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Revision as of 05:20, 19 December 2009

Ivan Lewis


Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
Incumbent
Assumed office 8 June 2009
Prime Minister	Gordon Brown
Preceded by	Bill Rammell
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development
In office 5 October 2008 – 8 June 2009
Prime Minister	Gordon Brown
Preceded by	Gillian Merron
Succeeded by	TBA
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Care Services
In office 15 May 2006 – 3 October 2008
Prime Minister	Tony Blair
Preceded by	Norman Warner
Succeeded by	Phil Hope
Member of Parliament for Bury South
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 May 1997
Preceded by	David Sumberg
Majority	8,912 (22.8%)

Personal details
Born	(1967-03-04) 4 March 1967 (age 57) Prestwich, Bury
Nationality	English
Political party	Labour
Spouse	Juliette Fox

Ivan Lewis (born 4 March 1967, Prestwich, Bury) is a politician in the United Kingdom. He is a member of the Labour Party, and is the Member of Parliament for Bury South, since being first elected in the 1997 general election.

Lewis has been Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office since 8 June 2009. His responsibilities include the Middle East, Counter Terrorism, Counter Proliferation, South East Asia and Far East, North America, Drugs and International Crime and Migration.

Personal life

Lewis was educated at the independent William Hulme Grammar School (state controlled since 2007) in Manchester, Stand Sixth Form College (former Stand Grammar School, now closed) and Bury College.

He married Juliette Fox in June 1990 in Stockport and they have two sons. He is also a lifelong Manchester City fan.

Prior to his election, he worked in the voluntary sector from 1986 to 1997 for Outreach, Contact Community Care Group and as Chief Executive of the Manchester Jewish Federation.

Member of Parliament

Political career

Lewis was Parliamentary Private Secretary to Stephen Byers when he was Secretary of State for Trade and Industry.

From June 2003 to May 2005, Lewis was Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Skills and Vocational Education at the Department for Education and Skills (DfES). Other previous roles at the DfES included Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Young People and Learning, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Adult Learning and Skills, and Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Young People and Adult Skills.

Lewis was then Economic Secretary to the Treasury from May 2005 to May 2006. Lewis was moved to a junior ministerial position in the Department of Health in the Cabinet reshuffle in May 2006.

On 29 June, 2007, in Gordon Brown's first reshuffle as Prime Minister he was re-appointed to the post of Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Department of Health, the only junior minister to survive the reshuffle where he held on to the brief for social care and added mental health services.

On 3 October, 2008, he was moved to the Department for International Development. He remained there until June 2009, when he was promoted to Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs.

Ivan Lewis has held the following positions:

July 1999-June 2001 - Parliamentary Private Secretary to Stephen Byers as Secretary of State for Trade & Industry
June 2001-May 2002 - Parliamentary under Secretary of State for Young People & Learning
May 2002-May 2005 - Parliamentary under Secretary of State for Skills
May 2005-May 2006 - Economic Secretary to the Treasury
May 2006-October 2008 - Parliamentary under Secretary of State for Care Services
October 2008-June 2009 - Parliamentary under Secretary of State at the Department for International Development
June 2009-present - Minister of State at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office

Positions

Ivan Lewis consistently supported plans to close Prestwich Arts College, in his local area, due to falling pupil numbers. The plans were dismissed (voted out 3-0 by the School's Organisation Committee).

Lewis is a member of and was formerly Vice-Chair of Labour Friends of Israel, and is a trustee of the Holocaust Educational Trust. He was a strong supporter of the Israeli military offensive in Gaza in January 2009, defending the Israeli military's campaign in several speeches.

Controversy

In 2008, Ivan Lewis was described in the House of Commons as an "arsehole" by Greg Mulholland MP, following Lewis's refusal to allow Mulholland to intervene to correct statements Lewis had made in debate on hospice funding..

In 2008, the Department of Health confirmed that Ivan Lewis had made an apology for his behavior when in 2007 he began sending increasingly intimate text messages to then aide Suzie Mason, which ultimately led to her registering concern, and successfully seeking an alternative position within the Civil Service before leaving for the private sector. Nick Cohen pointed out in The Observer on 14 September 2008 that the revelations about Lewis' private life followed articles by Lewis which constituted coded attacks on Gordon Brown.

In 2009, The Guardian reported that, following a promise to assist British users of the drug "Vioxx" (produced by Merck) with legal fees in their attempt to claim damages, he changed his mind within hours of an "expensive lobbying effort" by Merck. Vioxx has been shown to increase the risk of heart failure in users.

References

[IVAN LEWIS APPOINTED MINISTER AT DEPARTMENT FOR EDUCATION AND SKILLS 14 June 2001 DfES
"MP defends himself over swearing". Retrieved 2008-03-12.
Government Health Minister Ivan Lewis apologises after bombarding civil servant Susie Mason with personal text messages | News | News Of The World By Ian Kirby and Sophy Ridge, 06/09/2008 (The Sun newspaper)
Nick Cohen "Call off your mafioso aides, Mr Brown", The Observer, 14 September 2008.
"The danger of drugs … and data". Retrieved 2009-05-24.

External links

Template:Incumbent succession box

Parliament of the United Kingdom Template:Incumbent succession box
Political offices
Preceded byJohn Healey	Economic Secretary to the Treasury 2005—2006	Succeeded byEd Balls
Preceded byGillian Merron	Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development 2008 - 2009	Succeeded byTBA

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