Clive Betts

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British Labour politician

title: "Clive Betts" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1950-births", "living-people", "alumni-of-pembroke-college,-cambridge", "councillors-in-sheffield", "english-gay-politicians", "labour-party-(uk)-mps-for-english-constituencies", "lgbtq-members-of-the-parliament-of-the-united-kingdom", "people-educated-at-king-edward-vii-school,-sheffield", "politics-of-sheffield", "transport-and-general-workers'-union-sponsored-mps", "uk-mps-1992–1997", "uk-mps-1997–2001", "uk-mps-2001–2005", "uk-mps-2005–2010", "uk-mps-2010–2015", "uk-mps-2015–2017", "uk-mps-2017–2019", "uk-mps-2019–2024", "leaders-of-local-authorities-of-england", "21st-century-english-lgbtq-people", "labour-party-(uk)-councillors", "labour-friends-of-palestine-and-the-middle-east", "uk-mps-2024–present"] description: "British Labour politician" topic_path: "politics" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clive_Betts" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary British Labour politician ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox officeholder"]

Field	Value
image	Official portrait of Mr Clive Betts MP crop 2.jpg
name	Clive Betts
honorific-suffix	MP
office	Chair of the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee
term_start	10 June 2010
term_end	30 May 2024
predecessor	Phyllis Starkey
successor	Florence Eshalomi
office1	Lord Commissioner of the Treasury
primeminister1	Tony Blair
term_start1	28 July 1998
term_end1	7 June 2001
predecessor1	Graham Allen
successor1	John Heppell
office2	Member of Parliament
for Sheffield South East
Sheffield Attercliffe (1992–2010)
majority2	12,451 (35.8%)
predecessor2	Patrick Duffy
term_start2	9 April 1992
office3	Leader of Sheffield City Council
term_start3	1987
term_end3	1992
predecessor3	David Blunkett
successor3	Mike Bower
birth_name	Clive James Charles Betts
birth_date
birth_place	Sheffield, Yorkshire, England
nationality	British
partner	James Thomas
party	Labour
residence	Derbyshire, England
alma_mater	Pembroke College, Cambridge
website	clivebetts.com
parliament..clive-betts
caption	Official portrait, 2019
::

Early life and pre-parliamentary career

Clive Betts was born on 13 January 1950 in a council prefab in Dore, Sheffield. He was state educated at the Longley School in Sheffield, King Edward VII School, Sheffield, before studying at Pembroke College, Cambridge, where he received a BA in Economics and Politics.

He joined the Labour Party in 1969 and joined the Trades Union Congress in 1971 as an economist. In 1973, he was appointed as an economist with Derbyshire County Council, and moved to the South Yorkshire County Council in 1974 where he was an economist until 1986. In 1986, he was appointed as an economist with Rotherham Borough Council.

At the October 1974 general election, Betts stood as the Labour candidate in Sheffield Hallam, coming second with 29% of the vote behind the incumbent Conservative MP John Osborn.

Betts stood in Louth at the 1979 general election, coming third with 21.5% of the vote behind the incumbent Conservative MP Michael Brotherton and the Liberal candidate.

Local government career

Betts stood unsuccessfully as the Labour Party candidate in Sheffield's Burngreave ward in the 1975 city council election. He was subsequently elected in the Firth Park ward in the 1976 city council election and re-elected in 1980, 1984 and 1988.

As a Sheffield City councillor, he was chair of the Housing Committee for six years, deputy leader and chair of the Finance Committee for one year and the chief whip of the Labour Group for three years. He was also formerly the group secretary.Councillor's details, from Correspondence/meetings with Leader 4.19 January 1986 (reference 1993/23/23), held at Sheffield City Archives.

Papers of Clive Betts, MP, Sheffield (reference MP8) held at Sheffield City Archives Calmview:Record

Betts became deputy leader of Sheffield City Council under David Blunkett in 1986. He succeeded Blunkett as leader in 1987 following the latter's election as MP for Sheffield Brightside. As leader of the council, Betts presided over the council's controversial decision to fund the 1991 World Student Games.

