Skinner, Dennis

Skinner was born in Clay Crosse in Derbyshire to the family of Edward Skinner, a miner who lost his job after the general strike of 1926 ^[6] , and the cleaning lady Lucy ^[7] . Dennis was the third of their nine children.

In 1942, having passed the “ 11+ ” exam a year earlier than usual, at the age of ten, Skinner received a scholarship to study at Tapton Hall High School ^[7] . In 1949, he began his career as a miner at the Parkhouse mine ^{[8] [9]} , and after its closure in 1962, he moved to the Glawell mine, located near Chesterfield ^[7] .

In the same year, when Skinner was 32 years old, he became the youngest president in the history of the Derbyshire Regional Branch of the National Union of Miners (NSG). Then, having worked for about 20 years at the mine ^[10] , he became a member of the Derbyshire County Council ^[10] , as well as a member of the Clay Cross Council ^[9] .

In 1967, after attending the National Miners Union course at Sheffield University , he enrolled at Oxford Ruskin College ^{[7] [11]} .

In 1956, Skinner joined the Labor Party ^[7] , and in 1970 he was elected for the first time as a member of parliament in the constituency Bolsover . During the miners' strike of 1984-1985, he actively spoke in support of the NSG and its leader Arthur Scargill ^[12] .

Among other things, Skinner voted in Parliament for equalizing consent ages , civil partnerships , the right of same-sex couples to adopt , criminalization of discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation , same-sex marriage ^[13] , and he is a convinced other. On January 20, 1989, he succeeded in filibaster (obstruction by delaying the discussions) of the amendment to reduce the permissible duration of legal abortions ^[14] , and on June 7, 1985, in a similar way, he failed the Enoch Powell bill to ban stem cell experiments; Skinner later called the latter his main political pride ^{[15] [16] [17] [18]} .

In 2000, he condemned his colleague in parliament, left Labor laborer Ken Livingstone , who was promoted to mayor of London as an independent candidate after he failed to become a candidate from his party ^[19] . At the same time, Skinner paradoxically had a good personal relationship with Prime Minister and Labor leader Tony Blair : the latter listened to Skinner's advice on the manner of public speaking ^[18] .

In 2003, Skinner voted against the war in Iraq . In 2005, he went against the party line, during the discussion of the anti-terrorism act submitted by the Labor Government by voting against the permission to detain suspected terrorists without charge for up to 90 days. In 2005, Skinner and another 88 Labor MPs voted against resuming the Trident program ^[20] .

In the election of the leader of the Labor Party of 2010, Skinner supported David Miliband (his brother Ed won a small margin then) ^[21] . In March 2011, Skinner was one of 15 deputies who voted against British participation in the intervention of NATO forces in Libya ^[22] . In 2014, he was recalled from the National Executive Committee of the Labor Party ^[7] .

In 2015, along with 35 other deputies, he nominated Jeremy Corbin for the election of the party leader ^[23] , which he won.

Skinner is a strong supporter of Brekzit ^[24] .

Repeatedly advocated the abolition of the House of Lords ^[25] , and also criticized the British monarchy.

In 2017 , after the death of Sir Gerald Kaufman , Skinner became the oldest acting member of the UK parliament. However, he did not receive the title of “father of the chamber”, since the seniority in it is traditionally considered in the order of taking the oath, and in this he was ahead of another conservative deputy since 1970, conservative Kenneth Clark . In addition, in 2015, Skinner stated that he would not accept this honorary title ^[26] .

Skinner is sitting in the Commons on the same place - on the front bench, known as the bench of untrained recruits ( Awkward Squad Bench ) due to the fact that there are usually laborers, "rebels" (going against the party line). As a rule, he wears a tweed jacket (and not a dark suit, like most male deputies) and a red tie.

Skinner has a nickname - the beast from Bolsover ( the Beast of Bolsover ) ^[10] . In his own memory, the nickname was assigned to him by journalists in 1977. During the meeting, in which the majority of deputies expressed condolences over the death of Anthony Eden , Skinner spoke about the plight of the miners, after which the conservatives left the meeting room in protest, and this demarche received wide press coverage ^{[27] [18]} .

Exile from meetings

Skinner was repeatedly (ten cases reported) suspended from participation in parliamentary meetings, most often for non-parliamentary expressions . In particular, Skinner was expelled from the meetings in the following circumstances:

• Twice in 1984. The first time is for calling David Owen a pompous sod and agreed to take back only the first word ^[28] . The second time was for the accusations of Margaret Thatcher for bribing judges ^[29] .
• In 1992, for calling the Minister of Agriculture John Gummer the Minister of Minority ( a little squirt of a Minister ) and the wicked wart on the nose of Margaret Thatcher ( a slimy wart on Margaret Thatcher's nose ) ^[28] .
• In 1995, for accusing the government of Major of committing a fraud deal ( a crooked deal ) for the sale of coal mines ^[28] .
• In 2005, for the next remark about the economic achievements of the 1980s conservatives: “The only thing that was increasing then was the cocaine tracks before“ Boy George ”and other Tories!” ).
• In 2006, for accusing Vice-Speaker Sir Alan Haselhurst in a condescending attitude to the remarks of the conservative Theresa May that Tony Blair intentionally introduced parliament to delusion by his speech the day before. According to Skinner, the vice-speaker “forgave Mae because she is Tory” ^[30] .
• In 2016, he called Prime Minister David Cameron “snooper Dave” ( Dodgy Dave ) due to his alleged tax evasion - and refused to return the word “dodgy” ^[31] .

Witnesses at the opening ceremonies of Parliament

As a staunch supporter of the republican form of government in the UK, Skinner does not miss the opportunity to reduce the pathos of the annual opening ceremony of parliament by some caustic remark. He shouts it out after the herald master, known as the Black Rod, calls members of the House of Commons to the House of Lords to listen to the queen's throne speech. During his work, Skinner noted the following speeches during this ceremony ^[32] :

In 1960, Skinner married Mary Parker. Three children were born in marriage, they all attended the same school as their father, and later graduated from the University of Manchester. Skinner broke with his wife in 1989. He currently lives with his assistant Lois Blezenheim ^[7] .

In 1999, Skinner was diagnosed with bladder cancer , after which he had to undergo surgery to remove the tumor ^[7] . In 2003, he doctors performed a double coronary bypass surgery for Skinner ^[7] .

Skinner's mother in the last years of her life, in the 1980s, had Alzheimer's ^{[55] [56]} . Later, he recalled that he sang old songs to her and was amazed that she remembers them. Since 2008, he has been visiting nursing homes in Derbyshire and sings with older people with dementia ^[55] .

In 2014, Skinner said that he didn’t use modern means of communication: he had never sent an email in his life (fearing for confidentiality to keep postal workers busy, and also because of the preference to use a personal signature in official correspondence) and doesn’t twitter ^[57] .

• Profile on the official website of the British Parliament (English)