George Foulkes, Baron Foulkes of Cumnock

Infobox MSP
honorific-prefix =
name = George Foulkes
honorific-suffix = MSP

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imagesize =
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constituency_MP = Lothians
parliament = Scottish
majority =
term_start = 3 May 2007
term_end =
predecessor =
successor =
constituency_MP2 = Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley
South Ayrshire (1979–1983)
parliament2 = Parliament of the United Kingdom!UK
majority2 =
term_start2 = 3 May 1979
term_end2 = 5 May 2005
predecessor2 = Jim Sillars
successor2 = "constituency abolished"
birth_date = Birth date and age|1942|01|21|df=yes
birth_place = Oswestry, Shropshire
death_date =
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nationality =
party = Labour Co-operative
spouse =
relations =
children =
residence =
alma_mater = University of Edinburgh
occupation =
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religion =


website =
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George Foulkes, Baron Foulkes of Cumnock, PC (born 21 January, 1942 in Oswestry, Shropshire) is a politician in the United Kingdom. He is one of only a handful of people (others include David Steel, James Douglas-Hamilton and Mike Watson) to have been a member of the House of Commons, the House of Lords and the Scottish Parliament. He is currently a member of both the Lords and the Scottish Parliament.

Foulkes is a passionate supporter of Scottish devolution and wrote a few chapters in 'A Claim of Right for Scotland' in 1988.

Foulkes was chairman of Hearts football club from April 2004 until his resignation on October 31 2005. Foulkes resigned in protest at the majority shareholder Vladimir Romanov deciding to dismiss the Hearts chief executive Phil Anderton [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/h/heart_of_midlothian/4395230.stm BBC Sport] ] .

Early life

Foulkes attended Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School, a private school. His political career began in 1963, when he became Senior President of the Students' Representative Council at the University of Edinburgh. He later moved on to become full time President of the Scottish Union of Students (which later incorporated into the UK National Union of Students).

House of Commons

Foulkes was first elected in the 1979 general election, as Labour and Co-operative Member of Parliament for South Ayrshire. After that constituency's abolition in boundary changes, he was elected in the 1983 general election for the new constituency of Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley.

As an MP, Foulkes introduced the first-ever proposals for a smoking ban in public places in 1982, and legislation against age discrimination in 1985, both through Private Member’s Bills.

After serving on the Foreign Affairs Select Committee and the Council of Europe, he was appointed to the Opposition Front Bench as an opposition spokesperson on Foreign Affairs from 1983-92, then for Defence from 1992-93. He lost that job after he pled guilty to a charge of assault and of being drunk and disorderly after spending a night in police custody following a reception hosted by the Scotch Whisky Association, resulting in a fine of £1,050 [ [http://news.independent.co.uk/people/pandora/article2175035.ece The Independent] ] . He then served as Joan Lestor’s deputy at Overseas Development from 1994-97.

When Labour won the election in 1997 he was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the Department for International Development, where he was Clare Short’s deputy until February 2001, when he was appointed Minister of State for Scotland until the May 2002 reshuffle. From June 2003 to May 2005 he was a UK delegate to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the Assembly of the Western European Union. Foulkes was made a member of the Privy Council in 2002, and stepped down from office at the 2005 general election.

House of Lords

On May 13 2005 it was announced that Foulkes was to be created a life peer. In June 2005 the peerage was gazetted as Baron Foulkes of Cumnock, of Cumnock in East Ayrshire.

He now represents the Labour Party on the Executive of the Socialist International, member of the Executive Committee of the Interparliamentary Union and Member of the Board of Governors of the Westminster Foundation for Democracy. He is a member of the Intelligence and Security Committee in the Cabinet Office since 2007.

Lord Foulkes is very active on Caribbean matters. He serves as President of the Caribbean Britain Business Council, Chair of the Dominican Republic All-Party Parliamentary Group, Chair of the Belize All-Party Parliamentary Group, Vice Chair of the Trinidad and Tobago All-Party Parliamentary Group and Vice Chair of the British - Central America All-Party Parliamentary Group.

cottish Parliament

Foulkes returned to electoral politics in 2007 when he led the Scottish Labour Party's Lothian List in the Scottish Parliament election, 2007, and was vice-chairman of Labour's Holyrood election campaign. Lord Foulkes was elected as a Member of the Scottish Parliament on 3 May 2007.

Since his election to the Scottish Parliament, and as the most time-served politician currently serving in Holyrood, Foulkes has been spearheading Labour’s attacks against the minority SNP Executive. For that he has been a regular target of personal attacks by SNP bloggers, whom he branded “CyberNats”. He regularly tables Parliamentary Questions scrutinising the Scottish Government’s conduct, and managed to expose several irregularities, including the entertaining of wealthy SNP backers at Bute House at the expense of the taxpayer [ [http://www.journal-online.co.uk/articles/show/2686 The Journal » Salmond under scrutiny for costly dinners ] ] , and the preferential treatment given to Stagecoach, whose co-founder Brian Souter gave £500,000 to the SNP, in the Forth hovercraft project [ [http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/2008/02/20/row-after-forth-hovercraft-plan-shelved-86908-20325090/ Row After Forth Hovercraft Plan Shelved - The Daily Record ] ] .

Foulkes has also been part of a campaign for presumed consent on organ donation [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/7166900.stm BBC NEWS | Scotland | Call for organ donation opt-out ] ] [ [http://news.scotsman.com/organdonation/SNP-can-lead-UK-in.3476936.jp SNP 'can lead UK in opt-out organ donation' - Scotsman.com News ] ] .

Foulkes became embroiled in accusations of racism after referring to the Scottish National Party (SNP) of acting in a "xenophobic way" [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/3681938.stm BBC News] ] . The former Scottish Labour Party leader Henry McLeish called on Foulkes to apologise for the SNP 'racism' claim [ [http://news.scotsman.com/politics.cfm?id=1436002007 The Scotsman] ] .

References

External links

* [http://www.lordfoulkes.com Official Lords website]
* [http://www.yourlothiansmsp.com/home George Foulkes MSP website]
* [http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/msp/membersPages/george_foulkes/index.htm George Foulkes MSP] Scottish Parliament biography
Lothians MSPs