William John Olner ‑ a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Nuneaton from 1992 until 2010 ‑ died from complications of COVID-19 at George Eliot Hospital in Nuneaton on 18 May 2020, at age 78.
Previously,Olner had been Leader of Nuneaton Borough Council.
Olner was educated at Nuneaton Technical College and trained as an engineer. He became a shop steward, and later area secretary for the AEEU (now Unite trade union).
Olner was a councillor for the Labour group on Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council for 21 years, and was the council leader from 1982–87. In 1987 he became Mayor of Nuneaton and Bedworth, serving a 1-year term.
Olner was first elected to the House of Commons in 1992, as the Member of Parliament for Nuneaton. He was re-elected in the 1997 general election (majority 13,540), 2001 general election (majority 7,535) and 2005 general election (majority 2,280).
From 2005–2009 he was a member of the Communities and Local Government Committee and was a member of the Chairmen’s Panel Committee. From 1997 he was Chairman of the Associate Parliamentary Engineering Group, a group that seeks to promote the contribution of engineering. Previously he was a member of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee and of the Select Committee on Environment, Transport and the Regions and chairman of the Transport, Telematics and Cable and satellite Parliamentary Group.
As a member of parliament, Olner received a salary of £60,277 (with effect from 1 November 2006) He was also entitled to claim expenses that are incurred as a member of parliament, these cover costs such as Cost of staying away from main home, Office running costs, Staffing Allowance, Members’ Travel, Members’ Staff Travel, Stationery, Computer Equipment etc. For the year 2005/06 he claimed a total of £119,013, in the previous year he claimed £114,610.
As in common with most members of parliament, Olner maintained two offices: one at the House of Commons, the other in his constituency. His constituency office was in Queens Road, Nuneaton.
Olner was a member of the AEEU and the Co-operative Party. He was Vice-Chair of the Parliamentary Labour Party Employment Committee from 1992 until 1997.
Olner declared his retirement as MP for Nuneaton on 25 March 2007, he served until the 2010 General Election where Labour’s new candidate, Jayne Innes, was defeated by Conservative Marcus Jones.
Olner decided 3 years after leaving parliament to stand in the 2013 Warwickshire County Council Elections for the Arbury and Stockingford constituency in Nuneaton. Olner duly won the seat with 2092 votes, which kept him in office until May 2017.
Following County Council boundary changes, Olner decided to stand in the new Nuneaton Abbey County Division in May 2017. The division is currently the safest Labour seat in Warwickshire.
Olner had a pet dog and lived with his wife Jill, who in the past has been a school governor.