Geoffrey Robinson

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Geoffrey Robinson (born May 25, 1938 in Sheffield) has been a British Member of Parliament for Coventry North West, a safe Labour seat, since a by-election on 4 March 1976 caused by the death of former MP Maurice Edelman. Robinson was educated at Emanuel School, Clare College, Cambridge, and Yale University. He is a member of the Labour Party and a former Paymaster General (1997-98). He resigned from that post in December 1998 after it was revealed that he had secretly lent his government colleague Peter Mandelson £373,000 to buy a house, whilst under investigation for fraud by Mr Mandelson's department. He is the owner of the New Statesman, a left-leaning weekly political magazine. In 2002 he was arrested for speeding and detained for suspected possession of cocaine, but no evidence was found to link the discovery to him.

Robinson has had a long association with Coventry City Football Club, being a member of the board of directors from 1996. In 1997, when Robinson was made Paymaster General, he was forced to stand down from the board, since members of the government were not permitted to hold directorships. In response to this the football club named him as honorary president but he eventually re-took his seat on the board of directors in 2002. On September 21 2005, Robinson was named as acting chairman of Coventry City after chairman Mike McGinnity was asked to step down by his doctor for an indefinite period due to ongoing health problems. Robinson was given the job permanently on November 3 after McGinnity was forced to resign due to his health problems.

At the 2005 general election, he had a majority of 9,315.

Controversy

Robinson has been heavily criticised recently due to his apparent flouting of the British Thames Valley hosepipe ban. It subsequently emerged however that he actually has his own borehole, allowing him to continually water the plants in his surrey mansion all summer. The Environment Agency confirmed that he was within his rights to do this, since the water did not come directly from their own sources. However, they have sent a letter to all borehole owners in the Thames region, including Robinson, urging them to limit their water usage.

External links

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