Gordon Oakes

Gordon James Oakes (22 June 1931 – 15 August 2005) was a British Labour Party politician.

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.

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 and 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".

He died of cancer in 2005.

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Gordon Oakes
• Obituary in The Guardian

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Arthur Holt	Member of Parliament for Bolton West 1964–1970	Succeeded by Robert Redmond
Preceded by James MacColl	Member of Parliament for Widnes 1971–1983	Constituency abolished
New constituency	Member of Parliament for Halton 1983–1997	Succeeded by Derek Twigg

Persondata
Name	Oakes, Gordon
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	22 June 1931
Place of birth
Date of death	15 August 2005
Place of death