1. Kevan Jones has been a member of the House of Lords since 2024.
19 Facts About Kevan Jones
1. 2.
Kevan Jones was born on 25 April 1964 in Nottinghamshire and is the son of a coal miner.
3.
Kevan Jones attended Portland Comprehensive School in Worksop and Newcastle Polytechnic, before studying at the University of Southern Maine, gaining a BA in Government and Public Policy.
4.
Kevan Jones was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State and Minister for Veterans at the Ministry of Defence in October 2008.
5.
Kevan Jones, who had tabled Parliamentary questions on Army officials' spending before becoming a minister, denied the allegations and said he had a good working relationship with Dannatt.
6.
Kevan Jones publicly apologised to Joanna Lumley in March 2010 after he had accused her of "deathly silence" over misleading advice being given to some Gurkhas following Lumley's successful campaign to allow more Gurkhas to settle in the UK.
7.
In 2017, Kevan Jones said that while in office he had sought to revoke the government's agreement with Annington Homes, by which the MoD agreed to rent back military housing sold to the company under the John Major government in 1996, while allowing the company to sell homes the armed forces no longer required, but found it impossible to do so.
8.
Kevan Jones retained this position under Labour leader Ed Miliband and in Jeremy Corbyn's first appointment of shadow ministers in 2015.
9.
Kevan Jones became a member of the special Select Committee set up to scrutinise the Bill that became the Armed Forces Act 2011.
10.
Kevan Jones was a member of the Public bill committee for the Defence Reform Act 2014.
11.
In December 2015 Kevan Jones made public his strong criticism of the new Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, in particular after Corbyn opposed military intervention in the Syrian civil war.
12.
In January 2016, Kevan Jones resigned as a Shadow Minister for the Armed Forces, following a reshuffle in which Jeremy Corbyn had promoted Emily Thornberry, who opposes the replacement of the Trident nuclear weapon system, to shadow Defence Secretary.
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Kevan Jones later supported Owen Smith in the failed attempt to replace Jeremy Corbyn in the 2016 Labour leadership election.
14.
Kevan Jones is Treasurer of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Industrial Heritage.
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Kevan Jones is a member of Labour Friends of Israel.
16.
In May 2024, Kevan Jones announced that he would not stand again in the 2024 general election due to health issues.
17.
Kevan Jones was created Baron Beamish, of Beamish in the County of Durham, on 15 August 2024.
18.
Kevan Jones is a campaigner for workers mistreated by the Post Office.
19.
Kevan Jones responded that the remarks "belong in the dark ages" and that mental health should not be used to attack political differences.