24 Facts About Bob Neill

Sir Robert James MacGillivray Neill KC was born on 24 June 1952 and is a British barrister and Conservative Party politician.

Bob Neill served as the Member of Parliament for Bromley and Chislehurst from 2006 to 2024.

Bob Neill served as a Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department of Communities and Local Government from 14 May 2010 to 4 September 2012.

Bob Neill latterly served as Chair of Parliament's Justice Select Committee.

Bob Neill took his law degree at the London School of Economics and subsequently worked as a barrister specialising in criminal law.

Bob Neill was elected as a councillor for Harold Wood ward in the London Borough of Havering at the 1978 election and was re-elected to Havering London Borough Council in 1982 and 1986, going out of office in 1990.

Bob Neill was elected at a by-election in 1985 to serve as Greater London Council member for Romford, going out of office in 1986.

Bob Neill stood for the Dagenham parliamentary constituency in 1983, at the age of 30, coming within 2,997 votes of winning the historically Labour seat from Bryan Gould MP.

Bob Neill refought the seat in 1987, coming even closer to winning by slightly cutting the Labour majority to 2,469, but Gould defeated him again.

Bob Neill stood for election in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in 1994 and 1998.

Bob Neill was first elected to the London Assembly in the 2000 assembly election, and served as the Conservative member for Bexley and Bromley from 2000 until 2008.

Bob Neill served as Leader of the Conservative Group on the Assembly from 2000 to 2002 and again from 2004.

Since April 2017, Bob Neill has been a Bencher at the Middle Temple.

Bob Neill was married from 2009 until 2015 to former Southend Conservative Councillor and former Mayor, Daphne White.

Bob Neill stated at his selection that he would not resign his London Assembly seat as the resultant by-election, which would see around 400,000 voters go to the polls, would be unduly expensive.

Bob Neill's response was that, because the body was due to be abolished before he would have had the chance to take his seat in Westminster, any such arguments were immaterial.

Bob Neill won the by-election by just 633 votes, compared to the 13,342 majority achieved by his predecessor at the 2005 general election.

In 2008 Bob Neill was made Shadow Local Government Minister and Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party and was assigned the shadow planning brief from January 2009.

Bob Neill was elected as MP for a second term in the May 2010 election and worked as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department of Communities and Local Government until September 2012, when he was named Vice Chairman of the Conservative party for Local Government.

Bob Neill was re-elected for a third term in May 2015, shortly after which he was elected as Chairman of Parliament's Justice Select Committee.

Bob Neill was strongly opposed to Brexit prior to the 2016 referendum.

Bob Neill was knighted in the 2020 New Year Honours for political service.

In May 2022, following the publication of the Sue Gray report, Bob Neill submitted a letter of no confidence in Prime Minister Johnson calling for his resignation.

Bob Neill was appointed an Honorary King's Counsel on 19 January 2024.