Jim Knight: Difference between revisions

{{For| other men known as people|Jim Knight|Jim Knight (footballer)|James Knight (disambiguation){{!}}James Knight}}

|image = Lordjimknight2017Official portrait of Lord Knight of Weymouth crop 2.jpg

|office = [[Department for Work and Pensions|Minister of State for Employment and Welfare Reform]]

|successor = {{ubl|[[Chris Grayling]]<br> (Employment)<br>|[[David Freud, Baron Freud|The Lord Freud]]<br> (Welfare Reform)}}

|primeminister2 = [[Gordon Brown]]

|successor2 = ''Position abolished''

|office3 = [[Department for Children, Schools and Families|Minister of State for Schools and Learning]]

|primeminister3 = {{ubl|[[Tony Blair]]<br>[[|Gordon Brown]]}}

|office4 = [[DEFRADepartment for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs|Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Biodiversity, Landscape and Rural Affairs]]

|term_start5 predecessor4 = 23 June 2010<br/>[[LifeAlun PeerageMichael]]

|term_end5successor4 = [[Barry Gardiner]]

|term_end6office = 12[[Member of the House Aprilof 2010Lords]]

|predecessor6status = [[Ian Bruce (politician)|IanLord BruceTemporal]]

|successor6termlabel = [[RichardLife Draxpeer]]age

'''James Philip "Jim" Knight, Baron Knight of Weymouth''', {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|sep=,|PC|FRSA}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/media/135065/ministers_interests.pdf |archive-url=http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20100407165838/http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/media/135065/ministers_interests.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=7 April 2010 |title=List of members' Interests, Cabinet Office, March 2009. |accessdateaccess-date=27 July 2016 }}</ref> (born 6 March 1965) is a [[Labour Party (UK)|British Labour]] and [[Co-operative Party]] politician, who served as the Member of Parliament for [[Southregional Dorsetminister|Minister (UKfor Parliamentthe constituency)|South DorsetWest]] fromand [[2001Department Unitedfor KingdomWork generaland electionPensions|2001]]Minister untilof [[2010State Unitedfor KingdomEmployment generaland election|2010Welfare Reform]], whenfrom he lost his seat2009 to [[Richard2010. Drax]]A member of the [[ConservativeLabour Party (UK)|ConservativeLabour Party]]. Knightand held[[Co-operative severalParty]], ministerialhe postswas during[[Member hisof timeParliament as(United anKingdom)|Member of Parliament]] (MP,) including:for [[regionalSouth minister|MinisterDorset for(UK theParliament constituency)|South WestDorset]] andfrom [[Department2001 forUnited WorkKingdom andgeneral Pensionselection|Minister2001]] forto Employment[[2010 andUnited WelfareKingdom Reformgeneral election|2010]].

ItAfter waslosing announcedhis inseat to [[Richard Drax]] of the [[2010Conservative DissolutionParty Honours(UK)|Conservative Party]], thatit hewas announced Knight would be made a [[life peer]]. in Knightthe [[2010 Dissolution Honours]]. He is now chief education and external officer at [[TES (magazine)|TES]] Global Ltd, and a Visitingvisiting Professorprofessor at the [[London Knowledge Lab]] of the [[Institute of Education]] in London.

Knight was educated at [[Eltham College]], an independent school in [[Mottingham]] in South-Eastsouth east London, followed by [[Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge]], where he studied Geography,geography and [[Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Cambridge|Socialsocial & Politicalpolitical Sciencessciences]] from 1984–87, gaining a [[Bachelor of Arts|BA]] Hons.

Knight was Managermanager of Central Studio, inthe arts centre of [[Queen Mary's College, Basingstoke]], from 1988–90.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.basingstokegazette.co.uk/news/1154878.Minister_makes_college_comeback_for_big_day/ | title=Minister makes college comeback for big day}}</ref> From 1990–91, he was Directordirector of West Wiltshire Arts Centre Ltd, then Directordirector of Dentons Directories Ltd in [[Westbury, Wiltshire|Westbury]] from 1991–2001.<ref>{{Cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/2070036.stm |title = Jim Knight|date = 17 October 2002}}</ref>

Knight first stood for Parliament at the [[1997 United Kingdom general election|1997 general election]] as the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] candidate for [[South Dorset (UK Parliament constituency)|South Dorset]], but narrowly lost by just 77 votes.<ref>p.308, Waller, Criddle, "The Almanac of British Politics", Psychology Press, 2002</ref> He was, however, elected on the same day to [[Mendip District Council]], on which he served until 2001; including as Labour Groupgroup leader.<ref name="auto">{{Cite web | url=https://www.parliament.uk/biographies/lords/lord-knight-of-weymouth/4160 | title=Lord Knight of Weymouth}}</ref>

