Ivan Lewis

Ivan Lewis (born 4 March 1967) is a British politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Bury South from 1997 to 2019. A former member of the Labour Party, Lewis sat as an independent from 2018 to 2019 after being suspended from the Labour Party after being implicated in the 2017 Westminster sexual misconduct allegations.

Ivan Lewis
Lewis in 2017
Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
In office 7 October 2013 – 13 September 2015
Leader	Ed Miliband Harriet Harman (Acting)
Preceded by	Vernon Coaker
Succeeded by	Vernon Coaker
Shadow Secretary of State for International Development
In office 7 October 2011 – 7 October 2013
Leader	Ed Miliband
Preceded by	Harriet Harman
Succeeded by	Jim Murphy
Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
In office 8 October 2010 – 7 October 2011
Leader	Ed Miliband
Preceded by	Ben Bradshaw
Succeeded by	Harriet Harman
Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
In office 8 June 2009 – 11 May 2010
Prime Minister	Gordon Brown
Preceded by	Bill Rammell
Succeeded by	Jeremy Browne
Minister of State for International Development
In office 5 October 2008 – 8 June 2009
Prime Minister	Gordon Brown
Preceded by	Gillian Merron
Succeeded by	Michael Foster
Minister of State for Care Services
In office 15 May 2006 – 3 October 2008
Prime Minister	Tony Blair Gordon Brown
Preceded by	The Lord Warner
Succeeded by	Phil Hope
Member of Parliament for Bury South
In office 2 May 1997 – 6 November 2019
Preceded by	David Sumberg
Succeeded by	Christian Wakeford
Personal details
Born	(1967-03-04) 4 March 1967 Prestwich, England, UK
Political party	Labour (Before 2018; suspended 2017-2018) Independent (2018–present)
Spouse(s)	Juliette Fox (1990–2006)
Children	2
Alma mater	Bury College

After serving in various ministerial positions, including Foreign Affairs, Global Development, Education and Health under Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown from 2001 to 2010, Lewis was Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport until October 2011, when he was appointed Shadow Secretary of State for International Development. In the October 2013 Shadow Cabinet reshuffle, he became Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, but did not retain the post in the reshuffle after Jeremy Corbyn became Labour leader on 13 September 2015.

Lewis was suspended from the Labour Party in November 2017 after sexual misconduct allegations.[1] He subsequently resigned from the Labour Party in December 2018, citing his concerns about antisemitism in the party and the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn. [2][3][4] In the 2019 general election, he stood as an Independent candidate, but during the course of the campaign urged voters to support the Conservative candidate, Christian Wakeford, citing his concerns at Labour's leadership and manifesto. Wakeford ultimately gained the seat from Labour.

Early life and career

Lewis was born in Prestwich, in the Bury South constituency which he later represented, into a British Jewish family. He was educated at Manchester Jewish Day School in Prestwich (primary school) and at William Hulme Grammar School in Manchester, followed by Stand Sixth Form College and Bury College. Before his election in 1997, he worked in the voluntary sector from 1986 to 1997 for the learning disabilities support group Contact Community Care Group and as Chief Executive of the Manchester Jewish Federation.[5]

Lewis also served as a Councillor on Bury Metropolitan Borough Council for the Sedgley ward, being elected in 1990 at 23 years of age and held the position of Chairman of the Social Services Committee.[6]

Political career

In government

Lewis was first elected to Parliament in the 1997 Labour landslide with a 13% swing and a majority of over 12,000 votes over the incumbent Conservative David Sumberg who had served since 1983. He further increased his majority in the 2001 General Election. He served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Secretary of State for Trade and Industry Stephen Byers from July 1999 to June 2001.

Between June 2001 and June 2002, Lewis was the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Young People and Learning within the Department for Education and Skills and then for Adult Learning and Skills. From June 2002 to May 2005, he became Under-Secretary of State for Skills and Vocational Education in the same department.

As a junior minister Lewis was responsible for the White Paper 21st Century Skills: Realising our Potential, launched in 2003. It proposed increased support for adults seeking to gain technical and craft qualifications where regional skills shortages existed, removing the age limit for Modern Apprentices and making information and communications technology the third essential "skill for life" alongside literacy and numeracy.[7]

Lewis was also involved with a scheme to introduce apprenticeships for 14-year-olds alongside their schooling, commenting that Britain needed to challenge "uniquely snobbish" attitudes toward vocational education[8]

Lewis then served as Economic Secretary to the Treasury from May 2005 to May 2006. He 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.

