 colin pickthall (born 13 september 1944) in dalton-in-furness, lancashire) is a politician in the united kingdom. he was labour member of parliament (mp) for west lancashire. he was first elected to the house of commons in 1992, and retired at the 2005 general election. pickthall's father was a shipyard fitter. he attended ulverston grammar school, and the university of wales, obtaining a b.a. hons. english literature and history. he then went on to the university of lancaster, where he obtained an m.a. with the thesis "the influence of socialism on 20th. century british poetry." he became a member of the campaign for nuclear disarmament and the labour party in 1963. he married a canadian, judith ann in 1973; they have two daughters, alisoun and jenny. he initially worked as an english lecturer in the ruffwood comprehensive school and edge hill college of h.e. (where he became the head of european studies) at the 1987 general election, pickthall ran for parliament in west lancashire, but lost to a conservative by 1353 votes. later, in 1989, he won the ormskirk seat on lancashire county council by a very small margin. however, this was sufficient for the labour party to take control of the county council by one seat. at the 1992 general election, he took the west lancashire parliamentary seat and in the following elections, in 1997 and 2001, he retained the seat with a substantial majority. in 1992 he became a member of the select committee on agriculture, a post that he maintained until 1997. in 1997 he was appointed parliamentary private secretary (pps) to alun michael mp, later serving jack straw mp. he resigned as pps in 2000 in response to a police investigation into 
1944_births Academics_of_Edge_Hill_University Alumni_of_Lancaster_University Alumni_of_the_University_of_Wales British_humanists Labour_Party_(UK)_MPs Living_people Members_of_the_Parliament_of_the_United_Kingdom_for_English_constituencies People_from_Dalton-in-Furness UK_MPs_1992a97 UK_MPs_1997a2001 UK_MPs_2001a05