About time from The Guardian, as Julia Langdon
The life of Jim Dobbin, who has died suddenly aged 73,
was shaped by the sort of social and political influences that have
traditionally propelled many committed socialists to pursue a parliamentary
career at Westminster.
Elected as the Labour and Co-operative MP for Heywood and Middleton in the last election of the 20th century, he belonged to the last generation in which this pattern was still strongly prevalent.
He came from a Scottish working-class background, the son of a devout Roman Catholic family, but escaped the deprivations of his parents' lives through education.
He joined the professional classes by qualifying as a microbiologist at Napier College, Edinburgh (now Edinburgh Napier University), and dedicated three decades to working within the NHS.
His active political career, which began in local government, won him a reputation for brave and steadfast decency as well as the personal popularity that goes with it.
James was born in Kincardine, Fife, on the north shore of the Firth of Forth. His father, William, was a miner and his mother, Catherine (nee McCabe), worked in a mill.
Their determination that he should not be subject to the industrial diseases they encountered daily in their working lives had an early impact on his chosen career and lifelong commitment to promoting public health.
His profound faith added further to his defence of the sanctity of human life from conception to death.
He went to St Columba's high school, Cowdenbeath, and St Andrew's high school, Kirkcaldy, before studying bacteriology and virology at Napier.
He started work as an NHS microbiologist in 1966, and in the mid-1970s took up an appointment at the Royal Oldham hospital, where he worked for 22 years before election to parliament.
He joined Rochdale borough council in 1983, was elected Labour leader in 1994 and was leader of the council in 1996. He stood unsuccessfully for Bury North in the 1992 general election, losing by under 5,000 votes.
It was his misfortune that when he did become an MP five years later, he was slightly too old and lacked the parliamentary experience at Westminster that would otherwise have secured him a ministerial job.
Undaunted, he devoted his full-time political career to the passion of his professional life for better health care and to the coinciding interests of improving the lives of his constituents.
He ran an efficient constituency office, employing members of his local authority to assist him.
He campaigned vigorously on many health issues and was chairman of various all-party groups – pro-life, involuntary tranquilliser addiction, and child health and vaccine preventable diseases.
Although his faith sometimes brought him into conflict with colleagues, notably in his implacable opposition to the recent legislative change on same-sex marriage, he nevertheless won admiration for the uncompromising morality that underpinned his beliefs.
He was appointed a papal knight in 2008 in recognition of his lifelong devotion.
He believed strongly in the need to recognise and dignify different cultures, an important issue in his constituency, and annually attended the migrant mass held at Westminster Cathedral. He was also a lifelong supporter of Celtic FC.
He made his maiden speech on the need for a recognition of the role of local government in economic and social change and on the importance of devolving power from the centre.
This did not extend, however, to any enthusiasm for the current referendum in Scotland, the dangers of which for the Labour party and for Scottish-born Labour MPs such as himself representing English constituencies he privately warned against.
He was a member of the transport select committee, the European scrutiny select committee, the Speaker's panel to chair Commons committees and the British contigent on the Council of Europe. He was on an overseas visit for the council, assessing the state of human rights in Poland, when he died.
His wife, Patricia (nee Russell), to whom he had been married for 50 years, was accompanying him and he is survived by her, their two sons and two daughters.
Elected as the Labour and Co-operative MP for Heywood and Middleton in the last election of the 20th century, he belonged to the last generation in which this pattern was still strongly prevalent.
He came from a Scottish working-class background, the son of a devout Roman Catholic family, but escaped the deprivations of his parents' lives through education.
He joined the professional classes by qualifying as a microbiologist at Napier College, Edinburgh (now Edinburgh Napier University), and dedicated three decades to working within the NHS.
His active political career, which began in local government, won him a reputation for brave and steadfast decency as well as the personal popularity that goes with it.
James was born in Kincardine, Fife, on the north shore of the Firth of Forth. His father, William, was a miner and his mother, Catherine (nee McCabe), worked in a mill.
Their determination that he should not be subject to the industrial diseases they encountered daily in their working lives had an early impact on his chosen career and lifelong commitment to promoting public health.
His profound faith added further to his defence of the sanctity of human life from conception to death.
He went to St Columba's high school, Cowdenbeath, and St Andrew's high school, Kirkcaldy, before studying bacteriology and virology at Napier.
He started work as an NHS microbiologist in 1966, and in the mid-1970s took up an appointment at the Royal Oldham hospital, where he worked for 22 years before election to parliament.
He joined Rochdale borough council in 1983, was elected Labour leader in 1994 and was leader of the council in 1996. He stood unsuccessfully for Bury North in the 1992 general election, losing by under 5,000 votes.
It was his misfortune that when he did become an MP five years later, he was slightly too old and lacked the parliamentary experience at Westminster that would otherwise have secured him a ministerial job.
Undaunted, he devoted his full-time political career to the passion of his professional life for better health care and to the coinciding interests of improving the lives of his constituents.
He ran an efficient constituency office, employing members of his local authority to assist him.
He campaigned vigorously on many health issues and was chairman of various all-party groups – pro-life, involuntary tranquilliser addiction, and child health and vaccine preventable diseases.
Although his faith sometimes brought him into conflict with colleagues, notably in his implacable opposition to the recent legislative change on same-sex marriage, he nevertheless won admiration for the uncompromising morality that underpinned his beliefs.
He was appointed a papal knight in 2008 in recognition of his lifelong devotion.
He believed strongly in the need to recognise and dignify different cultures, an important issue in his constituency, and annually attended the migrant mass held at Westminster Cathedral. He was also a lifelong supporter of Celtic FC.
He made his maiden speech on the need for a recognition of the role of local government in economic and social change and on the importance of devolving power from the centre.
This did not extend, however, to any enthusiasm for the current referendum in Scotland, the dangers of which for the Labour party and for Scottish-born Labour MPs such as himself representing English constituencies he privately warned against.
He was a member of the transport select committee, the European scrutiny select committee, the Speaker's panel to chair Commons committees and the British contigent on the Council of Europe. He was on an overseas visit for the council, assessing the state of human rights in Poland, when he died.
His wife, Patricia (nee Russell), to whom he had been married for 50 years, was accompanying him and he is survived by her, their two sons and two daughters.
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