HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Ivan Lewis (born 4 March 1967) is a British politician who served as
Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
(MP) for
Bury South Bury South is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. At the 2019 General Election it was the 10th most marginal seat in the country, with a majority of 402 for the Conservative Par ...
from
1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...
to 2019, initially as a member of the Labour Party then as an independent from 2017. After serving in various ministerial positions, including Foreign Affairs, Global Development, Education and Health under Prime Ministers
Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of th ...
and
Gordon Brown James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. He previously served as Chance ...
from 2001 to 2010, Lewis was
Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport The Shadow Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), previously Shadow Secretary of State for National Heritage and Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, is a position in the Official Opposition Shadow Ca ...
until October 2011, when he was appointed
Shadow Secretary of State for International Development The shadow cabinet minister for international development is the lead spokesperson for the United Kingdom's Official Opposition on issues related to international aid, most notably to the third world. The shadow cabinet minister holds the Ministe ...
. In the October 2013 Shadow Cabinet reshuffle, he became
Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland The Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland is a member of the British Shadow Cabinet responsible for the scrutiny of the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and their department, the Northern Ireland Office. The post is currently he ...
. After Jeremy Corbyn's election as Labour leader in September 2015, Lewis was dismissed from the shadow cabinet. Lewis was suspended from the Labour Party in November 2017 after sexual misconduct allegations. He subsequently resigned from the Labour Party in December 2018, citing his concerns about antisemitism in the party and the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn. Lewis sat as an independent MP until the 2019 General Election, when he stood as an independent candidate in Bury South. During the campaign Lewis urged voters to support the Conservatives rather than himself when it became clear his candidature could allow Labour to win and inadvertently boost Corbyn's chances of becoming Prime Minister.


Early life and career

Lewis was born in
Prestwich Prestwich ( ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Bury, Greater Manchester, England, north of Manchester city centre, north of Salford and south of Bury. Historically part of Lancashire, Prestwich was the seat of the ancient parish o ...
, in the
Bury South Bury South is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. At the 2019 General Election it was the 10th most marginal seat in the country, with a majority of 402 for the Conservative Par ...
constituency which he later represented, into a British Jewish family. He was educated at Manchester Jewish Day School in Prestwich (primary school) and at
William Hulme Grammar School William Hulme's Grammar School is a mixed all-through school in Whalley Range, Manchester, England. History William Hulme (1631–1691) of Hulme Hall, Stockport, was the founder of "Hulme's Charity" later known as the Hulme Trust. Foll ...
in
Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
, followed by Stand Sixth Form College and
Bury College Bury College is a further education college located within the Borough of Bury, Greater Manchester, England. The college offers a wide range of subjects from the A-Level, BTEC, and diploma format among other subjects provided. Overview Bury Co ...
. Before his election in 1997, he worked in the
voluntary sector The voluntary sector, independent sector, or civic sector is the realm of social activity undertaken by organizations that are non-governmental nonprofit organizations. This sector is also called the third sector, community sector, and nonprofit s ...
from 1986 to 1997 for the learning disabilities support group Contact Community Care Group and as Chief Executive of the Manchester Jewish Federation. Lewis also served as a Councillor on
Bury Metropolitan Borough Council Bury Metropolitan Borough Council is the local authority of the Metropolitan Borough of Bury in Greater Manchester, England. It is a metropolitan district council, one of ten in Greater Manchester and one of 36 in the metropolitan counties of E ...
for the Sedgley ward, being elected in 1990 at 23 years of age and held the position of Chairman of the Social Services Committee.


