Martin Caton

Martin Caton
Martin Caton MP
Member of Parliament
for Gower
Incumbent
Assumed office
1 May 1997
Preceded by Gareth Wardell
Majority 2,683 (6.4%)
Personal details
Born 15 June 1951 (1951-06-15) (age 60)
Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, England
Nationality British
Political party Labour
Spouse(s) Bethan Evans
Website www.martin-caton.co.uk

Martin Philip Caton (born 15 June 1951) is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Gower since 1997.

Caton was born in Bishop's Stortford and educated at the Newport Free Grammar School near Saffron Walden, the Norfolk School of Agriculture, and the Aberystwyth College of Further Education. From 1974 he worked for 10 years as a research officer with the Welsh Plant Breeding Station at Aberystwyth before becoming a researcher for the member of the European Parliament David Morris. He was elected as a councillor of the Mumbles Community Council 1986-1990, and to the Swansea City Council from 1988 until his election to parliament.

He won the safe Labour seat of Gower at the 1997 general election on the retirement of Gareth Wardell. He was elected with a majority of 13,007 and made a very amusing maiden speech on June 4, 1997 [1], in which he defended the cockle industry in his constituency.

Caton has been a little rebellious in parliament, having participated in the rebellion of Labour MPs voting against the government decision to invade Iraq in 2003, and also being one of the 88 Labour MPs to vote against replacing the Trident Nuclear Missile System, Caton having been a member of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament for years. Within Parliament, he has spent a long time on the Welsh Affairs Select Committee and sits with the Socialist Campaign Group of Labour MPs [2].

He married Bethan Evans in 1996 and they have two daughters.

External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Gareth Wardell		 Member of Parliament for Gower
1997–present		 Incumbent


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