Mark Oaten

Mark Oaten
Liberal Democrat Home Affairs Spokesman
In office 12 June 2003 – 21 January 2006
Leader	Charles Kennedy
Preceded by	Simon Hughes
Succeeded by	Nick Clegg
Member of Parliament for Winchester
In office 1 May 1997 – 6 May 2010
Preceded by	Gerry Malone
Succeeded by	Steve Brine
Personal details
Born	8 March 1964 (1964-03-08) (age 47) Watford, Hertfordshire, England
Political party	Liberal Democrats
Alma mater	Hatfield Polytechnic

Mark Oaten (born 8 March 1964 in Watford, Hertfordshire) is a former British Liberal Democrat politician. He served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Winchester from 1997 to 2010, and was his party's Home Affairs spokesperson from 2003 to 2006. He stood for the leadership of the Liberal Democrats in the election in 2006, but withdrew from the contest when he was hit by a series of scandals which also led to his resignation as Home Affairs spokesperson. He did not run for re-election to the House of Commons at the 2010 general election.

Early life

Oaten was educated at Queens' School, Bushey, and Hatfield Polytechnic.^[1][2]

Before entering Parliament, Oaten had been a councillor and was employed as a lobbyist by various Westminster public affairs companies. He was leader of the Social Democratic Party group on Watford Borough Council. He stood for the Watford seat at the 1992 general election and polled 10,231 votes, coming third.^[3]

Member of Parliament

He won the Winchester seat in the 1997 election with a majority of 2, but his election was later declared void by the Election Court. The defeated Conservative former MP Gerry Malone successfully challenged the election on the basis of an established precedent which voided the result where it had been affected by a decision not to count ballot papers which had not been properly stamped.^[3]

This decision caused the 1997 Winchester by-election at which Malone fought once again to try to capture the seat. However, many felt that Malone had behaved as a 'poor loser' and Oaten won with a majority of 21,556, gaining 68% of the vote. He held the seat in the 2001 election, with a majority of 9,634 (with a 54.6% share of the vote), and again in 2005, although his majority dropped to 7,473 (a 50.6% share of the vote).

Liberal Democrat leadership contest 2006

On 10 January 2006, Oaten declared that he would be a candidate in the leadership election to replace Charles Kennedy, standing on an agenda of making liberalism relevant to the twenty first century. He was widely rumoured to be Kennedy's favoured successor, but his campaign failed to gain momentum. On 18 January he became embroiled in a row about the leaking of an email.^[4]

On 19 January, Oaten withdrew from the contest, having failed to attract enough support from within the parliamentary party; his sole backers were Lembit Öpik MP and Sarah Ludford, Baroness Ludford, a peer and MEP.

He concluded his withdrawal statement with the words "Next week I'll be giving some thought to where I go politically and giving my thoughts on the future of the Party."

Scandal and resignation

On 21 January 2006, Oaten resigned from the Liberal Democrat front bench^[5] when it was revealed by the News of the World that he had hired a 23-year-old male prostitute between the summer of 2004 and February 2005. The newspaper also alleged that Oaten had engaged in 'three-in-a-bed' sex sessions with two male prostitutes.^[6]

Oaten gave an explanation for his actions in an essay in The Sunday Times^[7] in which he claimed a "mid-life crisis" was partly responsible for his actions. This was partially contradicted by a 2009 Press Gazette interview Oaten gave, in which he said "Journalists... had my story for three years I think, but hung on to it and never did anything with it. They could have made that public interest argument at any point in the three years. I had always been a Member of Parliament, but they waited until it could sell most newspapers, at the point at which I became well-known and at my most famous."^[8]

Oaten announced that he would be standing down from Parliament at the 2010 general election.^[9] The members of the Winchester constituency party selected Martin Tod to replace Oaten as the Liberal Democrat candidate, ^[10] but Tod was defeated at the general election by the Conservative candidate Steve Brine.

Retirement

In late 2009 the Oaten family were looking to sell their house in Bramdean and move to Alresford in order to be closer to the facilities and transport network offered by the larger town.^[11] After his retirement from frontline politics, Oaten released two books, one on the history of coalition governments,^[12] and the other a memoir entitled Screwing Up: How One MP Survived Politics, Scandal and Turning 40.^[13]

Political leaning

Oaten was a member of the Advisory Board of the Liberal Future think tank until it was wound up in 2005, and one of the contributors to the The Orange Book: Reclaiming Liberalism in 2004. Within the party, Oaten has been called a moderniser in the sense that he was keen to emphasise economic liberalism and to prevent the Liberal Democrats being sidelined as a 'party of the left'. However as the party's principal home affairs spokesman, he also championed the rights of asylum seekers and civil liberties, condemned calls by then Conservative frontbencher David Davis for the reintroduction of capital punishment and has claimed to want to reunite all the strands of liberalism, and not elevate one above the others.^{[citation needed]}

Tower Block of Commons

In February 2010 Channel 4 broadcast a four-part series called Tower Block of Commons in which four MPs lived with council tenants on different estates in England.