Minister for Care Services 2006 to 2008

As Minister for Care Services, Lewis led the introduction of Putting People First, the then government's policy (accepted by the incoming coalition government) to personalise the provision of social care services for the elderly and people with disabilities. The policy offered adults eligible for care services the ability choose their own care services from a "personal budget", and shifted some responsibilities from the NHS to councils.[9]

Lewis described his own policy changes as "arguably the biggest redistribution of power from the state to the citizen that we have ever seen", while David Brindle of The Guardian praised him for having done a "huge amount" to raise the profile of social care.[10]

In March 2008, Lewis warned that the Labour Party was losing touch with ordinary people under the leadership of Gordon Brown in an article written for Progress Online. Lewis stated he believed the Government had lost touch with what fairness meant to the mainstream majority. He wrote:

We cannot afford to be reticent or selective about what fair means in today's Britain. Fairness means everyone paying an appropriate level of tax. It is true there is nothing wrong with being 'stinking rich' providing you pay a significantly higher proportion in tax than your fellow citizen with a modest disposable income. Fairness means a Labour government not remaining silent when any company rips the consumer off or directors of poorly performing organisations in the public or private sector receive extortionate bonuses. Fairness means equal treatment and opportunities for women and ethnic minorities in the workplace, not skilled white men denied career opportunities in the name of equality.[11]

Text messages incident

In 2008, the Department of Health confirmed Lewis had made an apology for his behaviour 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.[12] Nick Cohen pointed out in The Observer on 14 September 2008 that the revelations about Lewis's private life followed articles by Lewis which constituted coded attacks on Gordon Brown.[13]

In his book The End of the Party: The Rise and Fall of New Labour, the journalist Andrew Rawnsley suggested that Lewis was a target of "Gordon Brown's Hit Squad". In relation to the Suzie Mason story, Rawnsley wrote: "Yet there were few Labour MPs who doubted that the story was planted by No. 10, which was privy to a confidential Whitehall report about the Civil Servant. The hit on Lewis stunned Ministers who regarded themselves as unshockable". The story was leaked twelve months after the events occurred. Senior civil servants dealing with the Mason issue advised that no action should be taken against Lewis.

Gordon Brown's former communications chief, Damian McBride, confessed in his memoir that he reprimanded Lewis, then junior health minister, in 2008 for commenting on tax policy, only to be passed the message that Lewis would not be intimidated. Angered, McBride then fed to the News of the World a story about Lewis allegedly pestering a young female civil servant in his private office. McBride expressed deep remorse in retrospect, saying he had been "a cruel, vindictive, thoughtless bastard".[14]

Department for International Development; Foreign and Commonwealth Office

On 3 October 2008, Lewis moved to the Department for International Development (DfID). There, he spearheaded a campaign to persuade other Governments and multilateral agencies to prioritise maternal health.

He remained there until June 2009, when he was promoted to Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs. Lewis was responsible for the UK's Middle East policy, the UK's relations with the US and China, counter terrorism and counter proliferation.

Vioxx

In 2009, The Guardian reported, following his promise to assist British users of the drug "Vioxx" (produced by Merck) with legal fees in their attempt to claim damages, Lewis 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.[15]

In Opposition

In October 2010, Lewis was elected by his fellow Labour MPs to the Shadow Cabinet and appointed Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport by Labour Leader Ed Miliband.

In September 2011, Lewis was reappointed to the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Secretary of State for International Development.[16] Lewis is a member of Labour Friends of Israel.[17]

In October 2013, Lewis was moved in a Shadow Cabinet reshuffle from the International Development portfolio to the Shadow Northern Ireland one.[18] However, despite his reshuffle, which was seen by many commentators as a demotion,[19] he fulfilled a standing commitment to outline Labour's vision on International Development at The University of Manchester, during Manchester Policy Week.[20] In the September 2015 Labour shadow cabinet reshuffle under the newly elected leader Jeremy Corbyn, Lewis offered to continue in the role of Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland amid the troubling political situation there. His offer was rejected by Corbyn and he subsequently returned to the backbenches.

One Nation Labour

Lewis has been one of the key figures influencing the Labour Party's political thinking and direction during Ed Miliband's leadership. He was one of the co-originators of the notion of ‘One Nation Labour’, which formed the foundation of Miliband's keynote speech at the Labour Party Conference held in Manchester in September 2012.

Lewis had originally floated the concept in a chapter written for The Purple Book, a collection of essays written by mainly senior figures in the Party offering new policy ideas.[21]

Mayoral candidacy

In February 2016, Lewis announced his intentions to seek the Labour candidacy nomination for the post of the directly elected Mayor of Greater Manchester. On 9 August 2016, the Labour Party announced that Andy Burnham would be the mayoral candidate.

Sexual harassment allegations, suspension and resignation

On 23 November 2017, the Labour Party suspended Lewis from the party subject to investigation following allegations of sexual harassment.[22][23] On 20 December 2018, Lewis resigned from the Labour Party. His stated reasons were dissatisfaction with the party's record on antisemitism and with the lack of progress of his disciplinary process.[24][25][26][27]

Personal life

Lewis married Juliette Fox in Stockport in June 1990. They have two sons, and are now divorced.

