View source for Reg Keys

{{Short description|British politician (born 1952)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{BLP sources|date=October 2011}}
''{{For|Registry Keys|Windows Registry}}''

'''Reginald Thomas Keys''' (born 1952) is the father of a British serviceman killed in the [[Iraq War]]. He stood in the 2005 general election as an anti-war independent candidate for in [[Sedgefield (UK Parliament constituency)|Sedgefield]], a [[United Kingdom constituencies|constituency]] represented by the then Prime Minister [[Tony Blair]].

==Biography==
Keys is a founder member of the campaign group [[Military Families Against the War]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Military Families Against the War|url=https://socialistworker.co.uk/art/3635/Military%20Families%20Against%20the%20War|date=20 November 2004|accessdate=19 January 2021|website=Socialist Worker}}</ref> His son, Lance Corporal Tom Keys, was one of six [[Royal Military Police]]men killed by an [[Iraq]]i mob in [[Battle of Majar al-Kabir|Majar al-Kabir]] in June 2003.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Heartbreaking story of Reg Keys is an emotional watch|url=https://solihullobserver.co.uk/news/heartbreaking-story-reg-keys-emotional-watch/|date=21 October 2016|accessdate=19 January 2021|website=Solihull Observer|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Cole|first=Paul|date=13 June 2016|title=Reg Keys recalls heartbreaking moment he was told his hero son was dead|url=http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/reg-keys-recalls-heartbreaking-moment-11454318|accessdate=19 January 2021|website=BirminghamLive|language=en}}</ref> Keys was an ambulance paramedic for 19 years in [[Solihull]] before retiring to [[Llanuwchllyn]], [[Bala, Gwynedd|Bala]], in North [[Wales]]. In the 2005 general election, he stood against the then Prime Minister, Tony Blair, in the Sedgefield constituency.<ref name="BBC News 26 April 2005">{{cite web | title= Election 2005: Sedgefield's take on Reg Keys |url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/vote_2005/wales/4485975.stm | author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|date= 26 April 2005| website= [[BBC News Online]] | accessdate= 6 June 2016 }}</ref>

Keys declared at the outset of the campaign that he had been a [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] voter and was still a [[socialism|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 of the United Kingdom|Prime Minister]] rather than Blair. Former Independent MP [[Martin Bell]] urged the other parties to withdraw their candidates as removing a supporter of the war from office would send a message to United States president [[George W. Bush]] and other world leaders who had supported him. During the campaign, ''[[The Guardian]]''{{'}}s Stuart Jeffries asked Keys, "Is it difficult to be a political candidate in these circumstances, when you are still clearly grieving?", to which he replied "Yes it is. ... I feel, though, that I have a responsibility to Tom. I keep going back to the words of a widow of a man who died on the ''[[Kursk submarine disaster|Kursk]]'' ... . She said: 'If you betray your country you are a traitor and you will go to prison. But if your country betrays you, what can you do?' I think I have an answer to that: we can use our vote to get rid of those people who betrayed my son and other men like him. That's what I want the people of Sedgefield to do."<ref name="Guardian 22 March 2005">{{cite news |last= Jeffries |first= Stuart |title= 'I'll hold Blair to account' |url= https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2005/mar/22/iraq.election2005| date= 22 March 2005|newspaper= [[The Guardian]] |location=London| accessdate= 6 June 2016 }}</ref>

Keys won 4,252 votes (10.3%), whilst Blair won 24,421 votes (58.9%). At the declaration, Keys made a widely publicised speech about the controversy over the decision to go to war and the alleged deceptions made by Blair over the reasons for going to war. Blair listened to the speech with an expressionless face. Reviewing the 2005 election's most memorable moments the BBC noted:
<blockquote>Independent Reg Keys polled 10% of the vote in Tony Blair's Sedgefield constituency on an anti-war ticket. But it was his moving lament for the son he lost in Iraq that will linger in the memory – not for Mr Keys' words necessarily, although these were powerful enough, but for Tony Blair's expression as he listened to them. 'I hope in my heart that one day the prime minister will be able to say sorry, that one day he will say sorry to the families of the bereaved,' said Mr Keys. Mr Blair's attempt to look impassive and expressionless will, inevitably, be replayed time and again whenever the story of his premiership is told on television.<ref name="BBC News 9 May 2005">{{cite web |title= Election 2005: Most memorable moments  |url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/vote_2005/frontpage/4506283.stm| author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|date= 9 May 2005| website= [[BBC News Online]] | accessdate= 6 June 2016 }}</ref></blockquote>

