16 Facts About Paul Farrelly

Christopher Paul Farrelly was born on 2 March 1962 and is a British Labour Party politician, banker and journalist, who was the Member of Parliament for Newcastle-under-Lyme from 2001 to 2019.

Paul Farrelly studied at St Edmund Hall, Oxford on a scholarship where he graduated with a BA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics in 1984.

Paul Farrelly was appointed as the deputy business editor with the Independent on Sunday in 1995 before joining The Observer in 1997 as the City Editor, where he remained until his election to Westminster.

Paul Farrelly unsuccessfully contested Chesham and Amersham at the 1997 general election, finishing in third place.

Paul Farrelly was selected to contest his hometown seat of Newcastle-under-Lyme following the retirement of the Labour MP Llin Golding at the 2001 general election, and he held the seat comfortably with a majority of 9,986.

Paul Farrelly made his maiden speech on 12 July 2001.

At the 2010 general election, Paul Farrelly was returned to parliament with a majority of 1,552.

On 4 November 2010, he was involved in a physical altercation with a man during an event at the Houses of Parliament Sports and Social club, which Paul Farrelly later said he was acting in self-defence.

Paul Farrelly was re-elected in 2015 with a majority of 650.

Paul Farrelly supported Owen Smith in the failed attempt to replace Jeremy Corbyn in the 2016 Labour Party leadership election.

Paul Farrelly was one of 47 Labour MPs who defied the party whip to vote against the European Union Act 2017.

Paul Farrelly was one of 13 MPs to vote against triggering the 2017 general election.

In March 2018, Paul Farrelly was accused of bullying by the former clerk of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee along with two other clerks regarding his conduct to them.

In March 2018, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards found Paul Farrelly broke the House of Commons code of conduct by using Commons stationery during his election campaign, sending out 1000 canvassing letters in the run up to the election as if they had been sent by the House.

Paul Farrelly issued an apology and paid back the cost of the stationery.

Paul Farrelly stood down from Parliament at the 2019 United Kingdom general election.