Martyn David Jones (born 1 March 1947) is a former British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Clwyd South from

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

until his retirement at the 2010 general election.

Early life

Born in Wrexham, he attended Grove Park Grammar School (now Rhosnesni High School) on ''Penymaes Avenue'' in Wrexham. He went to Liverpool College of Commerce, then completed a BSc in Microbiology at

Liverpool Polytechnic Liverpool John Moores University (abbreviated LJMU) is a public research university in the city of Liverpool, England. The university can trace its origins to the Liverpool Mechanics' School of Arts, established in 1823. This later merged to bec ...

, then an MSc at Trent Polytechnic. He is a

microbiologist A microbiologist (from Ancient Greek, Greek ) is a scientist who studies microscopic life forms and processes. This includes study of the growth, interactions and characteristics of Microorganism, microscopic organisms such as bacteria, algae, f ...

, and worked at the

Wrexham Lager Wrexham Lager is a brewery in Wrexham, north-east Wales, that has produced alcoholic drink for more than 120 years. A new brewery opened in 2011 in the heart of Wrexham, after the original closed in 2000. The original brewery was demo ...

Beer Company from 1969 until June 1987 before his election to the House of Commons.

Parliamentary career

At the 1987 general election, he was elected as member of Parliament for Clwyd South West, narrowly beating the Conservative incumbent Robert Harvey. He was re-elected at the 1992 general election with an increased majority. His constituency was abolished for the 1997 election, but he was returned to Parliament for the new Clwyd South constituency where his opponent was future Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Jones was an opposition

whip A whip is a tool or weapon designed to strike humans or other animals to exert control through pain compliance or fear of pain. They can also be used without inflicting pain, for audiovisual cues, such as in equestrianism. They are generally e ...

from 1988 to 1992, and under

John Smith John Smith is a common personal name. It is also commonly used as a placeholder name and pseudonym, and is sometimes used in the United States and the United Kingdom as a term for an average person. It may refer to: People :''In chronological ...

's leadership of the Labour Party, he was an opposition spokesperson for Food, Agricultural and Rural Affairs from 1994 to 1995. He has been a member of the Welsh Affairs

Select committee Select committee may refer to: *Select committee (parliamentary system), a committee made up of a small number of parliamentary members appointed to deal with particular areas or issues *Select or special committee (United States Congress) *Select ...

since 1997, serving as the committee's chair until 2005. He was previously a member of the Agriculture Select Committee. Jones has been vocal in his criticism of controversial North Wales Police Chief Constable

Richard Brunstrom Richard Brunstrom QPM (born September 1954, Nottingham) is a retired British senior police officer. He was the Chief Constable of North Wales Police from January 2001 to July 2009. As such he carried through vigorous changes of strategy, incl ...

's decision to use images of a dead motorcyclist as part of the force's contentiously zealous campaign for road safety. In 2006 the '' Mail on Sunday'' newspaper reported that Jones had repeatedly swore at a House of Commons Security Officer. Jones denied the ''Mails allegations. He took the paper to the High Court to sue them for inaccuracies in the story. He called the article a "grotesque distortion" and was eventually awarded £5,000 in compensation. The paper also had to pay £300,000 in legal costs. Jones has been a vocal campaigner on the issue of dormant bank accounts in the UK. The MP has campaigned since 2001 for the issue to be brought to the forefront of British political life. His work on the subject was praised by senior ministers, such as the Labour Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling. On 7 May 2009, Jones announced that he would retire at the next general election.

References

External links

Official Site

Wrexham Labour
*

Offices Held

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Martyn 1947 births Living people Welsh Labour MPs Transport and General Workers' Union-sponsored MPs UK MPs 1987–1992 UK MPs 1992–1997 UK MPs 1997–2001 UK MPs 2001–2005 UK MPs 2005–2010 Alumni of Nottingham Trent University Alumni of Liverpool John Moores University People from Wrexham Welsh microbiologists