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Michael John Gapes (born 4 September 1952) is a British former politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Ilford South from 1992 to 2019.

Key Information

Born in Wanstead Hospital, Gapes attended Buckhurst Hill County High School. He studied economics at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, where he was Secretary of the Cambridge University Students' Union, and later studied industrial relations at Middlesex Polytechnic. He then served as chair of the National Organisation of Labour Students.

Following an unsuccessful 1983 bid for Parliament, Gapes was elected as a Labour and Co-operative MP in 1992. He served as chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee from 2005 to 2010. In February 2019, Gapes left Labour in protest at Jeremy Corbyn's leadership to form The Independent Group, later Change UK, along with six other Labour MPs. In the December 2019 election, Gapes was defeated by Labour's Sam Tarry. He rejoined the Labour Party in March 2023.[1]

Early life and career

[edit]

Michael John Gapes was born on 4 September 1952, the son of Frank William Gapes, a postman, and Emily Florence Gapes, née Jackson.[2][3] He was educated at Staples Road Infants' School in Loughton before attending Manford County Primary School and Buckhurst Hill County High School in Chigwell.[2] He worked as a Voluntary Service Overseas teacher in Swaziland in a gap year before attending university in 1972.[4]

Gapes studied economics at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, where he was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1975, which was upgraded by convention to a Master of Arts degree in 1979.[5][6] He served as Secretary of the Cambridge Students Union in 1973. He completed his education at Middlesex Polytechnic in Enfield where he earned a diploma in industrial relations in 1976, after which he served as chair of the National Organisation of Labour Students before serving for three years as the student organiser for the Labour Party.[7]

Political career

[edit]

Labour Party

[edit]

Gapes was a founder, member, and convenor of the Clause Four Group in 1974, and the sixth Chair of the National Organisation of Labour Students from 1976 to 1977, taking over following the defeat of the entryist Trotskyist Militant tendency. In 1977, he was appointed as the first National Student Organiser of the Labour Party.

Gapes worked at Labour Party Headquarters for 15 years from 1977 until 1992, including serving from 1988 to 1992 as International Secretary of the party.[8][9] In 1981, he was a member of the anti-nuclear Labour Party Defence Study Group.[10] He told The Guardian that working with Neil Kinnock "to bring the Labour Party back from the abyss of 1983" was most influential in his political thinking.[11]

In his role as international secretary, in 1990 he (along with other MEPs associated with the Fabian Society) urged Kinnock and the Labour Party to be more pro-European, including full economic and monetary union, a common industrial policy, replacing the Common Agricultural Policy with a "good food policy" promoting healthier diets with fewer additives, pesticides, and diversified crops, as well as a European Security Organisation based on NATO and Warsaw Pact co-operation.[12]

Gapes unsuccessfully contested Ilford North at the 1983 general election.[13] He unsuccessfully stood for election to Wandsworth Borough Council in the 1986 election for West Hill ward in Putney, losing by only 50 votes.[14]

Member of Parliament for Ilford South

[edit]
MPs Richard Ottaway, Bob Ainsworth and Mike Gapes (left to right) at a Foreign Affairs Select Committee briefing

He was elected to the House of Commons in the 1992 general election for Ilford South when he defeated the sitting Conservative MP Neil Thorne by just 402 votes. He made his maiden speech on 8 May 1992.[15]

In Parliament he joined the Foreign Affairs Select Committee in 1992 and, after the 1997 general election, he was appointed as the Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to the Minister of State at the Northern Ireland Office Paul Murphy; he also worked for the other Minister of State Adam Ingram until 1999 when he joined the Defence Select Committee. Following the 2001 general election, he was again appointed a PPS to the Minister of State at the Home Office Jeff Rooker for a year. He rejoined the Defence Select Committee in 2003. Following the 2005 general election he served as the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee until 2010.[5][16]

Gapes was an officer of many All-party Parliamentary Groups (APPG), including Chair of the All-Party Crossrail Group,[17] Chair of the All-Party Global Security and non Proliferation Group[18] and Chair of the All-Party United Nations Group.[19] He was part of the Northern Ireland team which negotiated the Good Friday Agreement in Belfast in 1998.