In 2015, the [[BBC]] announced that it was to produce a biographical drama film about Keys' life called ''[[Reg (film)|Reg]]''.<ref name="Guardian 9 September 2015">{{cite news |last= Sweney |first= Mark |title= Tim Roth to take lead role in BBC anti-war drama |url= https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/sep/09/tim-roth-lead-role-bbc-anti-war-drama-reg-keys | date= 9 September 2015 |newspaper= [[The Guardian]] |location=London| accessdate=6 June 2016 }}</ref> In the film, broadcast on 6 June 2016, Keys was portrayed by [[Academy Awards|Academy Award]]-nominated actor [[Tim Roth]]. It was directed by [[David Blair (director)|David Blair]] from a script by [[Jimmy McGovern]] and [[Robert Pugh]].<ref name="BBC 6 June 2016">{{Cite episode |title=Reg |series=Reg |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07g06ch |network=[[BBC Television]] |series-link=Reg (BBC drama) |access-date=6 June 2016 |station= [[BBC One]]|date=6 June 2016 |minutes= |time= |transcript=  |transcript-url= |quote= }}</ref>

==Spectre==
In August 2006, Keys and other relatives of military personnel killed in Iraq announced the creation of a new political party named Spectre. The party's aims and objectives included bringing the government to account for misleading Parliament over Iraq, supporting wounded troops returning from Iraq, raising serving soldiers' concerns over Iraq, and highlight equipment and system failures. At the launch, it was stated that the party planned to contest more than 70 constituencies then represented by pro-war Labour MPs, including foreign secretary [[Margaret Beckett]], [[Ruth Kelly]], the communities and local government secretary and [[Jack Straw]], leader of the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|Commons]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2006/aug/05/uk.military |title=Families of soldiers killed in Iraq launch party to challenge ministers |last=Boggan |first=Steve |date=5 August 2006 |accessdate=24 June 2012 }}</ref> Keys also aimed to stand candidates in [[UK parliamentary by-elections|parliamentary by-elections]]. Spectre was never registered as a political party with the [[Electoral Commission (United Kingdom)|Electoral Commission]], and did not contest any by-elections or any seat at the [[2010 United Kingdom general election|2010 general election]].

==See also==
* [[2005 United Kingdom general election]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070928061240/http://regkeys.weblobe.net/ Vote for Reg Keys] official campaign site
* [http://sedgefield.blogdrive.com/ A Sedgefield View] A blogger in Sedgefield with a jaundiced eye
* [http://www.mfaw.org.uk/ Military Families Against the War] official site
* [http://www.backingblair.co.uk/reg_keys/reg_keys_speech_16x9.wmv Reg Keys' election night speech at Sedgefield] Video&nbsp;— WMV (3.6Mb)
* [http://www.thefreelibrary.com/The+man+who+challenged+Blair.-a0135373865 The Man Who Challenged Blair] The Contemporary Review, July 2005, by Stefan Simanowitz.
* [http://politics.guardian.co.uk/iraq/story/0,12956,1466212,00.html Guardian - Doing It for Tom: Mr Keys Takes on the Prime Minister] by [[Ed Vulliamy]] 22 April 2005
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050619084001/http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/04/21/uk.blair.opponent/ CNN - Soldier father bid to unseat Blair] 21 April 2005
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050719111157/http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews Reuters - Father of Slain Soldier Plots Blair "Regime Change"] 21 April 2005
* [http://politics.guardian.co.uk/iraq/story/0,12956,1443253,00.html Guardian - "I'll Hold Blair to Account"] interview with Stuart Jeffries 22 March 2005

{{United Kingdom general election, 2005A|state=collapsed}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Keys, Reg}}
[[Category:1952 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Independent politicians in England]]
[[Category:English anti–Iraq War activists]]
[[Category:Independent British political candidates]]