Rt Hon Richard Caborn, Member of Parliament for Sheffield Central, was appointed as the Prime Minister’s World Cup Ambassador in June 2007. He is also the President of the UK School Games and President of the English Amateur Boxing Association. He is also the Government representative on the Football Foundation Board.
Mr Caborn is a keen amateur sportsman, playing golf, football and cricket. He also runs many 10k’s and half marathons and in 2005 successfully completed the London Marathon.
He served as the longest continuous Sports Minister from 2001-2007 at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport; Minister for Trade at the Department for Trade and Industry from 1999-2001 and from 1997-1999 was the Minister for the Regions, Regeneration and Planning at the Department for the Environment, Transport and the Regions. He was appointed to the Privy Council in 1999.
Mr Caborn was Chairman of the Trade and Industry Select Committee 1992-1995. He was a member of the Opposition Trade and Industry Team between 1987 and 1990 and is a former member of the European Economic Community Select Committee. He was the Shadow Minister for National Competitiveness and Regulation in the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and opposition spokesman for economic development and the English regions.
He was elected to the House of Commons at the 1983 General Election, and was the Member of the European Parliament for Sheffield 1979-1984.
Mr Caborn was a Trade Union official at Firth Brown Sheffield. He was Vice President of the Sheffield Trades Council and is a member of the Amalgamated Engineering and electrical Union.
Born in October 1943, Mr Caborn was educated at Hurfield Comprehensive School, Sheffield, Granville College of Education and Sheffield Polytechnic. He is married with two children and three grandchildren and still lives in his native Sheffield.