References

1. "MP Ivan Lewis suspended by Labour". BBC News. 23 November 2017. Archived from the original on 2 July 2019. Retrieved 23 June 2019.
2. Liphshiz, Cnaan. "Jewish Labour MP Ivan Lewis quits over party's anti-Semitism record". The Times of Israel. Archived from the original on 1 July 2019. Retrieved 9 April 2019.
3. "Labour MP resigns and lashes out at Jeremy Corbyn over anti-Semitism". London Evening Standard. 20 December 2018. Archived from the original on 15 February 2019. Retrieved 9 April 2019.
4. "MP Ivan Lewis Quits Labour Party Over Jeremy Corbyn's Handling Of Anti-Semitism Allegations". HuffPost. 20 December 2018. Archived from the original on 21 December 2018. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
5. "Ivan Lewis MP | Open Forum Events". www.openforumevents.co.uk. Archived from the original on 15 April 2019. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
6. Mp, Labour (18 October 2002). "Ivan Lewis". BBC News. Archived from the original on 13 January 2014. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
7. Ngaio Crequer (11 July 2003). "Hearty welcome for skills strategy". TES-Newspaper. Archived from the original on 1 April 2014. Retrieved 15 July 2013.
8. "Apprenticeships for 14-year olds". BBC. 10 May 2004. Archived from the original on 4 February 2006. Retrieved 1 April 2015.
9. Mithran Samuel (1 August 2008). "Ivan Lewis challenges adult care sector to deliver". Community Care. Archived from the original on 1 April 2014. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
10. David Brindle (7 October 2008). "At least it's not the sackThe social care sector will miss Ivan Lewis, says David Brindle". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 28 December 2011. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
11. Robert Winnett (31 March 2008). "Gordon Brown out of touch say Minister' 31 March 2008". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 31 July 2011.
12. Ian Kirby and Sophy Ridge (6 September 2008). "Government Health Minister Ivan Lewis apologises after bombarding civil servant Susie Mason with personal text messages". News of the World. Archived from the original on 22 August 2009. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
13. Nick Cohen (14 September 2008). "Call off your mafioso aides, Mr Brown". The Observer. London. Archived from the original on 30 June 2009. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
14. Walker, Peter (20 September 2013). "Damian McBride: the ministers I smeared". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 15 April 2019. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
15. Goldacre, Ben (9 May 2009). "The danger of drugs ... and data". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 25 June 2009. Retrieved 24 May 2009.
16. Saiqa Chaudhari (12 October 2011). "Ivan Lewis becomes shadow international development minister". The Bury Times. Archived from the original on 1 April 2014. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
17. "LFI Supporters in Parliament". Labour Friends of Israel. 23 March 2018. Archived from the original on 16 January 2019. Retrieved 28 March 2018.
18. "Labour's new Shadow Cabinet in full". 7 October 2013. Archived from the original on 7 October 2013.
19. Owen Bennett (8 October 2013). "Ed Miliband axes Twigg and Byrne in Shadow Cabinet reshuffle". Daily Express. Archived from the original on 13 December 2013. Retrieved 13 December 2013.
20. "Labour's International Development Strategy". 13 December 2013. Archived from the original on 16 December 2013. Retrieved 13 December 2013.
21. Patrick Wintour (9 September 2011). "Labour looks like Party of Urban Elite, Ivan Lewis warns in essay". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 10 September 2011. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
22. "MP Ivan Lewis suspended by Labour". 23 November 2017. Archived from the original on 2 July 2019. Retrieved 9 April 2019.
23. "Labour suspends Ivan Lewis MP after misconduct allegations". The Independent. 23 November 2017. Archived from the original on 24 June 2019. Retrieved 9 April 2019.
24. Ivan Lewis quits Labour Party as sex harassment row drags on Archived 22 December 2018 at the Wayback Machine, 21 December 2018, BBC
25. Merrick, Rob (20 December 2018). "Ivan Lewis: Ex-Labour minister being investigated over sexual harassment allegations resigns with attack on Jeremy Corbyn". The Independent. Archived from the original on 21 December 2018. Retrieved 22 December 2018.
26. "Suspended MP quits Labour with Corbyn attack". 21 December 2018. Archived from the original on 7 April 2019. Retrieved 9 April 2019.
27. "Ivan Lewis resigns Labour membership with blast at Jeremy Corbyn – AOL". aol.co.uk. Retrieved 9 April 2019.

External links

• Bury South Labour
• Ivan Lewis for Mayor

• Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom
• Contributions in Parliament at Hansard
• Contributions in Parliament at Hansard 1803–2005
• Voting record at Public Whip
• Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by David Sumberg	Member of Parliament for Bury South 1997–2019	Succeeded by Christian Wakeford
Political offices
Preceded by John Healey	Economic Secretary to the Treasury 2005–2006	Succeeded by Ed Balls
Preceded by The Lord Warner	Minister of State for Care Services 2006–2008	Succeeded by Phil Hope
Preceded by Gillian Merron	Minister of State for International Development 2008–2009	Succeeded by Michael Foster
Preceded by Bill Rammell	Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs 2009–2010	Succeeded by Jeremy Browne
Preceded by Ben Bradshaw	Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport 2010–2011	Succeeded by Harriet Harman
Preceded by Harriet Harman	Shadow Secretary of State for International Development 2011–2013	Succeeded by Jim Murphy
Preceded by Vernon Coaker	Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland 2013–2015	Succeeded by Vernon Coaker