Political career


In government

Lewis was first elected to Parliament in the 1997 Labour landslide with a 13% swing and a majority of over 12,000 votes over the incumbent Conservative
David Sumberg David Anthony Gerald Sumberg (born 2 June 1941 in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire) is a British politician, and former Member of the European Parliament for the North West England region for the Conservative Party. He was first elected to the Europ ...
who had served since 1983. He further increased his majority in the 2001 General Election. He served as
Parliamentary Private Secretary A Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) is a Member of Parliament (MP) in the United Kingdom who acts as an unpaid assistant to a minister or shadow minister. They are selected from backbench MPs as the 'eyes and ears' of the minister in the H ...
to
Secretary of State for Trade and Industry The secretary of state for business, energy and industrial strategy, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with responsibility for the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. The incumbent is a memb ...
Stephen Byers Stephen John Byers (born 13 April 1953) is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Wallsend between 1992 and 1997, and North Tyneside from 1997 to 2010. He served in the Cabinet from 1998 to 2002, and was ...
from July 1999 to June 2001. Between June 2001 and June 2002, Lewis was the
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (or just Parliamentary Secretary, particularly in departments not led by a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), Secretary of State) is the lowest of three tiers of Minister (government), government minist ...
for Young People and Learning within the Department for Education and Skills and then for Adult Learning and Skills. From June 2002 to May 2005, he became Under-Secretary of State for Skills and Vocational Education in the same department. As a junior minister Lewis was responsible for the White Paper ''21st Century Skills: Realising our Potential'', launched in 2003. It proposed increased support for adults seeking to gain technical and craft qualifications where regional skills shortages existed, removing the age limit for Modern Apprentices and making information and communications technology the third essential "skill for life" alongside literacy and numeracy. Lewis was also involved with a scheme to introduce apprenticeships for 14-year-olds alongside their schooling, commenting that Britain needed to challenge "uniquely snobbish" attitudes toward vocational education Lewis then served as
Economic Secretary to the Treasury The Economic Secretary to the Treasury is the sixth-most senior ministerial post in His Majesty's Treasury, after the First Lord of the Treasury, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, the Paymaster-General and the ...
from May 2005 to May 2006. He was moved to a
junior minister A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the β€˜prime minister’, β ...
ial position in the
Department of Health A health department or health ministry is a part of government which focuses on issues related to the general health of the citizenry. Subnational entities, such as states, counties and cities, often also operate a health department of their ow ...
in the Cabinet reshuffle in May 2006. On 29 June 2007, in Gordon Brown's first reshuffle as
Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
he was re-appointed to the post of
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (or just Parliamentary Secretary, particularly in departments not led by a Secretary of State) is the lowest of three tiers of government minister in the UK government, immediately junior to a Minister ...
in the
Department of Health A health department or health ministry is a part of government which focuses on issues related to the general health of the citizenry. Subnational entities, such as states, counties and cities, often also operate a health department of their ow ...
, the only junior minister to survive the reshuffle where he held on to the brief for social care and added mental health services.


Minister for Care Services 2006 to 2008

As Minister for Care Services, Lewis led the introduction of Putting People First, the then government's policy (accepted by the incoming coalition government) to personalise the provision of social care services for the elderly and people with disabilities. The policy offered adults eligible for care services the ability choose their own care services from a "personal budget", and shifted some responsibilities from the NHS to councils. Lewis described his own policy changes as "arguably the biggest redistribution of power from the state to the citizen that we have ever seen", while David Brindle of ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' praised him for having done a "huge amount" to raise the profile of social care. In March 2008, Lewis warned that the Labour Party was losing touch with ordinary people under the leadership of
Gordon Brown James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. He previously served as Chance ...
in an article written for Progress Online. Lewis stated he believed the Government had lost touch with what fairness meant to the mainstream majority. He wrote:


