Claim fbe00c3aChecked 21 Jul 2026
TrueOn the truth scale
Sir Alan Haselhurst served Parliament for over 50 years.
Mrs Kemi BadenochConservativeCon / North West Essex·Engagements·03 Jun 2026Factual · historical current chronological
Reasoning & Evidence21 Jul 2026
The total parliamentary service of Sir Alan Haselhurst — combining his time as MP for Middleton and Prestwich (1970–1974), MP for Saffron Walden (1977–2017), and as a life peer in the House of Lords (2018–2024) — totals approximately 50.01 years, which technically exceeds 50 years. While the margin is extremely thin and Badenoch's individual component figures are generously rounded (particularly "eight years in the Lords" vs the actual ~6.5 years), the aggregate claim of "over 50 years" is supported by the calculation from official parliamentary records. Sources: UK Parliament Members page for Lord Haselhurst (https://members.parliament.uk/member/43/career); Wikipedia article on Alan Haselhurst (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Haselhurst); BBC News obituary (https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce3p95wyrl9o); History of Parliament Online (https://membersafter1832.historyofparliamentonline.org/members/338)
From speech
I echo the Prime Minister’s words on Lance Corporal James Freeman and about the Royal Navy helicopter crash in Devon. I also send my deepest condolences to the family and friends of Henry Nowak. The circumstances around Henry’s wrongful arrest and tragic murder must be a wake-up call to the entire country and our institutions that every life matters, and it is the responsibility of everyone in this House to bring people together, not divide them. Mr Speaker, with your permission, I would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to Sir Alan Haselhurst—Lord Haselhurst—who died on Monday. Sir Alan served Parliament for over 50 years, eight of them in the Lords and 40 years as my predecessor as MP for Saffron Walden, while from 1970 to 1974 he was the Member of Parliament for Middleton and Prestwich. He was respected on all sides of this House, and was elected multiple times as your predecessor as Deputy Speaker, before he concluded in the other place. Apart from serving his constituents, Sir Alan’s greatest passion in Parliament and perhaps in life was cricket, as you said, Mr Speaker. He was chairman of the all-party parliamentary group on cricket, a role which he encouraged me to take up and which I graciously declined, telling him I knew absolutely nothing about cricket. However, I think colleagues should know that Sir Alan’s intense lobbying is the reason that Sky Sports can be found on the parliamentary TV network. There is so much to say, but just to let everyone know, he was a good and kind man and he will be very much missed. My thoughts are with his wife Angela, his children Mark, David and Emma, and his grandchildren. May I ask the Prime Minister by how much the welfare bill has risen since he came to office?
Sources opened
[1]members.parliament.uk
https://members.parliament.uk/member/43/career
[2]api.parliament.uk
https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/people/sir-alan-haselhurst/index.html
[3]en.wikipedia.org
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Haselhurst
[4]parallelparliament.co.uk
https://www.parallelparliament.co.uk/lord/lord-haselhurst
[5]bbc.com
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce3p95wyrl9o
[6]bbc.co.uk
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce3p95wyrl9o
[7]yorkshirepost.co.uk
https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/politics/alan-haselhurst-obituary-the-yorkshire-born-life-peer-who-first-became-an-mp-in-1970-8763762
[8]gazette-news.co.uk
https://www.gazette-news.co.uk/news/26161878.former-saffron-walden-mp-sir-alan-haselhurst-dies-aged-88/
[9]membersafter1832.historyofparliamentonline.org
https://membersafter1832.historyofparliamentonline.org/members/338
[10]theyworkforyou.com
https://www.theyworkforyou.com/peer/10263/lord_haselhurst
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