During the 2001 and 2005 general election campaigns, he was the target of Muslim groups, including (according to the Ilford Recorder) the Association of Ilford Muslims,[20] and Islamic Society of Britain (Ilford Branch),[20] as well as (according to The Jewish Chronicle) the Muslim Public Affairs Committee UK,[21] who he says sought to unseat him because of his pro-Israel views.[20] Gapes is a member of Labour Friends of Israel (LFI).[22]

In 2007, the Foreign Affairs Select Committee reported that it was "unlikely" any abuse was continuing at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp since 2004, calling the facilities "broadly comparable" to HM Prison Belmarsh. Gapes said: "I thought that we would see detainees in orange overalls kept in cages, but they are now in modern blocks. The images from 2002 were of Camp X-Ray and that is now shut",[23] adding that an immediate shutdown of Guantanamo Bay would lead to a release of individuals back into society who were "dangerous".[24] Andrew Tyrie, chair of the all-party group on extraordinary rendition said the report was a "deep disappointment" and did not acknowledge the moral responsibility to British residents in Guantanamo; Clive Stafford Smith, who represented prisoners at the base, said the report was "full of factual errors" and based on a "show tour"[24] and Kate Allen, director of Amnesty International, called the report "a missed opportunity".[23]

Also in 2007, Gapes was criticised for claiming £22,110 for a second home despite his constituency being only 39 minutes away from Westminster. Gapes responded to the criticism saying "It's perfectly allowed".[25] In 2008, as chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Gapes met with the Dalai Lama and asked his opinion on human rights in Tibet.[26] As head of the committee, he was heavily critical of the nuclear program of Iran, arguing that there was a "strong possibility" Iran would develop a nuclear bomb by 2015.[27] Gapes was Chair of the committee until 2010[16] and continued to be a member of the committee until 2019.[28]

Change UK

[edit]

In the summer of 2018, The Independent noted that there was speculation that Gapes might resign over allegations of antisemitism in the party,[29] which he eventually did in 2019.[30] On 18 February 2019, Gapes and six other MPs—Chuka Umunna, Chris Leslie, Angela Smith, Luciana Berger, Gavin Shuker, and Ann Coffey—quit Labour in protest at Jeremy Corbyn's leadership to form Change UK. It cited disagreements over the handling of Brexit and mishandling of anti-Semitism within the Labour Party as key reasons for leaving.[31] For Gapes, foreign policy differences were the major factor, accusing Corbyn in his resignation letter of taking the "wrong side on so many international issues from Russia, to Syria, to Venezuela."[13]

Gapes and his new party came under fire after he described those who criticised them as Islamophobic based on those selected to fight for the party in the European Elections 2019, including the Muslim Council of Britain and anti-racism charity Tell MAMA, as "far left trot trolls" and "cultists."[32] In September 2019, Gapes was ridiculed and accused of 'mansplaining' after he incorrectly corrected the grammar of a tweet by Diane Abbott while making a grammar mistake of his own.[33]

During the 2019 general election campaign, Gapes contacted the Metropolitan Police and electoral authorities after he was targeted by a Twitter troll known as 'Mr Richard Miller', who posed as Gapes' campaign manager and said he was fired for losing Mike Gapes' shoes.[34] Gapes was also threatened with a cease and desist letter from lawyers representing Labour after his campaign leaflets featured the party's red and yellow colours and a slogan reading: "Real Labour Values, Independent Mind".[35] On election night, he lost his seat to Labour's Sam Tarry, ending his 27-year career in the UK Parliament.[36]

After parliament

[edit]

Gapes rejoined the Labour Party on 7 March 2023. Keir Starmer welcomed his return, stating that it was "a tribute to the hard work already done to change our party."[37] His re-entry came after Luciana Berger rejoined the party in February 2023.

