Mike O'Brien (British politician)

For other people named Mike O'Brien, see Mike O'Brien (disambiguation).

The Right Honourable Mike O'Brien QC
Minister of State for Health Services
In office 8 June 2009 – 11 May 2010
Prime Minister	Gordon Brown
Preceded by	Ben Bradshaw
Succeeded by	Simon Burns
Minister of State for Energy
In office 5 October 2008 – 8 June 2009
Prime Minister	Gordon Brown
Preceded by	New Department
Succeeded by	Joan Ruddock
Minister of State for Work and Pensions
In office 28 June 2007 – 5 October 2008
Preceded by	John Hutton
Succeeded by	Rosie Winterton
Solicitor General for England and Wales
In office 11 May 2005 – 28 June 2007
Prime Minister	Tony Blair Gordon Brown
Preceded by	Harriet Harman
Succeeded by	Vera Baird
Member of Parliament for North Warwickshire
In office 9 April 1992 – 6 May 2010
Preceded by	Francis Maude
Succeeded by	Daniel Byles
Majority	7,553 (16.1%)
Personal details
Born	19 June 1954 (1954-06-19) (age 57) Worcester, England
Nationality	British
Political party	Labour
Spouse(s)	Alison Joy Munro
Alma mater	North Staffordshire Polytechnic
Religion	Roman Catholic
Website	Official site

Michael O'Brien QC (born 19 June 1954) is a British former Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for North Warwickshire from 1992 to 2010.^[1] In the May 2010 general election, Mike O'Brien lost his North Warwickshire constituency to the Conservative Party by 54 votes.

Early life

O'Brien went to the Catholic St George's School then Blessed Edward Oldcorne School in Worcester. He studied for a BA in History and Politics at North Staffordshire Polytechnic, then gained a PGCE. From 1977-80, he was a trainee solicitor, then trained as a teacher from 1980-1. He lectured in Business Law at Colchester College of Further and Higher Education from 1981-7. From 1987-92, he practised as a solicitor specialising in criminal law including handling cases of murder and City fraud. He became a Queen's Counsel in 2006.

Parliamentary career

O'Brien contested Ruislip Northwood in 1983, and North Warwickshire in 1987.

He was elected as the Member of Parliament for the West Midlands constituency of North Warwickshireat the 1992 general election, defeating the Conservative incumbent Francis Maude, and lost his seat to the Conservative candidate at the 2010 general election.

He served on the Home Affairs Select Committee from November 1992 to May 1993 focusing on reports on Youth Justice and the defence of provocation in murder cases involving a spouse. In May 1993 he became the first Labour Parliamentary Adviser to the Police Federation in 20 years and subsequently transferred to the Treasury Select Committee where he worked on a report into the collapse of Barings Bank and other reports on City Fraud and Independence of the Bank of England.

He served as Immigration Minister in the Home Office from 1997 to 2001.^[1] He developed procedures to deal with suspected terrorists at the Special Immigration Appeals Commission. He also took through major reforms in the Immigration and Asylum Act, including introducing fines for hauliers found to have illegal migrants in their lorry, whether or not the haulier knew of their presence. From May 1999 he became the Minister for Constitutional Affairs, taking through the Commons the Freedom of Information Act, the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000, two Representation of the People Acts and introducing a White Paper on Alcohol Licensing Reform. As Minister responsible for Race Relations he developed the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 which placed obligations on all public bodies to promote good race relations. He also worked to develop closer links between the Government and the Muslim community, something he continued to work on over the next decade, particularly after 9/11.

Then at the Foreign Office from 2002 to 2003 he was Minister for the Middle East. He went to Libya to hold the first meeting of a British Minister with Muammar al-Gaddafi which opened the way to better relations with the West and cooperation on ending controversial Libyan weapons research programmes. He was the first Western Minister into Baghdad after the Iraq War and worked on relationships with Iran, Syria and Afghanistan during this period.

