Gordon Oakes
British politician
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| Intro | British politician | |||
| Places | United Kingdom Great Britain | |||
| was | Politician | |||
| Work field | Politics | |||
| Gender |
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| Birth | 22 June 1931 | |||
| Death | 15 August 2005 (aged 74 years) | |||
| Star sign | Cancer | |||
| Politics: | Labour Party | |||
| Education |
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The details
Biography
Gordon James Oakes (22 June 1931 – 15 August 2005) was a British Labour Party politician.
Early life
Oakes was educated at Wade Deacon grammar school, Widnes and at Liverpool University. A solicitor by profession, he became a councillor on Widnes Borough Council in 1952, serving as Mayor in 1964.
Parliamentary career
Oakes unsuccessfully contested Bebington in 1959 and Manchester Moss Side at a 1961 by-election.
He served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Bolton West from 1964 to 1970, when he was beaten by the Conservative Robert Redmond by 1,244 votes. He was re-elected for Widnes from a 1971 by-election until 1983, and for Halton from 1983 until 1997.
Oakes served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Home Secretary from 1966, and in the government of Harold Wilson as a junior minister and as a Minister of State under James Callaghan. He was made a member of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom in 1979. He left the Opposition front bench in 1983.
He was one of the MPs approached in the 1994 Cash-for-Questions affair, to which he responded "That is not how we do things here".
Death
He died of cancer on 15 August 2005 at the age of 74.