Former
Welcome to my website and blog.
You can read a bit more about who I am and what makes me tick here. A summary of the work I did when I was Labour MP for Birmingham Northfield between 1992 and 2019 can also be found here.
The older posts on here date from my time as an MP but I have continued to blog since leaving Parliament.
The opening paragraphs of my blog posts appear at the bottom of this page in reverse date order. The “Read on” buttons take you to what I have written in full. My posts below also contain links to articles I have written and which have been published elsewhere, together with posts imported from my own Facebook page.
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These are the main subjects on which I’ve written. Click here to view the full list of categories.
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Roy Hattersley was a fellow Birmingham MP and a key figure in Labour for decades. We came from different wings of the Party but I always knew he was someone who never lost sight of the bottom-line principles that made him Labour. RIP
Let’s call out what happened in Belfast last night for what it was – a pogrom. What a contrast with the hugely dignified response of Stephen Ogilvie’s family. Total respect for them as they face such an ordeal after the horrific attack on him.
Abolishing patient watchdog leaves NHS ‘marking own homework’, councils warn
In otherwise wide ranging interview with Health Secretary, James Murray, regrettable that @BBCr4today didn’t ask why the new Health Bill, to be debated today will scrap independent patient and public voice in health &social care. Here’s why govt is wrong
Richard Burden MP (Labour, Birmingham Northfield) has welcomed the publication today of the House of Commons International Development Committee Report on Development Assistance and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Mr Burden is a Member of the Committee which carried out the Inquiry, which included a fact finding visit to Israel and Palestine in November. He also chairs the Britain-Palestine …
Before Parliament rose for the summer, a Labour colleague and I were sitting on the Commons benches listening to a Minister trying to explain why the Government did not feel it was appropriate to call on Israel to cease its bombing of South Lebanon immediately. We were told not to forget that it was Hezbollah, not Israel, that had kicked off hostilities “Isn’t it amazing?” observed my …
Richard Burden writes to Tony Blair expressing concern over the Prime Minister’s speech at the World Affairs Council Labour backbencher and member of the International Development Select Committee, Richard Burden MP, has today written to Tony Blair to express his concern at the Prime Minister’s speech at the World Affairs Council yesterday. In particular, Mr Burden questions Mr Blair’s contention …
A cross party group of UK MPs have issued a call for an immediate ceasefire in the Middle East. 56 MPs have signed the statement so far which was published today in the Guardian newspaper. It is expected that more will add their names over the next few days. The statement calls for an immediate cessation to violence by all sides, for the release of unlawfully held prisoners by Israel, Hizbollah …
Richard Burden puts down a statement, co-signed by many other UK Parliamentarians, issuing a call for an immediate ceasefire in the Middle East. A cross-party group of UK MPs have issued a call for an immediate ceasefire in the Middle East. 60 MPs have signed the statement so far which was published today in the Guardian newspaper. It is expected that more will add their names over the next few …
A British MP who was an official international observer at the Palestinian elections last week has called for “clear thinking and a measured response” to Hamas’ sweeping victory. Mr Burden says that the international community is right to make clear to Hamas that they must abandon the path of violence and that recognition of Israel will be part of any lasting settlement. However, he warns against …
Commenting on the current crisis in the Middle East, Richard Burden MP, Chair of the Britain-Palestine All-Party Parliamentary Group, today said:
“Israel’s actions in Lebanon mark a dangerous escalation of the crisis unfolding in the Middle East and they are contrary to international law.
In Parliament today, MPs raised the rapidly deteriorating situation in the Middle East and the disproportionate attacks made by Israel on the Palestinians following the kidnapping of Israeli Corporal Gilad Shalit on Sunday night. MPs, including former Labour Shadow Foreign Secretary, Sir Gerald Kaufman MP, called for an urgent statement and a full Parliamentary debate on the British response to …
Richard Burden MP joined Government Minister Mike O’Brien MP and other guests on Tuesday 29th May when it was announced that the production of MGs will restart at the Longbridge factory in his constituency. The MG marque is now owned by Nanjing Automobile Corporation (NAC) and tomorrow’s ceremony will be attended by senior officials from NAC and by Liang Bao Hua, the Governor of Jiangsu province …
EMOTIONS THE COLLAPSE OF MG ROVER HAS GENERATED “The ending of production at Longbridge, felt like a bereavement, and it takes time to recover from that. And people have been through the roller coaster of emotions that go with bereavement. Shock, grief, anger, denial and then a determination to face a changed future. The closure, after 99 years of car manufacturing, of a factory which has been …
Richard Burden MP, whose constituency includes the Longbridge car plant, has welcomed the publication of the National Audit Office report into the closure of MG Rover. Mr Burden said today: “The NAO has produced a balanced and comprehensive report which rightly underlines the significance of MG Rover to the economy of the West Midlands and the pace of events which led up to the closure of …
Commenting on the result of the elections in Israel, Richard Burden MP, Chair of the Britain-Palestine All-Party Parliamentary Group, today said: “When the results of the Palestinian election were announced the international community was very clear about the importance of the new Palestinian government standing by international law and international agreements. “It is important that an equally …
I was Labour Member of Parliament for Birmingham Northfield between 1992 and 2019 and a former Shadow Transport Minister. I now chair Healthwatch in Birmingham and Solihull, and the West Midlands Board of Remembering Srebrenica. I also work as a public affairs consultant. I am an effective community advocate and stakeholder alliance builder with a passion for human rights. I am a trustee of the Balfour Project charity and of Citizens Advice Birmingham, and a former Chair of Medical Aid for Palestinians.
