Member for Birkenhead since 1979. Committees: Chair, Social Security Select Committee. Political career: Hounslow Councillor 1964-68; Parliamentary Candidate for Buckinghamshire South 1966; former Frontbench Spokesperson on Education and Social Security. Special political interests: Income distribution, taxation, social security, industrial policy. Profession/Trade: Former lobbyist. Education: St Clements Danes Grammar School; Hull University; Honorary Doctor of Law, University of Warwick; Doctorate of Science, University of Southampton. Affiliations: Director, Low Pay Unit 1974-80; Director, Child Poverty Action Group 1969-79. Author of: Reflections on Welfare Reform, Social Market Foundation (1998); Reforming Welfare, Social Market Foundation (1997); How to Pay for the Future: Establishing a Stakeholder's Welfare (1996); Making Welfare Work: Reconstructing Welfare for the Millennium (1995); Beyond Punishment: Hard Choices on the Road to Full Employment (1994); Europe Isn't Working (1994); An Agenda for Britain (1993); Losing Out: The Emergence of Britain's Underclass (1989)
b. 16 July 1942, London.

2005				2001
LAB HOLD	Votes	%	+/- %	Votes	%
Labour	18,059	65.0	-5.5	20,418	70.5
Lib Dem	5,125	18.4	5.6	3,722	12.8
Conservative	4,602	16.6	-0.1	4,827	16.7
Majority	12,934	46.5	-	15,591	53.8
Turnout	27,786	48.7	1.0	28,967	47.7