Bill Etherington

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William Bill Etherington (born July 17, 1941) British politician He has been the Labour Party MP for Sunderland North since 1992.

Bill Etherington was born in Sunderland and was educated at the Redby Infant and Junior Schools, Monkwearmouth Grammar School and latterly at Durham University. He was an apprentice fitter at the Austin and Pickersgill Shipyard in Sunderland for five years from 1957. He became a fitter for Beal & Co in Sunderland in 1962, before joining the National Coal Board in 1963 and for the following twenty years worked as a fitter at the Dawdon Colliery in County Durham. He has been a member of the National Union of Mineworkers since 1963, and from 1983 until his election was a full time trade union official with them, and was a full-time official during the Miners' Strike.

He was first elected in the 1992 General Election for Sunderland North, replacing fellow left-winger, Bob Clay. Etherington held the seat comfortably with a majority of 17,004 votes, and has been re-elected with strong majorities in every General Election since. He made his maiden speech on May 11, 1992.

He is a left-winger, a member of the Socialist Campaign Group and has rebelled against Tony Blair's government. In the 1992 general election, he polled 60.7% of the vote, with his Conservative opponent winning 26.9% of the vote. In the 1997 election, he took 68.2% against Conservative Andrew Selous, who ranked in second place with just 16.7% of the vote. He also confidently beat his Conservative opponents in the 2001 (62.7% against 17.9%) and 2005 general elections (54.4% against 19.8%).

He has been married to Irene Holton since 1963 and they have two daughters. He is characterised in parliament by his three-piece suits and strong Mackem accent.