opportunity to bring the country together and she has comprehensively failed".

 

Related Document

Title	Type	Publication date	Author(s)	Description
Document:Labour left breaks with Jeremy Corbyn over sending weapons to Ukraine	Article	26 February 2023	Toby Helm	The far left wing of the Labour Party has split from Jeremy Corbyn on the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine

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