Text messages incident

In 2008, the
Department of Health A health department or health ministry is a part of government which focuses on issues related to the general health of the citizenry. Subnational entities, such as states, counties and cities, often also operate a health department of their ow ...
confirmed Lewis had made an apology for his behaviour when in 2007 he began sending increasingly intimate text messages to then aide Susie Mason, which ultimately led to her registering concern, and successfully seeking an alternative position within the
Civil Service The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...
before leaving for the
private sector The private sector is the part of the economy, sometimes referred to as the citizen sector, which is owned by private groups, usually as a means of establishment for profit or non profit, rather than being owned by the government. Employment The ...
.
Nick Cohen Nicholas Cohen (born 1961) is a British journalist, author and political commentator. He was a columnist for ''The Observer'' and a blogger for ''The Spectator''. Following accusations of sexual harassment, he left The Observer in 2022 and bega ...
pointed out in ''
The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...
'' on 14 September 2008 that the revelations about Lewis's private life followed articles by Lewis which constituted coded attacks on Gordon Brown. In his book '' The End of the Party: The Rise and Fall of New Labour'', the journalist
Andrew Rawnsley Andrew Nicholas James Rawnsley (born 5 January 1962) is a British political journalist and broadcaster. A columnist and chief political commentator for ''The Observer'', he has written two books on New Labour. Early life Rawnsley was born in Le ...
suggested that Lewis was a target of "Gordon Brown's Hit Squad". In relation to the Susie Mason story, Rawnsley wrote: "Yet there were few Labour MPs who doubted that the story was planted by No. 10, which was privy to a confidential Whitehall report about the civil servant. The hit on Lewis stunned Ministers who regarded themselves as unshockable". The story was leaked twelve months after the events occurred. Senior civil servants dealing with the Mason issue advised that no action should be taken against Lewis. Brown's former communications chief,
Damian McBride Damian McBride (born 1974) is a British political advisor. He is a former Whitehall civil servant and former special adviser to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. McBride began his civil service career at HM Customs and Excise. He worked wi ...
, confessed in his memoir that he reprimanded Lewis, then junior health minister, in 2008 for commenting on tax policy, only to be passed the message that Lewis would not be intimidated. Angered, McBride then fed to the ''
News of the World The ''News of the World'' was a weekly national Tabloid journalism#Red tops, red top Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published every Sunday in the United Kingdom from 1843 to 2011. It was at one time the world's highest-selling En ...
'' a story about Lewis allegedly pestering a young female civil servant in his private office. McBride expressed deep remorse in retrospect, saying he had been "a cruel, vindictive, thoughtless bastard".


Department for International Development; Foreign and Commonwealth Office

On 3 October 2008, Lewis moved to the
Department for International Development , type = Department , logo = DfID.svg , logo_width = 180px , logo_caption = , picture = File:Admiralty Screen (411824276).jpg , picture_width = 180px , picture_caption = Department for International Development (London office) (far right ...
(DfID). There, he spearheaded a campaign to persuade other Governments and multilateral agencies to prioritise maternal health. He remained there until June 2009, when he was promoted to Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs. Lewis was responsible for the UK's Middle East policy, the UK's relations with the US and China, counter terrorism and counter proliferation.


Vioxx

In 2009, ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' reported, following his promise to assist British users of the drug "
Vioxx Rofecoxib is a COX-2 selective nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID). It was marketed by Merck & Co. to treat osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, acute pain conditions, migraine, and dysmenorrhea. Rofecoxib ...
" (produced by
Merck Merck refers primarily to the German Merck family and three companies founded by the family, including: * the Merck Group, a German chemical, pharmaceutical and life sciences company founded in 1668 ** Merck Serono (known as EMD Serono in the Unite ...
) with legal fees in their attempt to claim damages, Lewis changed his mind within hours of an "expensive lobbying effort" by Merck. Vioxx has been shown to increase the risk of
heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, a ...
in users. It transpired subsequently that because of his promise to assist, the Department of Health replaced Lewis on all Vioxx related issues with another Minister.


In Opposition

In October 2010, Lewis was elected by his fellow Labour MPs to the Shadow Cabinet and appointed
Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport The Shadow Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), previously Shadow Secretary of State for National Heritage and Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, is a position in the Official Opposition Shadow Ca ...
by Labour Leader
Ed Miliband Edward Samuel "Ed" Miliband (born 24 December 1969) is a British politician serving as Shadow Secretary of State for Climate Change and Net Zero since 2021. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Doncaster North since 2005. Miliband ...
. In September 2011, Lewis was reappointed to the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Secretary of State for International Development. Lewis is a member of
Labour Friends of Israel Labour Friends of Israel (LFI) is a group in the Parliament of the United Kingdom that promotes support for a strong bilateral relationship between Britain and Israel, and seeks to strengthen ties between the British Labour Party and the Isra ...
. In October 2013, Lewis was moved in a Shadow Cabinet reshuffle from the International Development portfolio to the Shadow Northern Ireland one. However, despite his reshuffle, which was seen by many commentators as a demotion, he fulfilled a standing commitment to outline Labour's vision on International Development at The University of Manchester, during Manchester Policy Week. In the September 2015 Labour shadow cabinet reshuffle under the newly elected leader
Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party from 2015 to 2020. On the political left of the Labour Party, Corbyn describes himself as a socialist ...
, Lewis offered to continue in the role of Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland temporarily amid the troubling political situation there. Lewis reported that Corbyn had rejected his offer and informed him by text message that he had decided to give the role to another MP.


