David Crausby

Sir David Anthony Crausby (born 17 June 1946) is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bolton North East since 1997.

Crausby was born in Bury, Lancashire and worked as a lathe turner and as works convenor for the Amalgamated Engineering Union. He was a councilor for Bury District Council from 1979 to 1992. He was elected as an MP in 1997. Crausby was a member of the Social Security and Defence Select Committees. He was knighted in the 2017 New Year Honours.

Early life and career
David Crausby was born in Bury, Lancashire and was educated locally at the Derby Grammar School (now Derby High School) in Bury and at Bury Technical College. He began a career as a turner, becoming an apprentice centre lathe turner in 1962, and later became works convenor for the Amalgamated Engineering Union at Beloit Walmsleys Ltd, Bolton. He remained in this position until his election to the House of Commons in 1997. He was elected a councillor in 1979 to the then Bury District Council, and served until 1992.

Parliamentary career
He contested the marginal Bury North seat, having been just elected as Chairman of the local constituency Labour Party, at the 1987 General Election but was defeated by the sitting Conservative MP Alistair Burt by 6,911 votes. He contested the Conservative-held marginal seat of Bolton North East at the 1992 General Election where the sitting MP Peter Thurnham was defending an 813 majority. Bolton North East became more marginal with Thurnham retaining the seat by just 185 majority.

Thurnham retired at the 1997 General Election, having crossed the floor to join the Liberal Democrats on 12 October 1996. Crausby defeated the new Conservative candidate, Rob Wilson, by 12,669 votes. He made his maiden speech on 17 July 1997, in which he remembered the inventor of the spinning mule Samuel Crompton who was born in Bolton.

Crausby has remained the MP there since, though his majority fell to 8,422 in 2001 and 4,103 in 2005. In the 2010 general election with a turnout of 64.97% he increased his share of the vote and gained 19,870 votes being 45.9% of votes cast in comparison to 16,874 votes being 45.7% of votes cast in 2005. In the 2017 general election he was again returned, with a majority of 3,797.

In parliament, Crausby joined the Social Security Select Committee in 1999, and was a member of the Defence Select Committee from the 2001 General Election to 2010. He voted against the Iraq War in 2003.

In 2011, Crausby won The House magazine's Commons Speech of the Year, for his speech on bringing the military covenant into law, beating the Prime Minister David Cameron.

In 2013, he became one of the few Labour MPs to vote against the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill, which eventually was passed with cross-party support.

Crausby was knighted in the 2017 New Year Honours.