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Alan Amos

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For the American writer, see Kathleen Moore Knight.

Alan Amos
Member of Parliament for Hexham
In office
11 June 1987 – 9 April 1992
Preceded byGeoffrey Rippon
Succeeded byPeter Atkinson
Councillor of Worcester City Council for Lower Wick and Pitmaston
Incumbent
Assumed office
1 May 2008
Councillor in Worcestershire County Council for Bedwardine
Incumbent
Assumed office
7 May 2013
Councillor of Tower Hamlets Council for Millwall
In office
2002 – 4 May 2006
Mayor of Worcester
In office
2014–2015
Preceded byPat Agar
Succeeded byRoger Knight
Personal details
Born (1952-11-10) 10 November 1952 (age 72)
Political partyReform UK (since 2025)
Other political
affiliations		Labour (1994–2015)
Conservative (1978–94; 2015–25)
Alma materSt John's College, Oxford

Alan Thomas Amos (born 10 November 1952) is a British politician who sat as Conservative Member of Parliament for Hexham from 1987 to 1992. After a spell in the Labour Party, he was elected as a Conservative member of Worcester City Council and of Worcestershire County Council, but left the party to sit as an independent.[1] He was re-elected as a member of Reform UK.[2]

Early life

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He attended the independent St Albans School. He studied PPE at St John's College, Oxford. From the Institute of Education, he gained a PGCE in 1976.

From 1976 to 1984, he was an Economics teacher, and a sixth form form-teacher, at Dame Alice Owen's School in Hertfordshire. From 1986 to 1987, he was Assistant Principal of Davies's College of Further Education on Old Gloucester Street, Queen Square, London,

From 1978 to 1987 he was a Conservative Party councillor on Enfield Borough Council.

At the 1983 general election, he stood unsuccessfully in Walthamstow as a Conservative candidate.[3]

Parliamentary career

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Amos was elected as the Conservative Member of Parliament for Hexham in the 1987 general election.

In Parliament, Amos was known for his right wing views, e.g., he believed rapists and muggers should be flogged.[4] He was opposed to tobacco advertising.[5]

Shortly before the 1992 general election, Amos was arrested, along with another man, at a well known homosexual pickup spot on Hampstead Heath. Amos was not charged but accepted a police caution for indecency, and stood down as MP for Hexham.[6][7]

Conversion to Labour

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After failing to be readopted as a Conservative local councillor in the London Borough of Enfield, where he had previously been deputy leader of the council,[8] he joined the Labour Party in 1994, giving a self-exculpatory interview to The Spectator magazine.[9] In the 2001 general election he fought the Hitchin and Harpenden constituency for Labour, coming second to the Conservative Peter Lilley.[10]

He was elected for Labour to the Millwall ward of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in 2002, serving as councillor for four years before losing the seat to the Conservatives in the 2006 election. He returned to local politics in May 2008 with his election to the Warndon ward of Worcester City Council.[11] In 2013 he was also elected to Worcestershire County Council.

Independent councillor

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Following the May 2014 local government elections, the composition of Worcester City Council was 17 Conservative, 16 Labour, 1 Liberal Democrat and 1 Green, making both major groups reliant on minority support to gain control of the council.[12] Before the Council AGM, Alan Amos announced he was leaving the Labour group to sit as an Independent councillor, allegedly from dissatisfaction that he had not been selected by Labour as a future Mayor of Worcester.[13] At the council's AGM on 3 June 2014, Amos accepted the Conservative nomination as Mayor of Worcester, and as Mayor, voted for the Council administration to change from Labour to Conservative.[14]

Move back to the Conservatives

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Following the 2015 Worcester City Council election and hours before his tenure as Mayor of Worcester was to end, Amos announced he was rejoining the Conservative party.[15] In the 2024 Worcester City Council election he was re-elected and was the sole Conservative on the city council. In 2025, then sat as an Independent on the city council and on Worcestershire County Council.[16]

Swap to Reform

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On the 3rd April 2025 Amos announced that he was rejecting the life of an independent councilor after less than four months, and was joining ReformUK, after "an unexpected approach"[17].

"The approach from Reform was unexpected but I have found that we have much in common on the need for Britain to change direction and make a decisive break from the old, tired and discredited parties."

In the 2025 Worcestershire County Council election, he was a candidate for Reform UK.[2] He was re-elected under his new banner with 1,182 votes (41.47% of those cast).[18] In doing so, he beat fellow former Conservative MP and Cabinet Minister Stephen Dorrell who was standing for the Liberal Democrats.

He stood as a candidate for the Leadership of the ReformUK group at the County Council, held on the 11th May at The Severn's Club, Stourport-on-Severn, but withdrew his candidacy after "being unable to secure enough support". The contest came to down to two former Conservatives Bill Hopkins and Joanne Monk. The selection was won by Joanne Monk.[19]

Following the election and the commencement of the Council, Amos was selected to join the cabinet of the new administration on the 22nd May - serving as Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Business and Training. [20] His rival, Bill Hopkins, did not take up a Cabinet position.

