Colin Challen MP
Member of Parliament for Morley and Rothwell
Incumbent
Assumed office  7 June 2001
Preceded by	John Gunnell
Majority	12,343 (29.0%)
Born	12 June 1953 (1953-06-12) (age 56) Scarborough
Nationality	British
Political party	Labour
Alma mater	University of Hull
Religion	atheist

Colin Robert Challen (born 12 June 1953) is a British Labour politician. He is the Member of Parliament for Morley and Rothwell, in West Yorkshire.

He was born in Scarborough, and educated at the Norton School Humanities College in Stockton-on-Tees and the Malton Grammar School, before completing a philosophy degree at the University of Hull in 1983. In 1971, he was a supplier accountant for the Royal Air Force before becoming a postman in 1974. He set up business as a printer and publisher in 1982 until 1990 when he took up politics professionally as an organiser for the Labour Party. He was elected a councillor to Kingston upon Hull City Council for eight years from 1986.

Challen unsuccessfully stood for parliament at the 1992 General Election in the constituency of Beverley. He finished in third place and more than 22,000 votes behind the winner James Cran. He entered parliament at the 2001 General Election for Morley and Rothwell following the retirement through ill health of Labour MP John Gunnell. Colin Challen was elected with a majority of 12,090 and made his maiden speech on 25 June 2001,[1] in which he spoke of Herbert Henry Asquith who was born in Morley.

A member of the League Against Cruel Sports for almost thirty years, he has been a backbencher since his election and has served on several select committees: The Environmental Audit Committee (since 2001), the Joint Committee on Consolidation of Bills (since 2001), and the Unopposed Bills Panel (since 2004). He is an Honorary Associate of the National Secular Society.

On 29 January 2007 Challen announced that he would not contest the next general election, in order to devote his time to campaigning on climate change, thus letting Ed Balls, a rising star in the Labour Party, to contest the new Morley and Outwood constituency, which will merge part of Balls's soon-to-be abolished Normanton constituency with Morley and Rothwell.

[edit] Works

• The Price of Power: Secret Funding of the Tory Party (VISION Investigations) by Colin Challen, 1998, Vision Paperbacks / Satin Publications, ISBN 1-901250-18-0

• In Defence of the Party: The Secret State,the Conservative Party and Dirty Tricks by Colin Challen, Mike Hughes 1996, Medium Publishing Co., ISBN 1-872398-01-4

[edit] External links

• Colin Challen MP official site
• Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Colin Challen MP
• TheyWorkForYou.com - Colin Challen MP
• Comment on Jeremy Clarkson (2nd comment)
• MP quits to back climate campaign (BBC News online)

[edit] Offices held

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by John Gunnell	Member of Parliament for Morley and Rothwell 2001–present	Incumbent