Political views

[edit]

Gapes has defended the legacies of the former British prime minister Tony Blair and the former American president Bill Clinton. He is a supporter of humanitarian intervention and voted for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 and opposed the Chilcot Inquiry into the causes of the Iraq War.[38] In August 2014 he called for a recall of Parliament to authorise military support for Iraq[39] and intended to vote for Britain becoming involved with the bombing of IS in Syria on 2 December 2015, but was in hospital after suffering chest pains at the time of the vote.[40][41]

In 2018 Gapes supported a call by the Foreign Affairs Select Committee for an independent inquiry into "the consequences of non-intervention" by Britain in the Syrian civil war.[42] Gapes later criticised Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn for apologising for the Iraq War,[43] and argued that the Middle East is better off following the British and American interventions.[44][13] However, the Foreign Affairs Committee under his chairmanship argued for a re-evaluation of the "special relationship" between Britain and America and criticised Blair's closeness to the American president George W. Bush after the September 11 attacks as damaging to British interests.[45]

Gapes is staunchly pro-European, once declaring that he would prefer closer ties with the European Union, rather than Britain becoming an amusement park for American and Japanese tourists. He introduced 36 amendments to the EU Referendum Bill of 2013.[46] The bill's proposer, James Wharton, alleged that the amendments were an attempt to filibuster.[47] In December 2017, Gapes delivered a speech to the House of Commons in which he warned that Brexit would put the production of Baileys Irish Cream, the milky whiskey liqueur, in jeopardy.[48] The speech, in which he explained how Baileys is produced, was described by Patrick Maguire in the New Statesman as "infinitely memeable" and as giving Gapes "a bizarre online infamy".[13]

During the Labour Party leadership elections in 2010, 2015 and 2016, he supported David Miliband, Liz Kendall and Owen Smith, respectively.

Gapes is a long-time critic of former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, and has called him "the racist antisemite".[49] He also criticised Corbyn's supporters, including the prominent group Momentum.[50][51] Gapes opposed Corbyn's political views on issues such as foreign policy[52] and Brexit. In December 2015, he criticised the Labour Party on Twitter for a U-turn on whether to run a budget surplus in 'normal' economic conditions.[51] This led to him being trolled by supporters of Corbyn online – many of whom told him to leave the party.[51] He also called for the resignation of Corbyn's director of communications, Seumas Milne, following comments Milne made doubting Russian state involvement in the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal.[53]

Personal life

[edit]

Gapes married Frances Smith in 1992[7] and they divorced in 2004. Their daughter Rebecca Gapes died of sudden arrhythmic death syndrome in 2012, at the age of 19.[54] He has two adult stepdaughters. He is a keen supporter of West Ham United.[55]

Publications

[edit]
  • Clarke, Charles, David Griffiths, and Mike Gapes (1982). Labour and Mass Politics: Rethinking our Strategy. Labour Co-ordinating Committee.
  • Gapes, Mike (1988). "Labour's Defence and Security Policy." Rethinking the Nuclear Weapons Dilemma in Europe. Palgrave Macmillan, London. pp.341–355. ISBN 978-1-349-09181-2
  • Gapes, Mike (1988). "The Evolution of Labour's Defence and Security Policy" in Burt, Gordon. Alternative Defence Policy, Routledge, pp. 82–105.
  • Gapes, Mike (1990). After the Cold War. Fabian Society. ISBN 978-0-7163-0540-8.
  • McNab, Peter (ed.) (2021). Change – The Independent Group, Grosvenor House Publishin.ISBN 978-1-83975-465-4

References

[edit]
[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

Mike Gapes

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Michael John Gapes (born 4 September 1952) is a British former politician who served as Member of Parliament for Ilford South from 1992 to 2019. Elected initially as a Labour and Co-operative representative, he focused on foreign affairs throughout his parliamentary career, chairing the Foreign Affairs Select Committee from 2005 to 2010 and remaining a member until 2019. Gapes was a long-serving staffer at Labour headquarters before entering Parliament and advocated for strong transatlantic alliances, NATO expansion, and robust responses to international security threats. In February 2019, he resigned the Labour whip, declaring the party under Jeremy Corbyn "sickeningly" perceived as racist and anti-Semitic, and co-founded the centrist Independent Group for Change; he subsequently lost his seat in the December 2019 general election. Gapes rejoined the Labour Party in 2023 following the replacement of Corbyn as leader.