One Nation Labour

Lewis was one of the key figures influencing the Labour Party's political thinking and direction during
Ed Miliband Edward Samuel "Ed" Miliband (born 24 December 1969) is a British politician serving as Shadow Secretary of State for Climate Change and Net Zero since 2021. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Doncaster North since 2005. Miliband ...
's leadership. He was one of the co-originators of the notion of
One Nation Labour One Nation Labour refers to the theme and branding of the British Labour Party adopted by the party in 2012 under the leadership of Ed Miliband.Roy Hattersley, Kevin Hickson. The Socialist Way: Social Democracy in Contemporary Britain. I.B.Taur ...
, which formed the foundation of Miliband's keynote speech at the
Labour Party Conference The Labour Party Conference is the annual conference of the British Labour Party. It is formally the supreme decision-making body of the party and is traditionally held in the final week of September, during the party conference season when the ...
held in Manchester in September 2012. Lewis had originally floated the concept in a chapter written for '' The Purple Book'', a collection of essays written by mainly senior figures in the party offering new policy ideas.


Mayoral candidacy

In February 2016, Lewis announced his intention to seek the Labour candidacy nomination for the post of the directly elected
Mayor of Greater Manchester The Mayor of Greater Manchester is the directly elected metro mayor of Greater Manchester, responsible for strategic governance in the region that includes health, transport, housing, strategic planning, waste management, policing, the Greater ...
. On 9 August that year, the Labour Party announced that
Andy Burnham Andrew Murray Burnham (born 7 January 1970) is a British politician who has served as Mayor of Greater Manchester since 2017. He served in Gordon Brown's Cabinet as Chief Secretary to the Treasury from 2007 to 2008, Culture Secretary from 2008 ...
would be the mayoral candidate.


Sexual harassment allegations, suspension and resignation

On 23 November 2017, the Labour Party suspended Lewis from the party subject to investigation following allegations of sexual harassment. On 20 December 2018, Lewis resigned from the Labour Party in protest at alleged anti-Semitism in the party and Jeremy Corbyn's leadership. Lewis initially intended to stand for re-election at the 2019 general election, but later withdrew his candidacy (although his name still appeared on ballot papers, as he withdrew too late to formally exit the contest). Instead, Lewis urged his supporters to vote for the
Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
candidate
Christian Wakeford Christian Wakeford (born 9 November 1984) is a British politician serving as Member of Parliament (MP) for Bury South since the 2019 general election. Elected as a Conservative, he crossed the floor to Labour in 2022. Early life and career W ...
. Lewis ultimately polled 1,366 votes as an independent candidate.


Personal life

Lewis married Juliette Fox in
Stockport Stockport is a town and borough in Greater Manchester, England, south-east of Manchester, south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and north of Macclesfield. The River Goyt and Tame merge to create the River Mersey here. Most of the town is within ...
in June 1990. They have two sons, and are now divorced.


References


External links


Bury South Labour

Ivan Lewis for Mayor
, - , - , - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis, Ivan 1967 births Living people English Jews Jewish British politicians Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Labour Friends of Israel People educated at William Hulme's Grammar School People from Prestwich UK MPs 1997–2001 UK MPs 2001–2005 UK MPs 2005–2010 UK MPs 2010–2015 UK MPs 2015–2017 UK MPs 2017–2019 Independent members of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom