Reg Keys

Reginald Thomas Keys, better known as Reg Keys (born 1952), is the father of a British serviceman killed in the Iraq War who stood in the 2005 General Election as an anti-war independent candidate for MP of Sedgefield, a constituency held by the current Prime Minister, Tony Blair.

Biography

Keys is a founder member of the campaign group Military Families Against the War. His son Lance Corporal Tom Keys, was a Royal Military Policeman and one of six Red Caps killed by an Iraqi mob in Majar al-Kabir in June 2003.

Related Topics:
Military Families Against the War - Royal Military Police - Red Caps - Iraqi - Majar al-Kabir - 2003

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Reg Keys was an ambulance paramedic for 19 years in Solihull before retiring to Llanuwchllyn, Bala in North Wales. He declared at the outset of the campaign that he had been a Labour Party voter and was still basically socialist, but that he was seeking election as a candidate opposed to Blair's policy on the Iraq War. He claimed that by electing him, voters could keep the Labour Party in power but with Gordon Brown as the likely Prime Minister rather than Blair.

Related Topics:
Solihull - Llanuwchllyn - Bala - Wales - Labour Party - Socialist - Iraq War - Gordon Brown - Prime Minister

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Bob Clay, the left-wing former Labour MP for Sunderland North, acted as Keys' agent. Keys won 4,252 votes (10.3% of the total), coming in fourth place, less than 700 votes behind the Liberal Democrat candidate and about 1700 votes behind the Conservative candidate. Blair won with 24,421 votes (58.9%).

Related Topics:
Bob Clay - Liberal Democrat - Conservative

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At the results Keys made a widely publicised speech about the controversy over the decision to go to war and the alleged disceptions made by Blair over the reasons for going to war. Blair who listened to the speech with an expressionless face. Many commentatoes felt that the speech was one of the most prominent moments of the election results and that it will be long remembered as one of the key moments of Blair's premiership.

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