Taking part along side Oaten were Tim Loughton, Austin Mitchell and Nadine Dorries, who replaced Iain Duncan Smith who left the programme early after his wife was diagnosed with cancer.^[14]

International Fur Trade Federation

In 2011 Oaten accepted a position as executive of the International Fur Trade Federation. Oaten was criticised for accepting the position by animal welfare groups, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) and Winchester Animal Concern.^[15] Whilst an MP, Oaten was critical of any plans to introduce legislation to outlaw fox hunting, and supported a 'middle way' approach to the issue, that would allow hunting to remain legal. In 2004 Oaten voted against the ban on fox hunting.^[16]

Notes and references

1. ^ Liberal Democrats: Who's Who.
2. ^ "Profile: Mark Oaten". BBC News. 2006-01-21. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4591036.stm. Retrieved 2009-07-11. 
3. ^ ^{a b} "Ask Aristotle: Mark Oaten." The Guardian.
4. ^ Tania Branigan, 2006. "Oaten to pull out of Lib Dem leadership race." The Guardian.
5. ^ Mark Oaten: On the scandal that ruined him, The Independent, 15 September 2009
6. ^ Marc Shoffman, 2006. "Lib Dem MP resigns over "gay" relationship" Pink News.
7. ^ "Out of control". The Times (London). 7 May 2006. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/article714042.ece. Retrieved 5 October 2011. 
8. ^ Mark Oaten: 'Titillation is not in the public interest' - Press Gazette
9. ^ The Portsmouth News
10. ^ "Lib Dems pick man to replace Oaten". Hampshire Chronicle. Newsquest Media Group. December 4, 2006. http://www.hampshirechronicle.co.uk/archive/2006/12/04/++News+-++Latest+Headlines/1055405.Lib_Dems_pick_man_to_replace_Oaten/. Retrieved January 4, 2010. 
11. ^ "Mark Oaten home for sale, again". Hampshire Chronicle. Newsquest Media Group. October 31, 2009. http://www.hampshirechronicle.co.uk/news/4713017.Mark_Oaten_home_for_sale__again/. Retrieved January 4, 2010. 
12. ^ Oaten, Mark (September 6, 2007). "A Lib/Con pact? You shouldn’ t rule it out". London: The Times. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article2395395.ece. Retrieved July 12, 2010. 
13. ^ "Screwing Up - How one MP Survived Politics, Scandal and Turning Forty". Totalpolitics.com. http://www.totalpolitics.com/subscriptions/acatalog/Screwing_Up_-_How_one_MP_Survived_Politics____Scandal_and_Turning_Forty.html. Retrieved July 12, 2010. 
14. ^ "Tower Block of Commons". Channel 4. http://www.channel4.com/programmes/tower-block-of-commons. Retrieved March 7, 2010. 
15. ^ "MP who cheated on wife with rent boy in new controversy after becoming fur trade chief=Daily Mail". London. 22 March 2011. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1368780/MP-cheated-wife-rent-boy-new-controversy-fur-trade-chief.html?ito=feeds-newsxml. Retrieved March 22, 2011. 
16. ^ "Disgraced MP Mark Oaten takes job promoting fur trade=Daily Telegraph". The Daily Telegraph (London). 22 March 2011. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/liberaldemocrats/8398268/Disgraced-MP-Mark-Oaten-takes-job-promoting-fur-trade.html. Retrieved March 22, 2011. 

Publications

• Coalition: The Politics and Personalities of Coalition Government from 1850, Harriman House Publishing, 2007
• Screwing Up: How One MP Survived Politics, Scandal and Turning 40, Biteback Publishing Ltd, 2009

External links

• Mark Oaten MP profile at the site of Liberal Democrats
• Winchester Liberal Democrats
• ePolitix.com - Mark Oaten MP
• Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Mark Oaten MP
• TheyWorkForYou.com - Mark Oaten MP
• The Public Whip - Mark Oaten voting record

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Gerry Malone	Member of Parliament for Winchester 1997–2010	Succeeded by Steve Brine
Party political offices
Preceded by Malcolm Bruce	Chairman of the Liberal Democrats 2001–2003	Succeeded by Matthew Taylor

Persondata
Name	Oaten, Mark
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	8 March 1964
Place of birth	Watford, Hertfordshire, England
Date of death
Place of death