Martin Salter

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Martin John Salter is a United Kingdom politician and freshwater angler. He is Labour Member of Parliament for the Reading West parliamentary constituency.

Biography

Martin Salter was born in Hampton, in west London, on the 19th April 1954. He was educated at Hampton Grammar School and the University of Sussex. He is married to Natalie, and has no children. He moved to live in Reading in 1980.

Before entering politics, Salter worked in various jobs, including working as a lorry driver, scaffolder, builder's labourer, refuse collector and airport cargo handler. Latterly he worked as a coordinator for a centre for the unemployed and for a housing cooperative.

From 1984 to 1997, Salter was a Labour councillor on Reading Borough Council, during which time he chaired the leisure committee and served as deputy leader. In 1987 he stood for election in the Reading East parliamentary constituency, but was defeated. The general election of 1997, saw him elected as Member of Parliament for the Reading West parliamentary constituency, a position he retained during the following two general elections in 2001 and 2005 respectively.

In parliament, Salter served on the Select Committee on Northern Ireland through the period of the Good Friday Agreement. He is probably best known at a national level for his support for the Jane Longhurst campaign for further legislation restricting pornography and his opposition to the privatisation of the United Kingdom air traffic control system. He has also been active in the struggle against the far-right, and strongly opposes fox hunting. However his vocal support for the proposed national identity card, and for the defeated government proposal to extend the period police can hold terror suspects, has lead to Salter being branded right wing himself by local Conservative Party opponents, including neighbouring MP Rob Wilson.

At a local level Salter is an active constituency MP, with frequent appearances in the local media and at local meetings. Recently, Salter has cultivated close links with Oxford University Labour Club, speaking at several of their meetings following their help campaigning in Reading West and Reading East in the 2005 general election.

On 30th November 2005, Martin Salter resigned as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Schools Minister Jacqui Smith over school reform proposals.

His interests include angling.

External links

• Martin Salter MP (Martin Salter's own web site)
• Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Martin Salter
• TheyWorkForYou.com - Martin Salter MP