Parliamentary career

Betts was elected to Parliament at the 1992 general election as MP for Sheffield Attercliffe with 57.5% of the vote and a majority of 15,480.

At the 1997 general election, Betts was re-elected as MP for Sheffield Attercliffe with an increased vote share of 65.3% and an increased majority of 21,818.

He was again re-elected at the 2001 general election, with an increased vote share of 67.8% and a decreased majority of 18,844.

Betts was again re-elected at the 2005 general election, with a decreased vote share of 60.1% and a decreased majority of 15,967. In 2007 he served as the chair of the All Party Urban Development Group, an All-party parliamentary group.

Prior to the 2010 general election, Betts' constituency of Sheffield Attercliffe was abolished, and replaced with Sheffield South East. At the election, Betts was elected to Parliament as MP for Sheffield South East with 48.7% of the vote and a majority of 10,505.

Since 10 June 2010, he has been chairman of the Communities and Local Government Committee and, on 19 June 2015, was returned unopposed as its chairman.

At the 2015 general election, Betts was re-elected as MP for Sheffield South East with an increased vote share of 51.4% and an increased majority of 12,311.

Betts backed remain in the 2016 Brexit referendum.

He supported Owen Smith in the 2016 Labour leadership election.

At the snap 2017 general election, Betts was again re-elected, with an increased vote share of 58.5% and a decreased majority of 11,798.

He was again re-elected at the 2019 general election, with a decreased vote share of 46.1% and a decreased majority of 4,289.

Betts was one of 125 Labour MPs that defied the party whip to support a ceasefire in Gaza.

Betts was again re-elected at the 2024 general election, with an increased vote share of 52.3% and an increased majority of 12,458. Despite being identified as a 'thorn in many Ministers' sides' during his time as chairman of the parliamentary select housing committee, in October 2024 Betts was replaced by Florence Eshalomi.

Betts serves as Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Groups on Football; the Netherlands; Somaliland; Local Authority Pension Funds; and Pension Clawback, and is Vice Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Groups on Serbia; Electric Vehicles; and Hydrogen.

In November 2024, Betts voted in favour of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, which proposes to legalise assisted suicide.

In February 2025, Betts was appointed to chair a 'new taskforce to support the growth of the build-to-rent sector', working alongside build-to-rent developers, operators, investors, the British Property Federation and the Association for Rental Living.

Controversies

In 2003, Betts was suspended from the House of Commons for seven days for irregularities involving the employment and visa of Jose Gasparo, a Brazilian student with previous experience as a male escort. The Daily Telegraph newspaper reported on 10 July 2010 that Betts' partner and parliamentary assistant, James Thomas, had tried to edit this fact from Betts' English Wikipedia page in an attempt to cover it up. Betts was found guilty of breaching the MPs' code of conduct, with the Standards and Privileges Committee stating that he had acted "extremely foolishly" and had risked damaging public confidence in the integrity of Parliament. Particular concerns involved his failure to disclose Gasparo's background to parliamentary authorities and the fact that Betts had knowingly photocopied an altered document on Gasparo's behalf. Betts gave an "unreserved apology" in a personal statement to MPs when the report was published.

Also in 2003, Betts was subject to criticism for his accommodation expenses after he had previously campaigned for an increase in MPs' entitlements on the ground of "hardship". It was reported by The Times that Betts had "flipped" his designated second home to Yorkshire before buying a "country estate" there, before "flipping it" back to London and taking out a larger mortgage on his flat there. Betts denied wrongdoing, arguing the Yorkshire property had been "two dilapidated listed buildings" and that when he became a whip he had to declare his main residence as his London flat.

