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Ivor Caplin

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Ivor Caplin
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence
In office
13 June 2003 – 11 May 2005
Prime MinisterTony Blair
Sec. of StateGeoff Hoon
John Reid
Preceded byLewis Moonie
Succeeded byDon Touhig
Member of Parliament
for Hove
In office
1 May 1997 – 11 April 2005
Preceded byTim Sainsbury
Succeeded byCelia Barlow
Personal details
Born (1958-11-08) 8 November 1958 (age 66)
Brighton, England
Political partyLabour Party (suspended)

Ivor Keith Caplin (born 8 November 1958) is a British former Labour Party politician. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Hove from 1997 until 2005.

Early life

Caplin was born in Brighton into a Jewish family[1] and educated at the independent King Edward's School, Witley and the Brighton College of Technology. He had a career in marketing with the Legal & General Assurance Society from 1978 to 1997, from 1994 as Quality Manager in the Sales Division.[2]

In 1991 he was elected to Hove Borough Council. In 1995, he led Labour's successful campaign to win control of the council and became its Leader until April 1997, when it merged with Brighton. He was elected to the new Brighton and Hove Council in 1996 and was Deputy Leader until he resigned from the Council in March 1998.[3]

Parliamentary career

Caplin, described as being from the centrist wing of the Labour Party, was elected as Member of Parliament for Hove in 1997,[3] the city's first gay MP.[4] He became Parliamentary private secretary to Margaret Beckett in 1998.[5]

Following re-election in 2001 Caplin became an Assistant Government Whip. He was a prominent supporter of the 2003 invasion of Iraq,[6][7] and refused to accept a 1,000 signature petition from constituents against the invasion, resulting in regular demonstrations outside his constituency office.[8]

In June 2003 he was appointed Parliamentary under-secretary of state and Minister for Veterans at the Ministry of Defence. During his term, he introduced the Veteran's Badge for those who had served in HM Armed Forces.[9]

He was vice chairman of Labour Friends of Israel from 1997 to 2005.[2]

He stood down from the House of Commons at the 2005 general election, following predictions he would lose the seat because of the strength of opposition in his constituency to the invasion of Iraq.[6]

In 2010 Sir Thomas Legg conducted an independent audit of MPs expenses in which he determined that Caplin should repay £17,865 representing mortgage interest payments claimed on his second home, after Caplin failed to provide paperwork to establish his entitlement to claim the money.[10] Caplin appealed, stating that Legg's letters had gone to an old address and had not been forwarded. On 1 April 2011 his appeal was upheld and the amount of repayment reduced to £1,178.43 (which Caplin had overclaimed due to interest rate fluctuations of which he was unaware); Caplin accepted the finding and agreed to repay the money.[11]

Post parliamentary career

In December 2005, Caplin became a senior consultant for political lobbyists Foresight Communications, but was subsequently criticised by a Whitehall committee in 2006 for accepting lobbying work for the defence industry after being a defence minister without getting the agreement of the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments.[12][13][14]

In 2009 Caplin was appointed executive director of Haas Energy, a British company which hoped to obtain oil concessions in Iraq.[6]

Caplin runs his own company Ivor Caplin Consultancy since 2005 which has various clients.[2]

He was the Chair of the Jewish Labour Movement for 2018–19.[15]

Suspension and arrest

In June 2024 Caplin was suspended from the Labour Party due to "serious allegations" made about him. The allegations were not made public.[3]

In January 2025 Caplin was arrested by Sussex Police on suspicion of engaging in online sexual communications with a child, after being involved in a sting operation carried out by a group of anti-paedophile activists.[16][17]

References

  1. ^ William D. Rubinstein, Michael Jolles, Hilary L. Rubinstein, The Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History, Palgrave Macmillan (2011), p. 140
  2. ^ a b c "Caplin, Ivor Keith". Who's Who. 1 December 2024. Retrieved 12 January 2025.
  3. ^ a b c "Former Hove MP suspended from party". Brighton and Hove News. 11 June 2024.
  4. ^ Green, Daniel (30 June 2023). "Brighton: The LGBTQ+ history of the 'gay capital of UK'". The Argus. Brighton. Retrieved 12 January 2025.
  5. ^ "MP Caplin promoted in Blair reshuffle". The Argus. Brighton. 14 June 2003. Retrieved 12 January 2025.
  6. ^ a b c Bingham, John (24 November 2009). "Iraq war defence minister sets sights on 'oil boom'". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 12 January 2025.
  7. ^ Caplin, Ivor (15 March 2003). "Why war would be right". The Argus. Brighton. Retrieved 12 January 2025.
  8. ^ Walker, Emily (7 July 2016). "I totally stand by what happened, says former defence minister". The Argus. Brighton. Retrieved 12 January 2025.
  9. ^ "RBL – Veterans' Lapel Badge". British Legion. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
  10. ^ Rosa Prince (5 February 2010). "MPs' expenses: former MPs may refuse to pay up". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 10 February 2010. Retrieved 28 February 2018. In January 2014 Ivor Caplin was appointed as the Head of Public Affairs for English Uk.
  11. ^ "Review of past ACA payments: further supplementary report" (PDF). House of Commons Members Estimates Committee. 1 April 2011.
  12. ^ "Sleaze allegations levelled at ex-MP". The Argus. Brighton. 13 June 2006. Retrieved 12 January 2025.
  13. ^ Hencke, David (15 June 2006). "Good faith is not enough". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 January 2025.
  14. ^ Ungoed-Thomas, Jon; Newell, Claire; Watt, Holly (24 February 2008). "Ex ministers cash in on days of power". The Sunday Times. London. Retrieved 12 January 2025.
  15. ^ "National Executive Committee". Jewish Labour Movement. Retrieved 26 February 2019.
  16. ^ le Duc, Frank (11 January 2025). "Former Hove MP arrested". Brighton and Hove News. Archived from the original on 11 January 2025. Retrieved 11 January 2025.
  17. ^ "Ex-Labour MP arrested – days after attacking 'unacceptable' Elon". The Spectator. 11 January 2025. Retrieved 12 January 2025.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Hove
1997–2005 		Succeeded by
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