Mike O'Brien (British politician)
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The Right Honourable Mike O'Brien QC |
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File:Mike O'Brien, April 2009 cropped.jpg | |
Minister of State for Health Services | |
In office 8 June 2009 – 11 May 2010 |
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Prime Minister | Gordon Brown |
Preceded by | Ben Bradshaw |
Succeeded by | Simon Burns |
Minister of State for Energy | |
In office 5 October 2008 – 8 June 2009 |
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Prime Minister | Gordon Brown |
Preceded by | Office Created |
Succeeded by | Joan Ruddock |
Minister of State for Pensions | |
In office 27 June 2007 – 5 October 2008 |
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Prime Minister | Gordon Brown |
Preceded by | James Purnell |
Succeeded by | Rosie Winterton |
Solicitor General for England and Wales | |
In office 11 May 2005 – 27 June 2007 |
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Prime Minister | Tony Blair |
Preceded by | Harriet Harman |
Succeeded by | Vera Baird |
Minister of State for Trade and Industry | |
In office 10 September 2004 – 11 May 2005 |
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Prime Minister | Tony Blair |
Preceded by | Nigel Griffiths |
Succeeded by | Ian McCartney |
Minister of State for Trade | |
In office 13 June 2003 – 10 September 2004 |
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Prime Minister | Tony Blair |
Preceded by | Elizabeth Symons |
Succeeded by | Douglas Alexander |
Minister of State for Foreign Affairs | |
In office 29 May 2002 – 13 June 2003 |
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Prime Minister | Tony Blair |
Preceded by | Ben Bradshaw |
Succeeded by | Chris Mullin |
Minister of State for Immigration | |
In office 2 May 1997 – 8 June 2001 |
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Prime Minister | Tony Blair |
Preceded by | Emily Blatch |
Succeeded by | Barbara Roche |
Member of Parliament for North Warwickshire |
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In office 9 April 1992 – 12 April 2010 |
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Preceded by | Francis Maude |
Succeeded by | Daniel Byles |
Majority | 7,553 (16.1%) |
Personal details | |
Born | Worcester, England |
19 June 1954
Nationality | British |
Political party | Labour |
Spouse(s) | Alison Joy Munro |
Alma mater | North Staffordshire Polytechnic |
Religion | Roman Catholic |
Website | Official site |
Michael O'Brien QC (born 19 June 1954) is a British lawyer and former Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for North Warwickshire from 1992 to 2010.[1] In the May 2010 general election, he lost his North Warwickshire constituency to Dan Byles, the Conservative Party candidate by 54 votes. O'Brien was re-selected as Labour's candidate in North Warwickshire for the 2015 general election in June 2013,[2] but was defeated again by the new Conservative Party candidate Craig Tracey.
Contents
- 1 Early life
- 2 Parliamentary career
- 2.1 Minister of State for Immigration
- 2.2 Minister for Constitutional Affairs
- 2.3 Minister for the Middle East
- 2.4 Minister of State for Trade and Industry
- 2.5 Minister of State for E-commerce, Energy & Competitiveness
- 2.6 Solicitor General for England and Wales
- 2.7 Minister of State for Energy
- 2.8 Minister of State for Health
- 3 References
- 4 External links
Early life
O'Brien attended a Roman Catholic primary school, St George's[where?] and later attended Blessed Edward Oldcorne School (Worcester). He studied for a BA in History and Politics at North Staffordshire Polytechnic, then gained a PGCE. From 1977-80, he was a trainee solicitor, then trained as a teacher from 1980-1. He lectured in Business Law at Colchester College of Further and Higher Education from 1981-87. From 1987-92, he practised as a solicitor specialising in criminal law including handling cases of murder and City fraud and acted for a major defendant in the Knightsbridge Security Deposit robbery.[3] He became a Queen's Counsel in 2007.[4]
Parliamentary career
O'Brien contested Ruislip Northwood in 1983, and North Warwickshire in 1987. He was elected as the Member of Parliament for the West Midlands constituency of North Warwickshire at the 1992 general election, defeating the Conservative incumbent Francis Maude, and lost his seat to the Conservative candidate at the 2010 general election. He served on the Home Affairs Select Committee from November 1992 to May 1993 focusing on reports on Youth Justice and the defence of provocation in murder cases involving a spouse. In May 1993 he became the first Labour Parliamentary Adviser to the Police Federation in 20 years and subsequently transferred to the Treasury Select Committee where he worked on a report into the collapse of Barings Bank and other reports on City Fraud and Independence of the Bank of England.[citation needed]
Minister of State for Immigration
He served as Minister of State for Immigration in the Home Office from 1997–2001.[1] During his time as Minister of State for Immigration net migration to the UK rose significantly. In 1997, annual net immigration stood at 56,000 but by 2001 net immigration had risen to 191,500.[5] In March 1998, it was announced that UK immigration officers were instructed to stop checking the passports of passengers embarking at British ports and airports. Mike O'Brien described the procedure of checking passports as "routine and unproductive" but the Immigration Service Union criticised the move, saying the changes made it harder to ensure that illegal immigrants ordered out of the country actually left.[6] In May 1998 Mike O'Brien announced that inhabitants of the island of Montserrat, which had been hit by volcanic eruptions, were able to stay in Britain indefinitely.[7] O'Brien's time as Minister of State for Immigration was marred in the late 1990s by administrative problems including delays in officials giving clearance to NHS doctors[8] and backlogs in processing applications for passports. The delays in issuing passports made national headlines[9] and resulted in the UK Passport Agency being stripped of its Charter Mark for customer service.[10] Mike O'Brien also developed procedures to deal with suspected terrorists at the Special Immigration Appeals Commission.[citation needed] He also took through major reforms in the Immigration and Asylum Act, including introducing fines for hauliers found to have illegal migrants in their lorry, whether or not the haulier knew of their presence.[citation needed]
Hinduja affair
Whilst serving as Minister of State for Immigration, O'Brien had to deal with the 2001 Hinduja affair. His testimony that Peter Mandelson had telephoned him on behalf of S P Hinduja, who was at the time seeking British citizenship, led to Mandelson's resignation.[11] An independent enquiry by Sir Anthony Hammond came to the conclusion that neither Mandelson nor anyone else had acted improperly.
