Labour/Cooperative MP for Ilford South

Biography: First elected to Parliament in 1992, Mike Gapes has a long history of political activism, and has been involved with the Labour Party in various capacities since 1968 when he was 16. In 1977 he began full-time work for the Labour Party, starting out as the party's national student organiser. He soon moved on to become a research officer in the international department, specialising in defence, disarmament and international
security issues. In 1988 he was promoted to Senior International Officer - a post he held until elected to parliament in 1992. Since entering Parliament Mike has played a key role on the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, on which he served from 1992 to 1997 and of which he is currently the chair. He has also twice been appointed to the
Defence Select Committee, and in that capacity visited British forces stationed in Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Sierra Leone, Kosovo, Iraq and Bosnia. Mike is the member of the Labour Middle East Council, Parliamentary
Friends of Islam and several parliamentary country groups. He is also a council member of the Voluntary Services Organisation, a partnership which goes back thirty years - when Mike took a gap year as a VSO teacher in Swaziland.

Contact e-mail: gapesm@parliament.uk

Website: www.mikegapes.org.uk

Membership of Select Committees: Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee (Chair)

Membership of other APPGs: Global Security and Non-Proliferation, Great Lakes Region and Genocide Prevention

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