Gordon Oakes

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

Early life

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.

He served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Bolton West from 1964 to 1970, when he was beaten by the Conservative Robert Redmond by 1,244 votes. He was re-elected 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 on 15 August 2005 at the age of 74.

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

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