Minister for Constitutional Affairs
From May 1999 he became the Minister for Constitutional Affairs, taking through the Commons the Freedom of Information Act, the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000, two Representation of the People Acts and introducing a White Paper on Alcohol Licensing Reform. As Minister responsible for Race Relations he developed the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 which placed obligations on all public bodies to promote good race relations. He also worked to develop closer links between the Government and the Muslim community, something he continued to work on over the next decade, particularly after 9/11.[citation needed]
Minister for the Middle East
At the Foreign Office from 2002 to 2003 he was Minister for the Middle East. He went to Libya to hold the first meeting of a British Minister with Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi which opened the way to better relations between Gadaffi's Libya and the West and helped lead to cooperation on ending controversial Libyan weapons research programmes.[citation needed] He was the first Western Minister into Baghdad after the Iraq War and worked on relationships with Iran, Syria and Afghanistan during this period.[citation needed]
Minister of State for Trade and Industry
He was then appointed Minister of State for Trade and Industry, dealing with talks with the WTO as part of the Doha Round and helping to write the 2004 Trade White Paper.
Minister of State for E-commerce, Energy & Competitiveness
Following a reshuffle, he become Minister of State for E-commerce, Energy & Competitiveness at the Department of Trade and Industry on 9 September 2004.
Solicitor General for England and Wales
After the 2005 general election he replaced Harriet Harman as Solicitor General for England and Wales.
On 29 June 2007 he was appointed as Minister of State for Pension Reform in the Department for Work and Pensions under Secretary of State Peter Hain. Referring to the long running Pensions Action Group campaign and speaking on the BBC Radio 4 Moneybox programme on the day compensation was announced, pensions expert Ros Altmann, credited Peter Hain and O'Brien with "having been very different to deal with than their predecessors and ... willing and eager to engage and find a way to sort this out."[12] The Pensions Act 2008 completed its major stages whilst O' Brien was minister and received Royal Assent in November 2008.[13]
Minister of State for Energy
On 5 October 2008, he became Minister of State for Energy in order to help create the new Department of Energy and Climate Change. He took through Parliament two Energy Acts making reforms to take account of the Climate Change debate and to enable the building of new nuclear power stations.[citation needed]
Minister of State for Health
In June 2009 he became the Minister of State for Health. As well as taking through administrative reforms of the NHS in two Acts of Parliament, he negotiated a settlement of compensation for the victims of Thalidomide and introduced priority NHS treatment of former service personnel injured in the line of duty.[citation needed]
References
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External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mike O'Brien (UK politician). |
- Official site
- Twitter stream
- Department for Work and Pensions - Official Biography
- Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Michael O'Brien MP
- TheyWorkForYou.com - Mike O'Brien MP
- BBC Politics page
- Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Mike O'Brien
News items
- Pension reform in July 2007
- Wave Hub plan in Cornwall in November 2004
- UK embracing E-commerce in November 2004
- Meeting Colonel Gaddafi in August 2002
- 24 hour drinking in May 2001
- Accusing Home Office of racism in April 2000
- Accusing the Fire Service of racism in September 1999
Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
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Preceded by | Member of Parliament for North Warwickshire 1992–2010 |
Succeeded by Dan Byles |
Legal offices | ||
Preceded by | Solicitor General for England and Wales 2005–2007 |
Succeeded by Vera Baird |
Government offices | ||
Preceded by | Minister of State for Immigration 1997–2001 |
Succeeded by Barbara Roche |
Preceded by | Minister of State for Trade and Industry 2001–2005 |
Succeeded by Ian McCartney |
Preceded by | Minister of State for Pensions 2007–2008 |
Succeeded by Rosie Winterton |
Preceded by | Minister of State for Energy 2008–2009 |
Succeeded by Joan Ruddock |
Preceded by | Minister for Health Services 2009–2010 |
Succeeded by Simon Burns |
- Pages with broken file links
- Vague or ambiguous geographic scope from April 2013
- Articles with unsourced statements from April 2013
- Articles with unsourced statements from March 2014
- Commons category link is locally defined
- Use dmy dates from September 2010
- 1954 births
- Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
- Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies
- Labour Party (UK) MPs
- UK MPs 1992–97
- UK MPs 1997–2001
- UK MPs 2001–05
- UK MPs 2005–10
- Solicitors General for England and Wales
- Alumni of Staffordshire University
- English people of Irish descent
- English Roman Catholics
- Living people