Mike Gapes

Mike Gapes
Official portrait, 2017
Chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee
In office
19 July 2005 – 17 May 2010
Preceded byDonald Anderson
Succeeded byRichard Ottaway
Member of Parliament
for Ilford South
In office
9 April 1992 – 6 November 2019
Preceded byNeil Thorne
Succeeded bySam Tarry
Personal details
Born
Michael John Gapes

(1952-09-04) 4 September 1952 (age 72)
Wanstead, Essex, England
Political partyLabour and Co-operative (1968–2019; 2023–present)
Other political
affiliations
Change UK (2019)
Spouse
Frances Smith
(m. 1992; div. 2004)
Children
  • Rebecca Gapes (1993–2012)
  • 2 other daughters
Alma mater
Websitewww.mikegapes.org Edit this at Wikidata

Michael John Gapes (born 4 September 1952) is a British former politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Ilford South from 1992 to 2019.

Born in Wanstead Hospital, Gapes attended Buckhurst Hill County High School. He studied economics at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, where he was Secretary of the Cambridge University Students' Union, and later studied industrial relations at Middlesex Polytechnic. He then served as chair of the National Organisation of Labour Students.

Following an unsuccessful 1983 bid for Parliament, Gapes was elected as a Labour and Co-operative MP in 1992. He served as chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee from 2005 to 2010. In February 2019, Gapes left Labour in protest at Jeremy Corbyn's leadership to form The Independent Group, later Change UK, along with six other Labour MPs. In the December 2019 election, Gapes was defeated by Labour's Sam Tarry. He rejoined the Labour Party in March 2023.[1]

  1. ^ "Labour MP who quit under Corbyn and set up Change UK rejoins party". Independent.co.uk. 7 March 2023.