Parliamentary Career
He unsuccessfully contested the North Yorkshire seat of Selby at the 1987 general election but was defeated by the Conservative MP Michael Alison by 13,779 votes. He again contested the seat based on Selby at the 1992 General Election but was again defeated by Alison, by a reduced 9,508 votes.
In between the two unsuccessful contests at Selby he also stood unsuccessfully for the York seat to become a member of the European Parliament in 1989. He was elected to the House of Commons at the 1997 general election for Selby. Alison retired at the election and Grogan faced the new challenge of a former Conservative MP Kenneth Hind who had been the MP for West Lancashire (1983–1992). Grogan won the seat with a majority of 3,836, but his majority decreased subsequently; in 2005 he retained his seat with a majority of 467 votes.
He made his maiden speech on 7 July 1997 (see ).
In parliament he served as a member of the Northern Ireland select committee from 1997–2001 and after the 2005 General Election. He is a member of the Fabian Society and the Institute for Public Policy Research.
He was also the chairman of the all party groups on the BBC, beer and Mongolia. He lives in the constituency at Fulford, and is a supporter of both the Yorkshire County Cricket Club and Bradford City A.F.C.. He led the campaign to save the Selby Coalfield in 2002 (see ). In 1999 he called for a memorial to the heroism of women during World War II to be remembered on the empty plinth in Trafalgar Square. The campaign had the backing of the then Speaker of the House of Commons Betty Boothroyd and the Princess Royal (see ). Although the campaign was unsuccessful a monument has since been erected in Whitehall.
He is the honorary president of the University of York Labour Club. . The university, though on the outskirts of York, formed part of his Selby constituency.
He announced he would not contest the next general election, after the constituency of Selby was split in two.
Read more about this topic: John Grogan (British Politician)
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