He was then appointed Minister of State for Trade and Industry, dealing with talks with the WTO as part of the Doha Round and helping to write the 2004 Trade White Paper. He moved to become Minister of State for E-commerce, Energy & Competitiveness at the Department of Trade and Industryon the 9th September 2004. After the 2005 General Election he replaced Harriet Harman as Solicitor General for England and Wales.

On 29 June 2007 he moved to be the Minister of State for Pension Reform in the Department for Work and Pensions under Secretary of State Peter Hain. Referring to the long running Pensions Action Group campaign and speaking on the BBC Radio 4 Moneybox programme on the day compensation was announced, pensions expert Ros Altmann, credited Peter Hain and O'Brien with "having been very different to deal with than their predecessors and ... willing and eager to engage and find a way to sort this out."^[2] The Pensions Act 2008 completed its major stages whilst O' Brien was minister and received Royal Assent in November 2008."Pensions Act 2008". epolitics. http://www.epolitix.com/legislation/legislation-details/newsarticle/pensions-bill-2/. Retrieved 10-1-2010. 

On 5 October 2008, he moved to be Minister of State for Energy in order to help create the new Department of Energy and Climate Change. He took through Parliament two Energy Acts making significant reforms to take account of the Climate Change debate and to enable the building of new nuclear power stations.

In June 2009 he became the Minister of State for Health. As well as taking through administrative reforms of the NHS in two Acts of Parliament, he negotiated a settlement of compensation for the victims of Thalidomide and introduced new rights for current and former service personnel injured in the line of duty to get priority treatment from the NHS.

In the 2010 general election Mike O'Brien lost North Warwickshire to Dan Byles (Conservative) by 54 votes.

Mike O'Brien has held the following positions:

• May 1997-July 1999 - Parliamentary under Secretary of State for Immigration
• July 1999-May 2002 - Parliamentary under Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs
• May 2002-June 2003 - Parliamentary under Secretary of State at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office
• June 2003-September 2004 - Minister of State for Trade and Investment
• September 2004-May 2005 - Minister of State for Energy
• May 2005-June 2007 - Solicitor General
• June 2007-October 2008 - Minister of State for Pensions
• October 2008-June 2009 - Minister of State for Energy
• June 2009-May 2010 - Minister of State for Health

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "Mike O'Brien Former Labour MP for North Warwickshire". Theyworkforyou.com. http://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/mike_o'brien/north_warwickshire. Retrieved 2011-1-10. 
2. ^ "MONEY BOX transcript page 4". BBC. 7 December 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/programmes/money_box/transcripts/07_12_22.pdf. Retrieved 25 April 2010. 

External links

• Official site^{[dead link]}
• Twitter stream
• Department for Work and Pensions - Official Biography^{[dead link]}
• Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Michael O'Brien MP
• TheyWorkForYou.com - Mike O'Brien MP
• BBC Politics page^{[dead link]}
• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Mike O'Brien

News items

• Pension reform in July 2007
• Wave Hub plan in Cornwall in November 2004
• UK embracing E-commerce in November 2004
• Meeting Colonel Gaddafi in August 2002
• 24 hour drinking in May 2001
• Accusing Home Office of racism in April 2000
• Accusing the Fire Service of racism in September 1999

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Francis Maude	Member of Parliament for North Warwickshire 1992–2010	Succeeded by Dan Byles
Legal offices
Preceded by Harriet Harman	Solicitor General for England and Wales 2005–2007	Succeeded by Vera Baird
Government offices
Preceded by Unknown	Minister of State for Work and Pensions 2007-2008	Succeeded by Rosie Winterton
Preceded by New Department	Minister of State for Energy 2008 - 2009	Succeeded by Joan Ruddock
Preceded by Ben Bradshaw	Minister for Health Services 2009 - 2010	Succeeded by Simon Burns

Persondata
Name	O'Brien, Michael
Alternative names	Mike O'Brien (known as)
Short description	Labour Party politician in the United Kingdom
Date of birth	19 June 1954
Place of birth	Worcester, England
Date of death
Place of death