David Hallam, is a British Labour Party politician and writer. He is the former Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the Herefordshire and Shropshire constituency in England, in the 1994–1999 European Parliament. He is a Methodist Local Preacher. He is a trustee of his local church, a Life Member of the National Union of Journalists, a Patron of the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, an Honorary Vice President of the Severn Valley Railway Holdings plc, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. He represents the West Midlands on the National Members' Council of the Co-op Group, the UK's largest ethical retailer. He contributes a weekly television and radio column to the Methodist Recorder. Early life and career Hallam was educated at Upton House Secondary School in Hackney, and then at the University of Sussex. He spoke with an East London, or Cockney, accent and remarked in later life that when speaking through interpretation at the European Parliament it was the first occasion that the social nuances of his accent did not matter. Hallam campaigned in the 1975 European Referendum in Smethwick, where he lived. He stood unsuccessfully for the Labour Party in Solihull in the 1979 General Election. He served on Sandwell Borough Council. He set up a publicity business, also becoming a Methodist Local Preacher. By profession, David Hallam is a public relations specialist. He has worked for several organisations including the City of Birmingham Council, the National Children's Home, the National Health Service and the Ceramic and Allied Trades Union. He is a member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations, the Chartered Institute of Marketing, and the National Union of Journalists. Whilst with Birmingham City Council he handled the complex issues which arose following the pub bombings in the city on 21 November 1975 in which twenty one people were killed. In 1984 Hallam confronted a gunman during a shooting incident at the headquarters of the National Children's Home in Highbury, London, where he worked In 2015 he graduated from the University of Birmingham with a Master of Arts in West Midlands history. Election to the European Parliament Hallam first stood for the European Parliament in 1984 for the Shropshire and Stafford constituency; he stood again in 1989 and was elected on revised boundaries in 1994 for what was widely held to be a safe Conservative seat. During his five-year mandate Hallam was one