Christine Butler
Labour MP who won Castle Point in a shock election victory
CHRISTINE BUTLER, who has died aged 73, was the only Labour MP ever to have represented Castle Point, the strip of south Essex beside the Thames Estuary that includes Canvey Island.
A “paper candidate” in the 1997 general election for the Conservatives’ 77th safest seat, she pulled off one of the biggest surprises of a dramatic night, ousting the sitting MP Robert Spink by 1,143 votes.
Labour had captured the local council from the Conservatives in 1995, but harboured no hopes of winning the parliamentary seat from Spink, who was nursing a majority of almost 17,000. Local activists were encouraged to campaign in other seats Labour had a “real chance” of winning.
On polling night, May 1 1997, the heavy national swing against John Major’s Conservatives translated into a landslide victory for Tony Blair. But Christine Butler secured a swing of almost 17 per cent to capture the seat with the highest rate of owner-occupation of any in the country and register what Labour described as its fourth most unlikely gain.
Gap-toothed and personable, Christine Butler proved a conscientious local MP, even though she had not planned for a parliamentary career. She made an impact at Westminster campaigning on environmental issues, serving on the Environment, Transport and Regional Affairs Select Committee. Her particular concern was air pollution from diesel engine particulates, a decade before this was acknowledged to be a serious problem.
When the general election of June 2001 was called, Christine Butler and her supporters fought hard to hold Castle Point. But while New Labour emerged with its majority almost unchanged, Bob Spink recovered just enough ground to take the seat back. Seven years later he would defect to Ukip.
She was born Christine Smith in Nelson, Lancashire, on December 14 1943. From Nelson Grammar School she took a degree at Middlesex Polytechnic, then worked first as a research assistant in the pharmaceutical industry and then in the National Health Service.
In 1993 she was elected to Essex County Council, representing the Great Tarpots area of Benfleet. She also chaired the Essex Co-operative Development Agency.
In her maiden speech at Westminster, Christine Butler highlighted the need for regeneration of communities along the Thames. She urged Blair’s government to make tackling unemployment its highest priority, and nailed her colours to the proeuropean mast.
She warned of dangers if the use of pilots on shipping in the Thames were reduced, and echoed constituents’ concerns over dredging for sand and gravel in the estuary. She called for all employers of children to be licensed, urged equality of opportunity in scientific careers for women, and proposed a “short, sharp Bill” to end the voting rights of hereditary peers.
Some time after losing her seat Christine Butler retired to Suffolk with her husband, but developed dementia.
She had married Robert Butler, a teacher, in 1964; he survives her, with their three sons.