Early life and pre-parliamentary career

Childhood and education

Michael John Gapes was born on 4 September 1952 at Hospital in the London Borough of Redbridge, to Frank William Gapes, a postman, and his wife, a shop sales assistant. He grew up in a working-class family in Hainault, , an area characterized by modest post-war suburban development. Gapes attended Staples Road Infants' School in for his early education. He progressed to Manford County before completing at Buckhurst Hill County High School in . In 1976, Gapes earned a in from Middlesex Polytechnic in Enfield, marking the extent of his formal higher education.

Labour Party involvement

Gapes joined the Labour Party in 1968 at the age of 16 while attending school. He rapidly engaged in the party's youth and student wings, becoming active in student politics and opposing far-left influences within them. From 1977 to 1992, Gapes was employed at Labour Party headquarters for 15 years, starting as the party's first National Student Organiser. He subsequently worked as a Policy Research Officer before serving as International Secretary from 1988 to 1992, a role focused on research and coordination with international socialist groups during of the . In this capacity, he contributed to the party's international department efforts under leaders like , building foundational knowledge in global relations, including alignments and opposition to Soviet influence.

Parliamentary career

Election as MP for Ilford South

Gapes was first elected to Parliament as the Labour (MP) for Ilford South on 9 April 1992, defeating the incumbent Conservative MP Neil Thorne by a narrow of 402 votes in a constituency previously held by the Conservatives since 1974. The 1992 general election saw Labour gain several marginal seats amid economic concerns, with Gapes securing 16,589 votes to Thorne's 16,187. He successfully defended the seat in every subsequent general election, including those on 1 May (majority 7,039 votes), 7 June 2001 (majority 6,000 votes), 5 May 2005 (majority 4,319 votes), 6 May 2010 (majority 2,365 votes), 7 May 2015 (majority 11,877 votes), and 8 June (majority 9,639 votes), reflecting fluctuations tied to national Labour performance and local turnout variations. Vote shares for Labour in Ilford South ranged from approximately 45% in 1992 to peaks above 60% in and , before dipping amid broader party challenges. Ilford South encompasses diverse wards in the London Borough of Redbridge, characterized by significant Jewish (around 6-8% of the population) and Muslim (over 30%) communities according to 2011 Census data aggregated for the area, alongside pressures from shortages and inter-community tensions. As MP, Gapes maintained consistent representation of Labour interests in the constituency until his departure from the party in , focusing on local advocacy without notable challenges to his selection.

Key roles and contributions

Mike Gapes served as Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to the from 1997 to 1999 and to the from 1999 to 2001 during the government. In these roles, he supported ministerial duties in areas including security and implementation. From 2005 to 2010, Gapes chaired the , overseeing scrutiny of the government's . Under his leadership, the committee conducted inquiries into post-conflict operations in , assessing reconstruction efforts and sources of ongoing violence. It also produced reports on diplomacy, including foreign policy aspects of the war against , evaluating military force in protecting and countering . Gapes contributed to parliamentary oversight on defense matters through participation in Defence Committee sessions, questioning officials on military roles in regions like and . His work extended to abroad and counter-terrorism, with committee reports addressing radicalisation processes and engagement strategies drawing from Northern Ireland experiences. These efforts emphasized legislative review and policy recommendations without direct involvement in ideological advocacy.

Positions on major policies

Gapes aligned with New Labour's domestic policy agenda during Tony Blair's and Gordon Brown's premierships, supporting reforms aimed at modernizing public services while increasing overall spending. He voted in favor of the Health and Social Care Act 2003, which established NHS foundation trusts to enhance efficiency and local accountability in healthcare delivery by allowing successful hospitals greater financial and operational independence from central government control. In , Gapes backed the Higher Education Act 2004, endorsing the introduction of variable tuition fees up to £3,000 annually to address underfunding in universities and expand access through repayable loans, a measure that passed despite significant Labour backbench opposition on January 27, 2004. This stance reflected his acceptance of market-oriented incentives within public sector funding to sustain long-term investment. On welfare, Gapes supported early initiatives like the Welfare Reform and Pensions Act 1999, which incorporated welfare-to-work elements such as enhanced jobseeker's allowances and pension reforms to promote employment over dependency. Later, during coalition and Conservative governments, he consistently opposed reductions in welfare benefits spending, recording 22 votes against cuts between 2010 and 2016, prioritizing maintenance of social safety nets amid fiscal . Gapes also endorsed public-private partnerships for infrastructure, including the use of (PFI) models to fund public projects without immediate full taxpayer burden, as evidenced by his participation in debates supporting PPP expansions for transport and health services in the early 2000s.)