From when he left the Conservatives in January 2025 to the 2nd July Amos had only attended 38% of the meetings he was expected to [21]. In the six months before that he only attended 40% of meetings he was expected to attend.[22]

He missed the first meeting of the Cabinet on the 26th June 2025 [23],

Controversies

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In 2016 Amos claimed women make up rape.[24] He is known for his right-wing views on immigration, when in 2019, 23 child asylum seekers were resettled in Worcestershire.[25] He has also made derogatory remarks about cyclists when he called cyclists "morons and dangerous" as well as describing courier riders as "Deliveroo Idiots".[26]

In 2021, Amos suggested the Worcester's "woke" theatres could lose funding after axing a "comedians' show". The comedian in question was Andrew Lawrence, and his appearance was cancelled following offensive social media posts about the England national football team's black players during Euro 2020[27]

In April 2024 Amos asked for funding allocated to housing Ukrainian Refugees to be used to clean up dog mess and litter instead despite knowing it was ring-fenced funding [28]

In 2024 Amos, as a conservative Councilor, said it was "discriminatory" for a Green Mayor of Worcester City Council to serve plant-based food at civic functions.[29]

References

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  1. ^ "Councillor Alan Amos". Worcs CC. Retrieved 4 May 2024.
  2. ^ a b "Former Conservative Alan Amos to stand for Reform". Worcester News. 3 April 2025. Retrieved 3 April 2025.
  3. ^ "UK General Election results June 1983". Richard Kimber's Political Science Resources. Archived from the original on 2 April 2012. Retrieved 2 September 2012.
  4. ^ Weale, Sally (4 February 2000). "'I have changed. Genuinely'". the Guardian. Retrieved 6 August 2022.
  5. ^ "Ban On Tobacco Advertising". Retrieved 6 August 2022.
  6. ^ "THAT NIGHT ON THE HEATH » 18 Jan 1997 » The Spectator Archive". The Spectator Archive.
  7. ^ "BBC News | UK POLITICS | Clutching at straws". BBC News.
  8. ^ David Conway, Local Opinion, Spectator, 25 January 1997, accessed 24 June 2013.
  9. ^ Farrell, Nicholas (18 January 1997). "THAT NIGHT ON THE HEATH". The Spectator Archive.
  10. ^ Weale, Sally (4 February 2000). "I have changed. Genuinely". The Guardian. New Labour is gearing up for the next election with a raft of unlikely new candidates who a decade ago would have been happier canvassing for the Tories. And perhaps the strangest of this new breed is the former Tory MP Alan Amos, who was once anti-abortion and pro-flogging. Sally Weale profiles Millbank's next wave of hopefuls
  11. ^ City of Worcester official website. Accessed 24 June 2013.
  12. ^ "Worcester". Local Councils.
  13. ^ Edwards, Tom (3 June 2014). "Revealed: the FULL reasons why Alan Amos quit Worcester Labour Party". Worcester News.
  14. ^ Edwards, Tom (4 June 2014). "Drama at Worcester City Council as Tory Simon Geraghty snatches leadership from Labour's Adrian Gregson". Worcester News.
  15. ^ Edwards, Tom (19 May 2015). "Mayor of Worcester Alan Amos joins the Tories". Worcester News.
  16. ^ Connell, James. "Alan Amos departure is 'historic' for Worcester City Council". Worcester News. Retrieved 30 January 2025.
  17. ^ "Former Conservative Alan Amos to stand for Reform". Worcester News. 3 April 2025. Retrieved 1 July 2025.
  18. ^ "Election Results Table". gis.worcestershire.gov.uk. Retrieved 2 May 2025.
  19. ^ "Reform UK elects Joanne Monk as Worcestershire group leader". BBC News. 12 May 2025. Retrieved 1 July 2025.
  20. ^ "New leadership brings fresh direction to County Council | Worcestershire County Council". www.worcestershire.gov.uk. Retrieved 1 July 2025.
  21. ^ "Attendance record - Councillor Alan Amos". worcestershire.moderngov.co.uk. 1 July 2025. Retrieved 1 July 2025.
  22. ^ "Attendance record - Councillor Alan Amos". worcestershire.moderngov.co.uk. 1 July 2025. Retrieved 1 July 2025.
  23. ^ "Meeting attendance - Meeting of Cabinet on Thursday, 26th June, 2025, 10.00 am". worcestershire.moderngov.co.uk. 26 June 2025. Retrieved 1 July 2025.
  24. ^ Robb, Simon (19 September 2016). "Tory councillor doesn't think rape allegations should be recorded as an offence". Metro. Retrieved 7 August 2024.
  25. ^ Barnett, Christian (18 January 2019). "Councillor Alan Amos defends views on immigration and asylum seekers". Worcester News. Retrieved 7 August 2024.
  26. ^ "Cyclists are 'dangerous and selfish', says Councillor Alan Amos after cyclists banned from Worcester city centre". Worcester News. 17 October 2018. Retrieved 7 August 2024.
  27. ^ "Threat to pull money from theatre 'do gooders' over 'racist' comedian". Worcester News. 1 December 2021. Retrieved 30 May 2025.
  28. ^ "Worcester councillor asks to use Ukraine cash for dog mess". BBC News. 11 April 2024. Retrieved 1 July 2025.
  29. ^ "Worcester's mayor cuts meat from menu and goes plant-based". BBC News. 22 February 2024. Retrieved 30 May 2025.
[edit]
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Hexham
1987–1992 		Succeeded by
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