Thomas James Greatrex (born 30 September 1974) is a British

Labour Co-op Labour and Co-operative Party (often abbreviated Labour Co-op; cy, Llafur a'r Blaid Gydweithredol) is a description used by candidates in United Kingdom elections who stand on behalf of both the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party and the Co-operativ ...

politician, who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Rutherglen and Hamilton West between

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

and

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

and the Shadow Energy Minister from 2011 to 2015. In 2016 Greatrex became the CEO of the

Nuclear Industry Association The Nuclear Industry Association (NIA) is a subscription based trade association for the civil nuclear industry in the United Kingdom. It represents more than 260 companies across the nuclear supply chain. The diversity of NIA membership enables ...

Early life

Greatrex was born in

Ashford Ashford may refer to: Places Australia *Ashford, New South Wales *Ashford, South Australia *Electoral district of Ashford, South Australia Ireland *Ashford, County Wicklow *Ashford Castle, County Galway United Kingdom * Ashford, Kent, a town ** ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

. Brought up in

Tunbridge Wells Royal Tunbridge Wells is a town in Kent, England, southeast of central London. It lies close to the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the Weald, High Weald, whose sandstone geology is exemplified by the rock formation High Roc ...

, he attended

The Judd School The Judd School (often known simply as Judd) is a voluntary aided grammar school in Tonbridge, Kent, England. It was established in 1888 at Stafford House on East Street in Tonbridge, where it remained for eight years before moving to its present ...

between 1986 and 1993, before studying Economics, Government and Law at the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 millio ...

, graduating in 1996. He lives in

Cambuslang Cambuslang ( sco, Cammuslang, from gd, Camas Lang) is a town on the south-eastern outskirts of Greater Glasgow, Scotland. With approximately 30,000 residents, it is the 27th largest town in Scotland by population, although, never having had a ...

and is married, with twin daughters.

Career

Greatrex worked as a researcher to Opposition Chief Whip

Donald Dewar Donald Campbell Dewar (21 August 1937 – 11 October 2000) was a Scottish politician who served as the inaugural First Minister of Scotland and Leader of the Labour Party in Scotland from 1999 until his death in 2000. He previously served as ...

, prior to the 1997 General Election, remaining in the role after

Nick Brown Nicholas Hugh Brown (born 13 June 1950) is a British Independent politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Newcastle upon Tyne East since 1983, making him the fifth longest serving MP in the House of Commons. He is the longes ...

took over as

Chief Whip The Chief Whip is a political leader whose task is to enforce the whipping system, which aims to ensure that legislators who are members of a political party attend and vote on legislation as the party leadership prescribes. United Kingdom ...

, later moving with him to the

Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food An agriculture ministry (also called an) agriculture department, agriculture board, agriculture council, or agriculture agency, or ministry of rural development) is a ministry charged with agriculture. The ministry is often headed by a minister f ...

in 1998. He left this role in 1999 to work as a GMB Union official for five years. He moved to Scotland in 2004 to take on a role as a chief officer at

East Dunbartonshire Council East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the f ...

then worked as Director of Corporate Affairs for

NHS 24 NHS 24 is Scotland's national telehealth and telecare organisation. This special health board runs a telephone advice and triage service that covers the out-of-hours period (Mondays to Fridays between 6pm and 8am, public holidays and all weekend). ...

between 2006 and 2007. He latterly worked as a policy adviser for Scottish Secretaries Douglas Alexander,

Des Browne Desmond Henry Browne, Baron Browne of Ladyton, (born 22 March 1952) is a Scottish politician who served in the Cabinet of the United Kingdom under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown as Secretary of State for Defence 2006 to 2008 and Secretary of St ...

and

Jim Murphy James Francis Murphy (born 23 August 1967) is a Scottish former politician who served as Leader of the Scottish Labour Party from 2014 to 2015 and Secretary of State for Scotland from 2008 to 2010. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for East Ren ...

.Labour members choose Greatrex to stand at election
Rutherglen Reformer, 24 March 2010 Since 1 February 2016 Greatrex has been CEO of the

. He is currently vice-chairman of the Football Supporters Association.

Political career

Selected as the

Scottish Labour Party Scottish Labour ( gd, Pàrtaidh Làbarach na h-Alba, sco, Scots Labour Pairty; officially the Scottish Labour Party) is a social democratic political party in Scotland. It is an autonomous section of the UK Labour Party. From their peak o ...

candidate for Rutherglen and Hamilton West, Greatrex was elected with a majority of 21,002 at the

2010 United Kingdom general election The 2010 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 6 May 2010, with 45,597,461 registered voters entitled to vote to elect members to the House of Commons. The election took place in 650 constituencies across the United Kingdom unde ...

.Labour holds Rutherglen and Hamilton West
BBC News, 7 May 2010 He was the Shadow

Under-Secretary of State for Scotland The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland is a junior ministerial post (of Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State rank) in the Government of the United Kingdom, supporting the Secretary of State for Scotland. The post is also know ...

supporting

Ann McKechin Ann McKechin (born 22 April 1961) is a former British Labour Party politician and was Member of Parliament (MP) for Glasgow Maryhill from 2001 until 2005 and Glasgow North from 2005 to 2015. She was a junior minister under Gordon Brown before b ...

, Shadow Secretary State for Scotland until October 2011, when he was made Shadow Energy Minister. As Shadow Energy Minister, Greatrex has criticised both sides of the debate over fracking, arguing that an "evidence-based" approach is needed and that whilst shale gas will not solve energy shortages in future, there might be some role for fracking under "strict regulation". He lost his Westminster seat to Margaret Ferrier of the

Scottish National Party The Scottish National Party (SNP; sco, Scots National Pairty, gd, Pàrtaidh Nàiseanta na h-Alba ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic political party in Scotland. The SNP supports and campaigns for Scottish independence from ...

at the 2015 general election, she was elected with a majority of 9,975 votes.

Political activities

Greatrex is a fierce and outspoken critic of the firm Atos, who conduct

Work Capability Assessment The Work Capability Assessment (WCA) is used by the British Government's Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to decide whether and to what extent welfare benefit claimants are capable of doing work or work-related activities. The outcome of th ...

s of disabled people on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions. On 17 May 2013, he gave an interview to the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

about allegations made by a doctor employed by Atos that the tests are unfair and 'skewed against the claimant'. In addition, he wrote in a letter to the Prime Minister that these were "serious and shocking allegations which must be urgently looked at".

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Greatrex, Tom 1974 births Living people People educated at The Judd School Alumni of the London School of Economics People from Ashford, Kent Cambuslang Trade unionists from Kent Labour Co-operative MPs for Scottish constituencies Politics of South Lanarkshire UK MPs 2010–2015