James Dobbin KSG KMCO (26 May 1941 – 6 September 2014) was a British Labour and Co-operative Party politician and microbiologist who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Heywood and Middleton from 1997 until his death in 2014.

[4] Subsequently, in May 2013 the MP voted against the bill’s third and final reading,[5] opposing the legalisation of same-sex marriage within England and Wales.

Dobbin was heavily criticised for his rudeness to cyclists on the "House of Commons Transport Select Committee to Discuss Cycling" in December 2013.

[17] He had attended an official dinner during which the participants drank a shot of spirits between each course, and his blood alcohol level was 0.399, nearly five times the UK drink-drive limit.

It was attended by senior figures in the world of politics, including Ed Miliband, the leader of the Labour Party, and John Bercow, Speaker of the House of Commons.

[20] A devout Roman Catholic, he was awarded and invested as a Knight of the Pontifical Order of St Gregory the Great from Pope Benedict XVI.

[21] Dobbin was also honoured by the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George under the grandmastership of the Duke of Castro with the rank of Knight of Merit with Star.