The Right Honourable Keith Hill (born 28 July 1943) is a politician in the United Kingdom. He is Labour member of Parliament for Streatham in South London, and was first elected in 1992.
He has been Minister for Housing and Planning at the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister since the 13 June 2003 reshuffle, when he was promoted to Minister of State rank and joined the Privy Council. He leads on housing, planning, the Thames Gateway, urban policy and liveability, and also act as Minister for London and the Dome.
Biography
Keith Hill was educated at Leicester Boys Grammar School from where he won a scholarship to Corpus Christi College, Oxford. He went on to complete a Diploma in Education at University College of Wales, Aberystwyth.
He was then a politics lecturer, firstly in Leicester and at Strathclyde University from 1969-1973. He worked as a research officer for the Labour party's International Department from 1974-1976 before becoming a political officer for the National Union of Railwaymen, subsequently amalgamated into the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers(RMT).
In the 1992 election, Hill outperformed Labour's national performance by being the first Labour MP ever elected for the Streatham constituency. He defeated the incumbent Conservative MP Sir William Shelton by a convincing margin. This partly reflected changing demographics in the constituency, which includes a large swathe of Brixton. However, it also reflected Hill's assiduous personal campaign in the years before the election, which contrasted favourably with Shelton's neglect of his constituency duties.
Following his election as an MP, he sat on the Select Committee for Transport from 1992 to 1997. His first Government appointment was as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Hilary Armstrong in 1997. He became an Assistant Government Whip from 1998 to 1999.
Keith Hill's ministerial career started when he was appointed as Parliamentary Under Secretary for Transport (as well as Minister for London) at the then Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR) in 1999. During his time at DETR, he was responsible for local transport and transport in London. As Minister for London, he was closely involved in preparing the way for London mayoral elections.
In the reshuffle following the 2001 election, Keith Hill moved to the position of Deputy Chief Whip.
Keith Hill is married and his interests include walking, reading (modern European literature), films and music.
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