40 Facts About Gerald Kaufman

Sir Gerald Bernard Kaufman was a British politician and author who served as a minister throughout the Labour government of 1974 to 1979.

Gerald Kaufman served in the Labour government at the Department of the Environment under Harold Wilson and at the Department of Industry under James Callaghan respectively.

Gerald Kaufman was born in Leeds, the youngest of seven children of Louis and Jane Gerald Kaufman.

Gerald Kaufman's parents were both Polish Jews who moved to England before the First World War.

Gerald Kaufman was assistant general secretary of the Fabian Society from 1954 to 1955, a leader writer on the Daily Mirror from 1955 to 1964 and a journalist on the New Statesman from 1964 to 1965.

Gerald Kaufman appeared as a guest on its successor, Not So Much a Programme, More a Way of Life.

At the 1955 general election Gerald Kaufman unsuccessfully contested the Conservative-held seat of Bromley, and at the 1959 general election, he contested Gillingham.

Gerald Kaufman was elected MP for Manchester Ardwick at the 1970 general election; he switched constituency to Manchester Gorton at the 1983 election, following the major changes in parliamentary boundaries in that year.

Gerald Kaufman remained MP for Gorton until his death, notwithstanding considerable demographic changes that resulted in Muslim voters becoming an influential segment of the electorate.

Gerald Kaufman was a junior minister throughout Labour's time in power from 1974 to 1979, initially as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department of the Environment from 1974 to 1975 under Anthony Crosland.

Gerald Kaufman supported the UK leaving the European Economic Community in the 1975 referendum, after which he was made Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department of Industry under Eric Varley.

Gerald Kaufman served in the role until the Labour government was defeated at the 1979 general election and, during his time in office, he represented the UK in talks with the United States over allowing the Concorde to land on their soil and steered through legislation nationalising the aircraft and shipbuilding industries.

Gerald Kaufman was made a member of the Privy Council in 1978.

In opposition, Gerald Kaufman served in the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Environment Secretary from 1980 to 1983, Shadow Home Secretary from 1983 to 1987 and Shadow Foreign Secretary from 1987 to 1992.

Gerald Kaufman dubbed the Labour Party's left-wing 1983 general election manifesto "the longest suicide note in history".

In 1992, Gerald Kaufman went to the backbenches and became chair of the National Heritage Select Committee and chaired the committee from 1992 to 2005.

Gerald Kaufman was a member of the Parliamentary Committee of the Parliamentary Labour Party from 1980 to 1992, the Labour Party National Executive Committee from 1991 to 1992, and the Royal Commission on House of Lords Reform in 1999.

Gerald Kaufman was appointed a Knight Bachelor in the 2004 Birthday Honours for services to Parliament.

An outspoken opponent of hunting with hounds, Gerald Kaufman was assaulted in 2004 by a group of pro-fox hunting campaigners and said that he was subjected to antisemitic taunts.

Gerald Kaufman was implicated in the 2009 expenses scandal, where a number of British MPs made excessive expense claims, misusing their permitted allowances and expense accounts.

On 25 May 2010, during the Queen's Speech debate, Gerald Kaufman accused the Liberal Democrat candidate for his constituency during the 2010 general election, Qassim Afzal, of running "an anti-Semitic, and personally anti-Semitic, election campaign" in Manchester Gorton.

Gerald Kaufman voted against the Labour whip for the first time on the provision in the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011 to introduce an extra requirement in the process for private prosecutors seeking to obtain an arrest warrant for "universal jurisdiction" offences such as war crimes, torture and crimes against humanity.

Gerald Kaufman's actions are staining the star of David with blood.

Gerald Kaufman was infatuated with Israel in his youth and was a member of Poale Zion.

In 1988, on the 40th anniversary of the State of Israel, while Shadow Foreign Secretary, Gerald Kaufman appeared on the television discussion programme After Dark.

Gerald Kaufman wrote an article in July 2004 for The Guardian entitled "The case for sanctions against Israel: What worked with apartheid can bring peace to the Middle East" in which he proposed economic sanctions against Israel.

Gerald Kaufman urged the British government to implement a total ban on arms sales to Israel.

In June 2009, Gerald Kaufman compared Israel's treatment of the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank to South Africa under apartheid and Iran.

Gerald Kaufman said that Israel should follow the lead of the British Armed Forces in their conduct in Northern Ireland during the Troubles.

Gerald Kaufman was the leader of a large European parliamentary delegation to Gaza in January 2010 during which he described the Israeli blockade of Gaza as "evil" and said Israeli officials who authorised the use of white phosphorus munitions in densely populated Gaza should be tried for war crimes.

In March 2010, along with another Labour MP Martin Linton, Gerald Kaufman accused the Conservative Party of being "too close" to Israel, saying that those parts of the party not controlled by Lord Ashcroft were being controlled by "right-wing Jewish millionaires".

In December 2010, Gerald Kaufman criticised a proposed amendment to Britain's universal jurisdiction law seeking to prevent visiting Israeli officials from being arrested and indicted, claiming that such changes made a mockery of the British legal system.

Gerald Kaufman highlighted the arrest warrant against former Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni for her part in the "slaughter" that took place during the Gaza War.

Gerald Kaufman claimed that British Jews were waking up to Israel's human rights violations and distancing themselves from Israel.

Conservative MP Robert Halfon accused Gerald Kaufman of using the bill reading for his own political agenda and claimed Gerald Kaufman's "hatred for Israel knows no bounds".

On 30 March 2011, Gerald Kaufman was caught by a microphone in the Chamber of the House of Commons saying "here we are, the Jews again", when fellow Jewish Labour MP Louise Ellman rose to speak, for which he apologised.

Gerald Kaufman had the book proofread by both Harold Wilson and James Callaghan prior to publication.

Gerald Kaufman contributed a chapter about John Hodge, the Labour MP for Manchester Gorton elected in 1906, to Men Who Made Labour, edited by Alan Haworth and Diane Hayter.

Gerald Kaufman acted as chairman of the Booker Prize judges in 1999.

On 26 February 2017, Kaufman died after a long illness, becoming the first Father of the House to die in office since T P O'Connor in 1929.