Eric Joyce

Eric Joyce

Eric Stuart Joyce (born 13 October 1960) is a Scottish politician, who has been a Member of Parliament (MP) since 2000, and has been the MP for Falkirk since 2005. Originally elected as a member of the Labour Party, Joyce was suspended from Labour in 2012 after he was arrested on suspicion of assault, and on 12 March 2012 officially resigned from the party. Joyce served as a private in the Black Watch before attending University and subsequently receiving a commission in the Royal Army Educational Corps. He left the army in 1999 at the rank of major and served as the Public Affairs Officer at the Commission for Racial Equality (Scotland).

He was elected to parliament in the 2000 Falkirk West by-election, retaining his seat in the 2001 general election, and elected to the enlarged Falkirk constituency in the 2005 general election. From 2003, Joyce served as a Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to a number of UK government ministers. He resigned as the PPS to Bob Ainsworth on 3 September 2009 citing concerns over the war in Afghanistan.