He joined the Labour Party in 1969 and joined the Trades Union Congress in 1971 as an economist. In 1973, he was appointed as an economist with Derbyshire County Council, and moved to the South Yorkshire County Council in 1974 where he was an economist until 1986.[2] In 1986, he was appointed as an economist with Rotherham Borough Council.
As a Sheffield City councillor, he was chair of the Housing Committee for six years, deputy leader and chair of the Finance Committee for one year and the chief whip of the Labour Group for three years. He was also formerly the group secretary.[2]
Betts became deputy leader of Sheffield City Council under David Blunkett in 1986. He succeeded Blunkett as leader in 1987 following the latter's election as MP for Sheffield Brightside. As leader of the council, Betts presided over the council's controversial decision to fund the 1991 World Student Games.[4]
Betts was elected to Parliament at the 1992 general election as MP for Sheffield Attercliffe with 57.5% of the vote and a majority of 15,480.[7] At the 1997 general election, Betts was re-elected as MP for Sheffield Attercliffe with an increased vote share of 65.3% and an increased majority of 21,818.[8] He was again re-elected at the 2001 general election, with an increased vote share of 67.8% and a decreased majority of 18,844.[9]
In 2003, Betts was suspended from the House of Commons for seven days for irregularities involving the employment and visa of Jose Gasparo, a Brazilian student with previous experience as a male escort.[10]The Daily Telegraph newspaper reported on 10 July 2010 that Betts' partner and parliamentary assistant, James Thomas, had tried to edit this fact from Betts' English Wikipedia page in an attempt to cover it up.[11] Betts was found guilty of breaching the MPs' code of conduct, with the Standards and Privileges Committee stating that he had acted "extremely foolishly" and had risked damaging public confidence in the integrity of Parliament. Particular concerns involved his failure to disclose Gasparo's background to parliamentary authorities and the fact that Betts had knowingly photocopied an altered document on Gasparo's behalf.[12] Betts gave an "unreserved apology" in a personal statement to MPs when the report was published.[13]
Also in 2003, Betts was subject to criticism for his accommodation expenses after he had previously campaigned for an increase in MPs' entitlements on the ground of "hardship". It was reported by The Times that Betts had "flipped" his designated second home to Yorkshire before buying a "country estate" there, before "flipping it" back to London and taking out a larger mortgage on his flat there.[14] Betts denied wrongdoing, arguing the Yorkshire property had been "two dilapidated listed buildings" and that when he became a whip he had to declare his main residence as his London flat.[15]
In 2004, he was criticised by the British Medical Association for going to Portugal with 15 fellow MPs on an all-expenses trip paid for by the fast food chain McDonald's. Betts responded that if MPs had a "puritanical" attitude about food then people would ignore what they said.[16] He faced further criticism in 2010 after it was reported that he was one of eight MPs who were renting out a "second home" in London while claiming for the cost of renting a '"third home" in the city at taxpayers' expense. Although legal, critics argued the "loophole" was allowing MPs to increase their income after the rules on parliamentary expenses were tightened.[17]
Betts was again re-elected at the 2005 general election, with a decreased vote share of 60.1% and a decreased majority of 15,967.[18]
Prior to the 2010 general election, Betts' constituency of Sheffield Attercliffe was abolished, and replaced with Sheffield South East. At the election, Betts was elected to Parliament as MP for Sheffield South East with 48.7% of the vote and a majority of 10,505.[19][20][21]
At the 2015 general election, Betts was re-elected as MP for Sheffield South East with an increased vote share of 51.4% and an increased majority of 12,311.[23][24]
At the snap 2017 general election, Betts was again re-elected, with an increased vote share of 58.5% and a decreased majority of 11,798.[27] He was again re-elected at the 2019 general election, with a decreased vote share of 46.1% and a decreased majority of 4,289.[28] Betts was again re-elected at the 2024 general election, with an increased vote share of 52.3% and an increased majority of 12,458.[29][30]
Personal life
Betts lives in a farmhouse on the Derbyshire border with his partner James Thomas, who is also employed as his parliamentary assistant.[31] He plays cricket, supports Sheffield Wednesday F.C. and, in the past, has played squash and football and used to be a regular Sheffield Marathon runner.[2] In March 2021, Betts became a trustee of the green space charity Fields in Trust.[32]
Betts employs his partner as his Senior Parliamentary Assistant on a salary up to £45,000.[33] He was listed in articles in The Daily Telegraph and The Guardian which criticised the practice of MPs employing family members, on the lines that it promotes nepotism.[34] Although MPs who were first elected in 2017 have been banned from employing family members, the restriction is not retrospective – meaning that Betts' employment of his partner is lawful.[35]
Notes
^Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee until 2021.
