17 Facts About Phil Hope

Philip Ian Hope was born on 19 April 1955 and is a former British Labour and Co-operative politician who was the member of parliament for Corby from 1997 until 2010, when he lost his seat to the Conservatives.

Phil Hope held several ministerial roles during his time as an MP.

Phil Hope was educated at Wandsworth Comprehensive School in Southfields and St Lukes College, Exeter where he was awarded a BEd degree in 1978.

Phil Hope was appointed as the head of the Young Volunteers Resource Unit at the National Youth Bureau in 1982, before becoming a management consultant from Framework in 1985, becoming the Director of the Framework in Print Publishing Co-operative.

Phil Hope was elected as a councillor to the Kettering Borough Council in 1983, becoming the deputy Labour group leader in 1986, before leaving the council in 1987.

Phil Hope unsuccessfully contested Kettering at the 1992 General Election where he came second to the sitting Conservative Party transport minister Roger Freeman by 11,154 votes.

Phil Hope was elected to the Northamptonshire County Council in 1993, becoming the chairman of the Labour group in the same year, before standing down in 1997.

Phil Hope was elected to the House of Commons at the 1997 General Election for Corby, defeating the Conservative MP William Powell by 11,860 votes.

Phil Hope remained the MP for Corby until the 2010 election when he was defeated by the Conservative candidate.

Phil Hope was promoted to the government of Tony Blair in 2003 as the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, again under John Prescott, at the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.

Phil Hope served as the Parliamentary Under Secretary at the Department for Education and Skills from the 2005 general election as the minister for vocational education until the department was disbanded in the reshuffle on 28 June 2007.

Phil Hope then moved to become Minister for the Third Sector, based in the Cabinet Office.

Phil Hope retained the latter role but moved from the Cabinet Office to become a Minister of State in the Department of Health following a reshuffle in October 2008.

In 2008, following the Investigation and withdrawal of the whip from MP Derek Conway the Daily Telegraph revealed that Phil Hope had 'admitted' employing his children, both Politics students, at unspecified times during university holidays.

Phil Hope once appeared on the 1970s television drama series Z-Cars and can both tap dance and juggle.

Phil Hope has been a governor of Park Junior School and Montagu Secondary School in Kettering.

Phil Hope lived in the village of Pipewell near Kettering and now lives in Gloucestershire.