Departure from Labour Party

Criticisms of Jeremy Corbyn's leadership

Mike Gapes emerged as an early critic of following his election as Labour leader on , 2015, questioning the viability of Corbyn's and direction. In 2015, Gapes publicly urged Corbyn to collaborate more closely with backbench MPs chairing committees, many of whom had not supported Corbyn's bid, arguing that the party lacked "credible " capable of unifying its ranks. He expressed concerns over Corbyn's economic ambiguity, which he saw as prioritizing ideological commitments over pragmatic positioning needed for electoral success, and warned that such an approach risked alienating moderate voters essential to Labour's broad appeal. Gapes repeatedly highlighted Corbyn's perceived pacifist as a deviation from Labour's historical interventionist tradition, particularly in response to threats like . On September 28, 2015, in a piece, he asserted that "Labour has never been a pacifist party—we shouldn't start now," endorsing Shadow Foreign Secretary Hilary Benn's advocacy for military action against and criticizing Corbyn's reluctance to commit to robust defense postures. Gapes argued this stance undermined credibility and reflected a broader tolerance for intra-party , including associations with groups hostile to mainstream Labour values, which he believed eroded the party's electability by signaling weakness on core issues like defense and international alliances. By 2018, Gapes intensified his focus on the surge in antisemitic incidents within Labour under Corbyn, linking it to leadership failures in addressing extremism. He cited the party's handling of member suspensions for antisemitic behavior and its initial resistance to fully adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism without amendments, which he viewed as equivocating on clear standards. On August 25, 2018, Gapes stated he was "agonising every day" over staying in a party perceived as tolerant of such issues, pointing to empirical rises in complaints—over 1,000 antisemitism cases investigated by Labour since 2015—and Corbyn's own past remarks, such as those on Zionists in 2014, as exacerbating the problem. Gapes contended that this tolerance prioritized ideological purity over the first-principles of combating prejudice, further damaging Labour's reputation and electability among Jewish communities and broader voters.

Formation of the Independent Group and Change UK

On 18 February 2019, Mike Gapes resigned the Labour Party whip alongside six other Labour MPs—Luciana Berger, Ann Coffey, Chuka Umunna, Chris Leslie, Gavin Shuker, and Angela Smith—to form The Independent Group, a parliamentary grouping of independent MPs. The group announced its formation via a joint statement and a press conference in central London, where Gapes addressed attendees as one of the founding members. This initial cohort positioned the group as a platform for MPs disillusioned with major-party dynamics, focusing on collaborative parliamentary activities without immediate plans for party registration. The Independent Group quickly expanded in its early days, with Labour MP Joan Ryan joining on 19 February 2019, bringing the Labour defectors to eight. Gapes contributed to the group's media outreach, including appearances and statements highlighting the need for cross-party cooperation on issues like Brexit implementation. Over the following weeks, three Conservative MPs—Heidi Allen (20 February), Sarah Wollaston (1 March), and Anna Soubry (3 April)—also resigned their whips to join, swelling the group to 11 MPs by early April and enabling joint voting blocs in the on select matters. In late March 2019, The Independent Group applied to the Electoral Commission to register as an official , marking a shift from a loose parliamentary alliance to a structured entity capable of fielding candidates. This culminated in the group's rebranding and registration as – The Independent Group, allowing it to contest upcoming elections while retaining Gapes and the other MPs as its initial parliamentary representatives. The transition involved internal discussions on organizational structure, with Gapes later noting challenges in rapid party setup, including initial registration hurdles under the original name. By mid-2019, amid a legal dispute with the petition site over the name, the party adjusted to The Independent Group for Change in June.

