Michael John Gapes was born on 4 September 1952 and is a British former politician who served as Member of Parliament for Ilford South from 1992 to 2019.
34 Facts About Mike Gapes
2.
Mike Gapes studied economics at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, where he was Secretary of the Cambridge University Students' Union, and later studied industrial relations at Middlesex Polytechnic.
3.
Mike Gapes then served as chair of the National Organisation of Labour Students.
4.
Mike Gapes served as chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee from 2005 to 2010.
5.
In February 2019, Mike Gapes left Labour in protest at Jeremy Corbyn's leadership to form The Independent Group, later Change UK, along with six other Labour MPs.
6.
Mike Gapes was educated at Staples Road Infants' School in Loughton before attending Manford County Primary School and Buckhurst Hill County High School in Chigwell.
7.
Mike Gapes worked as a Voluntary Service Overseas teacher in Swaziland in a gap year before attending university in 1972.
8.
Mike Gapes studied economics at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, where he was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1975, which was upgraded by convention to a Master of Arts degree in 1979.
9.
Mike Gapes served as Secretary of the Cambridge Students Union in 1973.
10.
Mike Gapes completed his education at Middlesex Polytechnic in Enfield where he earned a diploma in industrial relations in 1976, after which he served as chair of the National Organisation of Labour Students before serving for three years as the student organiser for the Labour Party.
11.
Mike Gapes was a founder, member, and convenor of the Clause Four Group in 1974, and the sixth Chair of the National Organisation of Labour Students from 1976 to 1977, taking over following the defeat of the entryist Trotskyist Militant tendency.
12.
Mike Gapes worked at Labour Party Headquarters for 15 years from 1977 until 1992, including serving from 1988 to 1992 as International Secretary of the party.
13.
Mike Gapes told The Guardian that working with Neil Kinnock "to bring the Labour Party back from the abyss of 1983" was most influential in his political thinking.
14.
Mike Gapes unsuccessfully contested Ilford North at the 1983 general election.
15.
Mike Gapes unsuccessfully stood for election to Wandsworth Borough Council in the 1986 election for West Hill ward in Putney, losing by only 50 votes.
16.
Mike Gapes was elected to the House of Commons in the 1992 general election for Ilford South when he defeated the sitting Conservative MP Neil Thorne by just 402 votes.
17.
Mike Gapes was an officer of many All-party Parliamentary Groups, including Chair of the All-Party Crossrail Group, Chair of the All-Party Global Security and non Proliferation Group and Chair of the All-Party United Nations Group.
18.
Mike Gapes was part of the Northern Ireland team which negotiated the Good Friday Agreement in Belfast in 1998.
19.
Mike Gapes is a member of Labour Friends of Israel.
20.
In 2008, as chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Mike Gapes met with the Dalai Lama and asked his opinion on human rights in Tibet.
21.
Mike Gapes was Chair of the committee until 2010 and continued to be a member of the committee until 2019.
22.
Mike Gapes was threatened with a cease and desist letter from lawyers representing Labour after his campaign leaflets featured the party's red and yellow colours and a slogan reading: "Real Labour Values, Independent Mind".
23.
Mike Gapes has defended the legacies of the former British prime minister Tony Blair and the former American president Bill Clinton.
24.
Mike Gapes is a supporter of humanitarian intervention and voted for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 and opposed the Chilcot Inquiry into the causes of the Iraq War.
25.
In 2018 Mike Gapes supported a call by the Foreign Affairs Select Committee for an independent inquiry into "the consequences of non-intervention" by Britain in the Syrian civil war.
26.
Mike Gapes later criticised Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn for apologising for the Iraq War, and argued that the Middle East is better off following the British and American interventions.
27.
Mike Gapes is staunchly pro-European, once declaring that he would prefer closer ties with the European Union, rather than Britain becoming an amusement park for American and Japanese tourists.
28.
Mike Gapes introduced 36 amendments to the EU Referendum Bill of 2013.
29.
In December 2017, Mike Gapes delivered a speech to the House of Commons in which he warned that Brexit would put the production of Baileys Irish Cream, the milky whiskey liqueur, in jeopardy.
30.
Mike Gapes is a long-time critic of former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, and has called him "the racist antisemite".
31.
Mike Gapes criticised Corbyn's supporters, including the prominent group Momentum.
32.
Mike Gapes opposed Corbyn's political views on issues such as foreign policy and Brexit.
33.
Mike Gapes called for the resignation of Corbyn's director of communications, Seumas Milne, following comments Milne made doubting Russian state involvement in the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal.
34.
Mike Gapes married Frances Smith in 1992 and they divorced in 2004.