Gordon Oakes

Oakes was born in Widnes, Cheshire, and was educated at Wade Deacon Grammar School, in Widnes and at Liverpool University.[1] A solicitor by profession, he became a councillor on Widnes Borough Council in 1952, serving as Mayor in 1964.[1]

Oakes unsuccessfully contested Bebington in 1959 and Manchester Moss Side at a 1961 by-election.

He served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Bolton West from 1964 to 1970, when he was beaten by the Conservative Robert Redmond by 1,244 votes. He was re-elected for Widnes from a 1971 by-election until 1983, and for Halton from 1983 until 1997.

Oakes served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Home Secretary from 1966, and in the government of Harold Wilson as a junior minister and as a Minister of State under James Callaghan. He was made a member of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom in 1979. He left the Opposition front bench in 1983.

He was one of the MPs approached in the 1994 Cash-for-Questions affair, to which he responded "That is not how we do things here".

Oakes was married to the former Esther O'Neill from 1952 until her death in 1998; they had three sons.[1] He died on 15 August 2005, at the age of 74.[1]

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Gordon Oakes
• Obituary in The Guardian