42 Facts About Richard Corbett

Richard Graham Corbett CBE was born on 6 January 1955 and is a former British politician who served as the final Leader of the European Parliamentary Labour Party, from 2017 to 2020.

Richard Corbett was a Member of the European Parliament for Merseyside West from 1996 to 1999 and then for Yorkshire and the Humber from 1999 to 2009, when he lost his seat, and again from 2014 to 2020.

Richard Corbett attended Shadow Cabinet meetings and was a member of the Labour Party's National Executive Committee.

Between January 2010 and February 2014, Corbett was an advisor to the first full-time and long-term President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy.

In 2003, Richard Corbett became the first MEP to write a regular personal blog, and in 2015 he became the first British politician to develop and release a phone app.

Richard Corbett was born in Southport, Lancashire, to parents of working-class background from Wales and London.

Richard Corbett attended primary school at Farnborough Road School in Southport.

When his father was offered a post as a statistician at the World Health Organization, the family moved to Geneva, Switzerland, and Richard Corbett attended the International School of Geneva, where he obtained the International Baccalaureate.

Richard Corbett was captain of the football team and played for the junior team of a Swiss second division club.

Richard Corbett won a place at Trinity College, Oxford, the first generation of his family to be able to go to university, and obtained a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics.

Richard Corbett was the Secretary of the Labour Club and chairman of the Oxford Committee for Europe.

Richard Corbett co-ordinated the Oxford student 'Yes' campaign in the 1975 referendum on membership of the European Community.

Richard Corbett later completed a doctorate in political science at the University of Hull.

Richard Corbett was secretary-general of the European Co-ordination Bureau of International Non-Governmental Youth Organisations from 1977 to 1981, representing youth organisations in the Council of Europe's European Youth Foundation and European Youth Centre.

Richard Corbett helped to set up the Youth Forum of the European Communities, the predecessor of the European Youth Forum, and represented Western European youth organisations in negotiations with Eastern European organisations pursuant to the Helsinki Treaty.

Richard Corbett worked with Altiero Spinelli MEP on the latter's proposal for a draft treaty establishing a European Union, adopted by the European Parliament in 1984.

Richard Corbett worked on drafting the parts of the treaties of Maastricht and Amsterdam that increased the powers of the Parliament, notably helping to draft the "codecision procedure" which now applies for adopting European legislation through successive readings of the Parliament and the Council.

In 1992, Richard Corbett was made Ambassador of Goodwill of the US State of Arkansas, by its then Governor Bill Clinton.

Richard Corbett was a member of the Parliament's Constitutional Affairs committee and from 1999 to 2009 was the spokesman for the Labour Party, as well as the whole of the wider Group of the Party of European Socialists, on European constitutional affairs.

Richard Corbett lost his seat in the 2009 European Parliament elections, which saw a big fall in the Labour share of the vote in the wake of the Westminster expenses scandal.

The saddest moment of the night: Labour MEP Richard Corbett lost his seat.

In December 2009, Richard Corbett was invited to join the private office of the first full-time President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, as his advisor on constitutional issues, but handling his relations with the European Parliament and national parliaments, with the European Committee of the Regions and the European Economic and Social Committee as well as helping on relations with some governments, including the UK.

In Labour's internal ballot of party members to choose their candidates, Richard Corbett came first securing him second spot on the list of Labour candidates, behind the sitting MEP Linda McAvan.

Labour won two seats in the election in Yorkshire, and so Richard Corbett was returned to the Parliament.

In Parliament, Richard Corbett returned to the Constitutional Committee and served on the Fisheries Committee and the Economic Committee.

Richard Corbett was elected again as Deputy Leader of the Labour MEPs in September 2014.

Richard Corbett supported Yvette Cooper in the 2015 Labour Party leadership election, Owen Smith in the 2016 election, and Keir Starmer in the 2020 election.

In 2021, the European Parliament asked Richard Corbett to represent it in the Common Secretariat running the Conference on the Future of Europe, while simultaneously being Deputy chef de cabinet to the Secretary General of the European Parliament.

Richard Corbett was an early critic of the United Kingdom Independence Party.

Richard Corbett continued to campaign vigorously against the UK Independence Party in the run-up to the 2014 European elections.

In 2006, Richard Corbett served on the Independent European Sport Review, set up by several national governments and UEFA and chaired by the former Portuguese Deputy Prime Minister Jose Luis Arnaut.

The review was in fact about the governance of football, and Richard Corbett chaired the sub-group on political aspects.

Richard Corbett has maintained an interest in the governance of football ever since, taking up a number of issues with UEFA.

Richard Corbett is the Honorary President of the Grimethorpe Colliery Band, a brass band based in Grimethorpe, South Yorkshire.

Richard Corbett has held a number of offices in the UK Labour Party.

Richard Corbett was national chair of the Labour Movement for Europe from 2009 to 2011, and subsequently served as one of its Labour MEP representatives.

Richard Corbett is Vice Chair of the UK European Movement, having served as Chair following the resignation of Laura Sandys in the wake of the 2016 referendum result.

Richard Corbett did not want to continue as Chair, citing time constraints, and handed over to Stephen Dorrell in December 2016.

Richard Corbett was a Visiting Professor at the College of Europe in Bruges and on the board of the Salzburg Centre for European Union Studies of the University of Salzburg.

Richard Corbett has written numerous academic articles and books.

Richard Corbett is the co-author of an eponymous academic textbook on the European Parliament and several other academic publications.

Richard Corbett is married to Lorraine Kirkwood and has three children.