Post-parliamentary period

2019 general election and loss of seat

In the December 2019 general election, held on 12 December, Mike Gapes contested the Ilford South seat as the candidate for The Independent Group for Change (Change UK), the party he had joined earlier that year following his departure from Labour. His campaign emphasized continuity with his prior record as a centrist Labour MP, highlighting "real Labour values" amid national polarization over Brexit and party leadership, but faced challenges from fragmented opposition and entrenched local loyalties. Gapes secured 3,891 votes, representing 7.3% of the total vote share—a new entry with no prior baseline for comparison. The seat reverted to Labour under newcomer , who won with 35,085 votes (65.6% share), defeating the Conservative candidate Ali Azeem's 10,984 votes (20.5%) by a majority of 24,101. This outcome reflected the first-past-the-post system's bias toward established parties in safe seats like Ilford South, a Labour stronghold since , where Gapes' independent bid split potential anti-Labour votes without displacing core voter allegiance. The defeat concluded Gapes' 27-year parliamentary career, spanning seven terms from his 1992 victory onward, and underscored the electoral vulnerabilities of centrist splinter groups in a polarized landscape dominated by Labour and Conservative consolidation.

Rejoining the Labour Party

On 7 March 2023, Mike Gapes announced his decision to rejoin the Labour Party, four years after his departure amid concerns over and leadership under . In an op-ed published in , Gapes described the move as a response to the party's transformation under , stating he was "more enthusiastic about the party's future than I have been in years" due to its renewed focus on competence, patriotism, and addressing past failings. He specifically credited Starmer with restoring Labour as "a patriotic, serious party of mainstream Britain," aligning with the Equality and Human Rights Commission's 2020 findings that had vindicated earlier criticisms of institutional under Corbyn by deeming the party's handling unlawful in several respects. Gapes framed his return as pragmatic rather than an unqualified endorsement, emphasizing that rejoining did not imply agreement with every policy but reflected confidence in the leadership's direction away from the divisiveness of the Corbyn era. Labour leader welcomed the decision, describing it as evidence of the party's reforms, including efforts to "root out " and prioritize electability, and noted Gapes' experience as valuable to ongoing change. Despite the reinstatement, Gapes has not sought re-election or parliamentary roles, instead positioning himself as an advisory figure offering external commentary on and while supporting Starmer's agenda from outside formal office. This approach allows continued independence in critiquing unresolved issues, such as lingering factionalism, without internal constraints.

Political positions

Foreign policy and international affairs

Gapes has maintained a consistently interventionist and Atlanticist stance in , prioritizing military deterrence against authoritarian regimes to avert larger-scale threats, as evidenced by his support for targeted actions grounded in humanitarian imperatives and alliance commitments. He voted for the British military intervention in on March 18, 2003, authorizing the use of force to disarm weapons of mass destruction and remove , a position he reaffirmed after the 2016 Chilcot Inquiry by stating he would not apologize, citing the regime's denial of and history of . Similarly, Gapes endorsed the 2011 intervention in under UN Security Council Resolution 1973, congratulating Prime Minister on March 18, 2011, for securing international authorization to enforce a and protect civilians from Gaddafi's forces, arguing it prevented mass atrocities in . In the Syrian conflict, Gapes advocated for military measures to counter Assad's regime and Russian involvement, contending in August 2013 that the international community's inaction had enabled escalation and that intervention was necessary despite risks, as non-engagement had already failed. He supported airstrikes in April 2018 following chemical weapons use, emphasizing deterrence against further atrocities and drawing on precedents like Labour's prior actions in and without UN approval when humanitarian crises demanded response. On , Gapes pushed for robust sanctions after the 2014 annexation of and the downing of , urging in July 2014 to impose targeted measures on separatists and to deter and support Ukraine's sovereignty, warning that weakness invited further aggression akin to historical precedents. As Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee from 2005 to 2010, and later as a member, Gapes championed deepened engagement, underscoring in 2015 that the alliance required credible commitments to Article 5 collective defense to counter threats like Russian incursions into , rejecting pacifist retreats that could undermine deterrence. He critiqued the Corbyn-era Labour leadership's hesitancy on defense, particularly its opposition to 2015 Syrian airstrikes against , labeling it "deplorable" and arguing it echoed appeasement's empirical pitfalls—such as pre-World War II failures—by forgoing proportionate force that could prevent unchecked dictatorships and proliferation of extremism. This outlook framed inaction as causally enabling greater harms, prioritizing empirical lessons from past conflicts over .

