1. Dennis Edward Skinner was born on 11 February 1932 and is a British former politician who served as Member of Parliament for Bolsover for 49 years, from 1970 to 2019.
41 Facts About Dennis Skinner
1. 2.
Dennis Skinner was a member of the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party, with brief breaks, for 30 years, and was the committee's chairman from 1988 to 1989.
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Dennis Skinner was one of the longest serving members of the House of Commons and the longest continuously serving Labour MP.
4.
Dennis Skinner lost his seat to Mark Fletcher of the Conservative Party, and was succeeded as the Labour candidate for Bolsover by Natalie Fleet.
5.
Dennis Skinner was known for regularly heckling upon the arrival of Black Rod in the House of Commons chamber during the State Opening of Parliament.
6.
Dennis Skinner's father Edward Skinner was a coal miner who was sacked after the 1926 general strike, and his mother Lucy was a cleaner.
7.
In June 1942, at the age of 10, Dennis Skinner won a scholarship to attend Tupton Hall Grammar School after passing the eleven-plus a year early.
8.
In 1956 Dennis Skinner entered the Sheffield Star Walk, an amateur walking race, and finished second.
9.
In 1966, Dennis Skinner became the youngest-ever president of the Derbyshire region of the National Union of Mineworkers.
10.
Dennis Skinner resigned from the colliery and the Derbyshire Miners' Union shortly after his election to parliament in June 1970.
11.
Dennis Skinner was chosen as Parliamentary Prospective candidate for Bolsover on 5 June 1969.
12.
Dennis Skinner was elected as MP for the then safe Labour seat of Bolsover at the 1970 general election, succeeding Harold Neal.
13.
Dennis Skinner retained the seat for 49 years, until he lost it at the 2019 general election to Mark Fletcher of the Conservative Party.
14.
In 1979, Dennis Skinner played a role in publicly exposing Anthony Blunt as a spy for the Soviet Union.
15.
Mr Leadbitter and Mr Dennis Skinner: asked the Prime Minister if she will make a statement on recent evidence concerning the actions of an individual, whose name has been supplied to her, in relation to the security of the United Kingdom.
16.
On 7 June 1985, Dennis Skinner talked out a bill by Enoch Powell which would have banned stem cell research by moving the writ for the by-election in Brecon and Radnor; Dennis Skinner later described this as his proudest political moment.
17.
In 2003, Dennis Skinner was among the quarter of Labour MPs who voted against the Iraq War; he later rebelled against the party line when he voted against government policy to allow terror suspects to be detained without trial for up to 90 days.
18.
In January 2012, Dennis Skinner was referred to as "a dinosaur" in a controversial jibe by David Cameron, who said "I often say to my children 'No need to go to the Natural History Museum to see a dinosaur, come to the House of Commons at about half past twelve'".
19.
In 2017, upon Kaufman's death, 85-year-old Dennis Skinner became the oldest member of the House of Commons.
20.
Dennis Skinner was succeeded as the Labour candidate for Bolsover by Natalie Fleet, who became MP for the seat in the 2024 general election.
21.
Dennis Skinner refused to accept a parliamentary salary in excess of miners' wages, and during the miners' strike he donated his wages to the NUM.
22.
In 2000, Dennis Skinner denounced former ally Ken Livingstone, then serving as a Labour MP.
23.
Dennis Skinner supported David Miliband in the 2010 Labour leadership election, which was won by his brother Ed Miliband.
24.
Dennis Skinner was one of 36 Labour MPs to nominate Jeremy Corbyn as a candidate in the Labour leadership election of 2015.
25.
Shortly after Corbyn was elected as leader, Dennis Skinner was elected to Labour's National Executive Committee, on which he remained until October 2016.
26.
Dennis Skinner supported Corbyn, alongside the majority of Labour MPs, in voting against the extension of RAF airstrikes against ISIS in Syria in December 2015.
27.
Dennis Skinner has stated that he voted for the UK to leave the European Union in the 2016 referendum.
28.
Dennis Skinner was suspended from Parliament on at least 10 occasions, usually for unparliamentary language when attacking opponents.
29.
Dennis Skinner did this upon the arrival of Black Rod to summon MPs to hear the Queen's speech in the Lords' chamber.
30.
Dennis Skinner gives me hope for the future of our Party.
31.
On 6 May 2020, Dennis Skinner was named honorary president of the Socialist Campaign Group.
32.
The documentary traces Dennis Skinner's rise to political icon status and covers his working-class upbringing, his family influences and his hobbies away from "The Palace of Varieties".
33.
Dennis Skinner's four surviving brothers and several of his Bolsover constituents are interviewed in the documentary.
34.
In 1960, Dennis Skinner married Mary Parker, from whom he separated in 1989.
35.
In 2014, Dennis Skinner released his autobiography Sailing Close to the Wind: Reminiscences.
36.
In 1999, Dennis Skinner was diagnosed with advanced bladder cancer and subsequently had surgery to remove a malignant tumour.
37.
Dennis Skinner was too ill to campaign in the 2019 general election after he was hospitalised with a dangerous infection following the hip operation.
38.
Dennis Skinner was not present at the count when he lost his seat.
39.
Dennis Skinner's mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease prior to her death in the 1980s.
40.
Dennis Skinner sang to his late mother when she was diagnosed with the disease and was inspired by her ability to recall old songs.
41.
Dennis Skinner is a supporter of Derby County Football Club and Derbyshire County Cricket Club.