Knight was the campaign co-ordinator for [[Ed Balls]]'s unsuccessful Labour Party leadership campaign in 2010.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://archive.edballs.co.uk/blog/?p=463 |title=Archived copy |access-date=28 November 2017 |archive-date=1 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201041618/http://archive.edballs.co.uk/blog/?p=463 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Knight was [[Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State]] for Rural Affairs, Landscape and Biodiversity in the [[Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs]] from 2005–06. He then moved to become [[Minister of State]] for Schools in the [[Department for Education and Skills (United Kingdom)|Department for Education and Skills]]. On 28 June 2007, when [[Gordon Brown]] disbanded the department, Knight moved to the newly created [[Department for Children, Schools and Families]], as the Minister for Schools and Learners.<ref>{{Cite web | urlname=https:"auto"//www.parliament.uk/biographies/lords/lord-knight-of-weymouth/4160 | title=Lord Knight of Weymouth}}</ref> In October 2008 following the reshuffle, Knight became a member of the [[Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council|Privy Council]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://privycouncil.independent.gov.uk/privy-council/privy-council-members/privy-counsellors/ |title=ArchivedPrivy copyCounsellors &#124; Privy Council |access-date=28 November 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160913232018/https://privycouncil.independent.gov.uk/privy-council/privy-council-members/privy-counsellors/ |archive-date=13 September 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In 2009, when MPs expenses were revealed following a leak in the Daily Telegraph,<ref>{{Cite news | url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mps-expenses/5297606/MPs-expenses-Full-list-of-MPs-investigated-by-the-Telegraph.html | title=MPS' expenses: Full list of MPS investigated by the Telegraph| newspaper=The Telegraph| date=16 January 2018}}</ref> Knight was ranked 171 out of 645 in the MPs' expenses list, claiming £155,987 in 2007/2008, compared with £137,970 in 2006/2007, of which £94,135 was for staff, £9,746 was for a communications allowance and £4,993 was for personal living expenses.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thisisdorset.net/news/tidnews/4370313.What_is_the_cost_of_our_MPs_/ |title=WHAT IS THE COST OF OUR MPS? |accessdateaccess-date=2010-07-15 |url-status=dead |archiveurlarchive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928061818/http://www.thisisdorset.net/news/tidnews/4370313.What_is_the_cost_of_our_MPs_/ |archivedatearchive-date=28 September 2011 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>

Knight was created a [[Life Peer|life peer]] on 23 June 2010, taking the title '''Baron Knight of Weymouth''', of [[Weymouth, Dorset|Weymouth]] in the County of Dorset.<ref>http{{Cite web|url=https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20100407165838/http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/media/135065/ministers_interests.pdf|title=UK Government Web Archive|website=webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk}}</ref><ref>{{London Gazette |issue=59471 |date=28 June 2010 |page=12149}}</ref>

In April 2014 he stepped down from the Labour front bench in the House of Lords to take up a full-time role as managing director, – Onlineonline Learninglearning at TesTES Global Ltd, building an online professional development and training service for teachers. Knight was subsequently appointed chief education and external officer at TesTES Global.

In 2011, Knight was appointed as Chairchair of digital and social inclusion charity Tinder Foundation (now [[Good Things Foundation]] (then Tinder Foundation). He stood down as chair in 2016. However hebut remains a patron of Thethe Technology, Pedagogy and Education professional association (www.itte.org), [[GoodHe Thingsis Foundation]].now HeChair isEmeritus of the Digital Poverty Alliance and co-owner of XRapid, an app that diagnoses malaria and is a board member of Apps for Good. He is also the deputy chair of the Nominet Trust,{{citation needed|date=February 2015}} and an honorary associate of the [[National Secular Society]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.secularism.org.uk/honoraryassociates.html|title=Honorary Associates|website=www.secularism.org.uk|language=en-GB|access-date=2019-08-01}}</ref>

{{reflistReflist}}

{{s-bef|before=[[TommyBaron McAvoyKennedy of Southwark|The Lord McAvoyKennedy of Southwark]]}}

[[Category:Labour Party (UK)Co-operative life peers]]

[[Category:PeersLife nominatedpeers created by GordonElizabeth BrownII]]