In 2004, he was criticised by the British Medical Association for going to Portugal with 15 fellow MPs on an all-expenses trip paid for by the fast food chain McDonald's. Betts responded that if MPs had a "puritanical" attitude about food then people would ignore what they said. He faced further criticism in 2010 after it was reported that he was one of eight MPs who were renting out a "second home" in London while claiming for the cost of renting a '"third home" in the city at taxpayers' expense. Although legal, critics argued the "loophole" was allowing MPs to increase their income after the rules on parliamentary expenses were tightened.

In 2024, one of Clive Betts' employees was accused of creating a 'racist' petition while standing for election in the South East constituency, relating to locating a traveller site in the Beighton ward. The petition drew offence for suggesting that it is inappropriate to locate a traveller site 'in the middle of a settled community', rather than 'on the city boundaries.' Betts was also later said to be 'leading his own campaign against the plan' to house travellers. He was represented by Chris Young KC in hearings against the site's location, and said that it was 'totally inappropriate', and commented that accusations of racism were 'just a knee-jerk, silly reaction to what we’re saying.'

Personal life

Betts lives in a farmhouse on the Derbyshire border with his partner James Thomas, who is also employed as his parliamentary assistant. He plays cricket, supports Sheffield Wednesday F.C. and, in the past, has played squash and football and used to be a regular Sheffield Marathon runner. In March 2021, Betts became a trustee of the green space charity Fields in Trust.

Betts came out as gay in 2003 and said it was "one of the best decisions I've ever made", stating that when he was growing up "people weren't out", there was barely any gay scene and it was "hardly talked about", but that times had changed. In 2007 he was identified as one of the 50 'most powerful LGBT people in British politics', coming 35th, with his work to support the Gay and Lesbian Football Association World Championship 2008 cited by PinkNews when adding him to the list.

Betts employs his partner as his Senior Parliamentary Assistant on a salary up to £45,000. He was listed in articles in The Daily Telegraph and The Guardian which criticised the practice of MPs employing family members, on the lines that it promotes nepotism. Although MPs who were first elected in 2017 have been banned from employing family members, the restriction is not retrospective – meaning that Betts' employment of his partner is lawful.

Notes

References

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"Clive Betts MP – Who is he?".
(29 November 2024). "Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill: Second Reading".
(5 February 2025). "MP Clive Betts to chair build-to-rent taskforce".
"House of Commons – Standards and Privileges – Fifth Report". parliament.uk.
(10 July 2010). "MPs' scandals covered up on Wikipedia". The Daily Telegraph.
"Complaints against Mr Clive Betts".
(11 September 2003). "MP suspended from Commons". BBC News.
(13 July 2009). "Clive Betts had farm estate when he fought for 'hardship' expenses". [[The Times]].
(13 July 2009). "MP Betts denies wrongdoing in expenses row". Sheffield Star}} {{dead link.
(16 June 2014). "MP defends McDonald's-paid trip". BBC News.
(5 December 2010). "MPs who own London homes still claim rent". Independent.
(20 February 2023). "Labour Sheffield City Council candidate denies accusation of creating 'racist' petition ahead of May elections".
(23 August 2023). "Why are Labour and the Lib Dems battling to block new homes for this Sheffield community?".
(8 October 2024). "Hearings start on controversial Sheffield travellers' site scheme".
Helm, Toby. (27 February 2003). "MP comes out and admits gay lover". Daily Telegraph.
(30 March 2021). "Senior Parliamentarian Clive Betts MP joins Trustee Board". Fields in Trust.
(5 March 2023). "Clive Betts: Gay MP opens up about decision to come out and the reaction from fellow Sheffield Wednesday fans".
"The 50 most powerful LGBT people in British politics". Pink News.
"IPSA". GOV.UK.
(29 June 2015). "One in five MPs employs a family member: the full list revealed". The Daily Telegraph}}
- {{cite news.
(21 April 2017). "MPs banned from employing spouses after election in expenses crackdown". London Evening Standard.

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