Views on antisemitism and Israel

Gapes, a non-Jewish politician, has long advocated for the Jewish community and , with his consistent defense leading some observers to mistakenly assume he was Jewish. As a supporter of , he joined a parliamentary delegation to and the Palestinian territories in January 2017, engaging with officials in , , and to discuss bilateral relations and security concerns. Amid escalating complaints within the Labour Party—reaching over 1,000 formal cases by mid-2019—Gapes warned in August 2018 that he would resign if the party's National Executive Committee failed to endorse the full (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism, including its examples distinguishing legitimate Israel criticism from prejudicial tropes targeting collectively. He argued that partial adoption or alternative guidelines risked legitimizing forms of left-wing that blurred into ethnic prejudice, prioritizing verifiable patterns of discrimination over partisan solidarity. Gapes resigned from Labour on February 18, 2019, alongside six other MPs, explicitly citing the leadership's inadequate response to as a key factor, alongside Brexit policy failures. In October 2020, following the (EHRC) report documenting Labour's unlawful acts of political interference, , and against Jewish members under Corbyn's tenure—including the dismissal or delay of 23 of 70 reviewed complaints—Gapes condemned Corbyn's public statement on the findings as erroneous and evasive, underscoring how it undermined evidence of . This stance aligned with Gapes' broader emphasis on empirical data, such as the UK's record 1,652 incidents in 2018 (a 4% rise year-on-year, per figures), over narratives excusing intra-party prejudice as mere policy disagreement.

Stance on Brexit and party reform

Gapes opposed a hard , emphasizing the substantial economic risks of leaving the without orderly arrangements, including potential disruptions to trade and supply chains. In January 2019, he tabled a parliamentary seeking a second to enable the public a final say on any negotiated withdrawal agreement, reflecting his view that the original 2016 vote did not anticipate the specific terms on offer. He lambasted Jeremy Corbyn's policy for its deliberate ambiguity, which avoided endorsing a confirmatory vote despite backing among Labour members, voters, and MPs, interpreting this equivocation as a profound shortfall that prioritized ideological maneuvering over pragmatic resolution. On Labour Party reform, Gapes campaigned for internal democratization to counter the hard-left influx under Corbyn, decrying groups like as entryist mechanisms that infiltrated the party to advance activist-driven agendas at the expense of empirical policy-making and traditional social democratic principles. He urged the expulsion of such elements, warning that their influence risked deselecting moderate MPs and twisting the party into a vehicle for far-left rather than broad-based focused on verifiable economic and priorities. Following his return to Labour in March 2023, Gapes affirmed Keir Starmer's centrist reorientation as an effective remedy to Corbynism's internal fractures, which had fostered perceptions of and eroded the party's electability through unchecked divisiveness. He credited Starmer with reinstating fiscal discipline, pro-business realism, and a commitment to and international alliances, positioning Labour once more as a credible mainstream alternative grounded in practical rather than protest-oriented politics. This shift, in Gapes' assessment, addressed the causal damage of prior leadership by prioritizing evidence over factional activism.

Controversies and criticisms

Internal Labour Party conflicts

Gapes emerged as a prominent critic of Jeremy Corbyn's leadership following Corbyn's election in September 2015, participating in internal efforts to challenge the direction of the party. In the 2016 Labour leadership contest triggered by mass resignations from Corbyn's shadow cabinet, Gapes nominated Owen Smith as a candidate, emphasizing the need for a leader focused on electoral viability and unity rather than internal ideological battles. This stance positioned him among the roughly 40 MPs who declined to support Corbyn, highlighting concerns over competence in addressing national security and foreign policy amid rising party divisions. Throughout the Corbyn era, Gapes faced sustained from Corbyn-supporting activists and members, including online abuse after public criticisms of the leadership. Party activists in his Ilford South constituency labeled him a "warmonger" in reference to his past support for the Iraq intervention, with one activist stating that "people in Ilford still haven't forgotten the ." Such rhetoric contributed to a broader culture of intimidation within local branches, where moderates like Gapes were accused of disloyalty, exacerbating tensions that Gapes linked to the deselection threats and eventual exodus of centrist figures from the party. These conflicts underscored a causal dynamic in Labour's internal strife: the leadership's reluctance to decisively condemn extreme elements within its membership base emboldened attacks on dissenters, eroding trust among veteran MPs and prompting warnings from Gapes about potential "meltdown" if ideological conformity trumped pragmatic . While Corbyn loyalists framed Gapes' positions as betrayal rooted in outdated , his defenders viewed them as a defense of the party's traditional emphasis on electability and institutional integrity against what they saw as normalized factionalism. Gapes consistently argued that prioritizing competence over popularity contests was essential to prevent the alienation of moderate voters and members, a perspective borne out by Labour's subsequent electoral setbacks.

