Martin Philip Caton (born 15 June 1951) is a British
Labour Party politician who was the
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 o ...
(MP) for
Gower
Gower ( cy, Gŵyr) or the Gower Peninsula () in southwest Wales, projects towards the Bristol Channel. It is the most westerly part of the historic county of Glamorgan. In 1956, the majority of Gower became the first area in the United Kingdom ...
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 ...
to
2015.
Early life and career
Caton was born in
Bishop's Stortford and educated at the
Newport Free Grammar School
Joyce Frankland Academy, Newport, formerly Newport Free Grammar School, is a school in Newport, Essex, England. It was founded in 1588. The school is a mixed secondary school with a sixth form. It previously existed in different forms includin ...
near
Saffron Walden
Saffron Walden is a market town in the Uttlesford district of Essex, England, north of Bishop's Stortford, south of Cambridge and north of London. It retains a rural appearance and some buildings of the medieval period. The population was 15, ...
, the Norfolk School of
Agriculture
Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people t ...
, and the
Aberystwyth College of Further Education. From 1974 he worked for 10 years as a research officer with the
Welsh Plant Breeding Station
The Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences (IBERS) is a department of Aberystwyth University within its Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences, and is located in Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, Wales. It has a remit for teaching, research ...
at Aberystwyth before becoming a researcher for the
member of the European Parliament
A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament.
When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...
David Morris. He was elected as a councillor of the
Mumbles
Mumbles ( cy, Mwmbwls) is a headland sited on the western edge of Swansea Bay on the southern coast of Wales.
Toponym
Mumbles has been noted for its unusual place name. The headland is thought by some to have been named by French sailors, ...
Community Council (1986–90) and to the
Swansea City Council from 1988 until his election in 1997 to
parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...
.
Political career
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 his maiden speech on 4 June 1997, in which he defended the
cockle industry in his constituency.
Caton participated in the rebellion of Labour MPs voting against the government decision to invade Iraq in 2003, and was 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
The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) is an organisation that advocates unilateral nuclear disarmament by the United Kingdom, international nuclear disarmament and tighter international arms regulation through agreements such as the Nuc ...
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.
Profile
, l-r-c.org.uk; accessed 8 May 2015. Martin Caton retired from Parliament at the 2015 General Election.
Personal life
He married Bethan Evans in 1996 and they have two daughters.
References
External links
Martin Caton MP
official site
Martin Caton MP
Welsh Labour Party profile
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Caton, Martin
Welsh Labour Party MPs
UK MPs 1997–2001
UK MPs 2001–2005
UK MPs 2005–2010
UK MPs 2010–2015
Councillors in Wales
1951 births
Living people
Politics of Swansea
People from Bishop's Stortford
People educated at Newport Free Grammar School