Biography:
Gareth Thomas was re-elected MP for Harrow West on May 7th 2015 with 21885 votes, taking 47.0% of the vote.
A young local teacher and councillor, Gareth Thomas ousted the Tory MP Robert Hughes from his suburban middle-class seat in 1997 by a narrow margin on a massive swing. He was twenty-nine. The previous Tory majority was more than 17,000 and the seat was 196th on Labour’s target list.
In 2001 he increased his majority with another swing of 5.4 per cent, though there was a swing back in 2005.
In 1999 he became Parliamentary Private Secretary to Charles Clarke, Minister of State at the Home Office. He stayed with him on his promotion to the Cabinet as Party Chairman in 2001 and as Education Secretary in 2002.
But in 2003 he left Clarke to pursue his own path as a junior Minister, number two at the Department for International Development. There he stayed under Gordon Brown as junior minister for trade policy, dividing his time between DfID and the new Department of Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform. He was promoted to Minister of State rank with the same dual brief in October 2008. In 2015 he was appointed Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs.
Gareth was born in 1967 close to his Harrow constituency. He gained an economics degree from Aberystwyth then later studied history at King’s College, London and qualified as a teacher at Greenwich University. He was a councillor in Harrow for seven years, and Labour group whip. In his maiden speech he stressed that he had lived in Harrow all his life, and urged action on crime, housing and health.
Before his promotion to the Ministerial ranks, Gareth worked on a number of Standing Committees to deliver the Pollution Prevention and Control Bill, The National Lottery Bill, NHS Reform, Terrorism Bill, Regulation of Investigation Powers Bill and the Football Disorder Bill.
He has been chairman of the Co-operative Party since 2000, is a member of the Fabian Society, and has written on social responsibility and a low-carbon economy.
His hobbies include canoeing, rugby union and supporting Arsenal Football Club.
Constituency: Harrow West
Constituency Address: 132 Blenheim Road, Harrow, HA2 7AA
Constituency Tel: 020 8861 6300
Date of Birth: 15 July 1967
Email: thomasgr@parliament.uk
Party: Labour
Personal Website: www.gareththomasmp.org
Westminster Address: House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA
Westminster Tel: 020 7219 4243
Twitter: @GarethThomasMP
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/GarethThomasMP
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