Public reactions to defection

Jewish organizations, including the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Jewish Leadership Council, expressed solidarity with Gapes and other defecting Labour MPs following their resignation on February 18, 2019, commending their accusations of institutional under Jeremy Corbyn's leadership as a principled stand. Moderate commentators and former Labour figures praised the move as courageous, particularly in light of death threats and intimidation faced by Independent Group MPs, which deterred some from public campaigning. In contrast, left-wing Labour allies and outlets dismissed the defection as opportunistic and pro-establishment, with shadow chancellor John McDonnell's close associate labeling the group "stooges of the elite" and another Corbyn-supporting MP branding them "scabs" for undermining party unity amid divisions. Public sympathy for the Independent Group proved mixed and fleeting; a poll conducted February 20, 2019, found 14% of Britons willing to vote for it, primarily drawing from undecided Labour supporters, but broader polling reflected low sustained traction amid skepticism over its anti-, centrist platform. The first-past-the-post exacerbated structural barriers, as the group's diffuse appeal failed to consolidate votes; Gapes, standing as Independent Group for Change in Ilford South during the December 2019 general election, secured 3,891 votes (7.3% share), a sharp drop from his 1997-2017 Labour majorities exceeding 10,000, signaling local backlash in a constituency with strong Corbynist organizing. Subsequent developments lent retrospective weight to the defectors' concerns: the Equality and Human Rights Commission's October 29, 2020, report documented Labour's unlawful acts of and , including political interference in complaints processes under Corbyn, which analysts cited as empirical validation of the splits despite their immediate political cost.

Personal life and interests

Family and background

Michael John Gapes was born on 4 September 1952 at Hospital in the London Borough of Redbridge, . He is the son of Frank Gapes, a postman, and Emily Gapes, a shop assistant. Gapes grew up in the local community. Gapes has been married and has two daughters. One daughter, Rebecca Gapes, died suddenly in 2012 at the age of 19 from while living in . His family life has generally remained out of the public eye, with no reported scandals or health issues affecting his career.

Hobbies and affiliations

Gapes is a lifelong supporter of West Ham United, having held a since his early years and often raising the club in contributions. He maintains an interest in , attending fixtures at , such as the 2017 ICC final between and . Since losing his parliamentary seat in the , Gapes has retired from active and shifted focus to community involvement, notably as president of the Rotary Club of and Redbridge, where he contributes to local charitable initiatives following the club's 2024 merger. Gapes sustains a profile on X (@MikeGapesIlford) for personal updates and observations beyond politics.

Publications and writings

Key works and contributions

Gapes authored the pamphlet After the in 1990, which examined the shifting geopolitical landscape following the Soviet Union's collapse and advocated for a proactive emphasizing and security cooperation. As Chairman of the from 2005 to 2010, he led inquiries resulting in key reports, including the Fourth Report of Session 2006-07 on , which analyzed India's democratic and economic rise alongside regional threats from and , recommending strengthened -India ties. Other committee outputs under his tenure addressed global security challenges, such as the 2009-10 evidence sessions on and , scrutinizing counter-terrorism strategies and involvement. In August 2007, Gapes published an opinion piece in titled "Time to talk to ," contending that isolating the organization hindered Palestinian reconciliation and urging conditional diplomatic engagement to counter extremism and advance peace negotiations. After leaving in 2019, Gapes contributed to public discourse on Labour's direction, writing in on 7 March 2023 to announce his return to the party, praising Keir Starmer's efforts to eradicate and restore policy realism, while implicitly critiquing the Corbyn era's institutional failures and ideological imbalances that had alienated moderates and undermined electoral viability.

References

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