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, ...

until his retirement at the 2010 general election.

Early life

Born in

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

, he attended Grove Park Grammar School (now

Rhosnesni High School Rhosnesni High School, also known as Ysgol Rhosnesni High School or simply Ysgol Rhosnesni, is an English-medium mixed comprehensive secondary school in Rhosnesni, Wrexham, Wales. It was created in 2003 and maintained by Wrexham County Borou ...

) on ''Penymaes Avenue'' in Wrexham. He went to Liverpool College of Commerce, then completed a BSc in Microbiology at Liverpool Polytechnic, then an MSc at

Trent Polytechnic Trent may refer to: Places Italy * Trento in northern Italy, site of the Council of Trent United Kingdom * Trent, Dorset, England, United Kingdom Germany * Trent, Germany, a municipality on the island of Rügen United States * Trent, California, ...

. He is a

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

, 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 demolishe ...

Beer Company from 1969 until June 1987 before his election to the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

Parliamentary career

At the 1987 general election, he was elected as member of Parliament for Clwyd South West, narrowly beating 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 in ...

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 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 ...

for the new Clwyd South constituency where his opponent was future Prime Minister

Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as ...

. 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 ...

from 1988 to 1992, and under John Smith'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 select committee is a committee made up of a small number of parliamentary members appointed to deal with particular areas or issues originating in the Westminster system o ...

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 North Wales Police ( cy, Heddlu Gogledd Cymru) is the territorial police force responsible for policing North Wales. Its headquarters are in Colwyn Bay. , the force has 1,510 police officers, 170 special constables, 182 police community suppor ...

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, includ ...

'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 ''The Mail on Sunday'' is a British conservative newspaper, published in a tabloid format. It is the biggest-selling Sunday newspaper in the UK and was launched in 1982 by Lord Rothermere. Its sister paper, the ''Daily Mail'', was first pub ...

'' 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 Alistair Maclean Darling, Baron Darling of Roulanish, (born 28 November 1953) is a British politician who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer under Prime Minister Gordon Brown from 2007 to 2010. A member of the Labour Party, he was a Member ...

. 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