Jeff Rooker

The Right Honourable The Lord Rooker PC
Official portrait, 2022
Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
In office 1 June 2005 – 5 October 2008
Prime Minister	Tony Blair Gordon Brown
Leader	The Baroness Amos The Baroness Ashton of Upholland
Preceded by	The Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean
Succeeded by	The Lord Hunt of Kings Heath
Junior ministerial offices 1997–2008 Minister of State for Sustainable Food, Farming and Animal Health In office 6 May 2006 – 3 October 2008 Prime Minister Tony Blair Gordon Brown Preceded by The Lord Bach Succeeded by Jane Kennedy Minister of State for Children in Northern Ireland In office 9 May 2005 – 6 May 2006 Prime Minister Tony Blair Preceded by Barry Gardiner Succeeded by Maria Eagle Minister of State for Regeneration and Regional Development In office 13 June 2003 – 9 May 2005 Prime Minister Tony Blair Preceded by Position established Succeeded by Yvette Cooper Minister of State for Housing and Planning In office 29 May 2002 – 13 June 2003 Prime Minister Tony Blair Preceded by The Lord Falconer of Thoroton Succeeded by Keith Hill Minister of State for Asylum and Immigration In office 11 June 2001 – 29 May 2002 Prime Minister Tony Blair Preceded by Barbara Roche Succeeded by Beverley Hughes Minister of State for Pensions In office 29 July 1999 – 7 June 2001 Prime Minister Tony Blair Preceded by Stephen Timms Succeeded by Ian McCartney Minister of State for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food In office 6 May 1997 – 29 July 1999 Prime Minister Tony Blair Preceded by Tony Baldry Succeeded by Joyce Quin
Further offices held Chair of the Food Standards Agency In office July 2009 – July 2013 Appointed by Hilary Benn Preceded by Dame Deirdre Hutton Succeeded by Heather Hancock Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal Life peerage 21 June 2001 Member of Parliament for Birmingham Perry Barr In office 28 February 1974 – 14 May 2001 Preceded by Joseph Kinsey Succeeded by Khalid Mahmood
Personal details
Born	Jeffrey William Rooker (1941-07-05) 5 July 1941 (age 82)
Nationality	British
Political party	Labour (since 2013; before 2009) Independent (2009–2013)
Alma mater	Aston University

Jeffrey William Rooker, Baron Rooker PC (born 5 June 1941) is a British politician and life peer who served as a government minister from 1997 to 2008. A member of the Labour Party, he was Member of Parliament (MP) for Birmingham Perry Barr from 1974 to 2001.

Raised and educated in Birmingham, Rooker worked as a production engineer in the city before lecturing in the subject at Lanchester Polytechnic. He studied at Aston University and the University of Warwick; and he eventually gained a postgraduate degree in industrial relations. After unsuccessfully attempting to be elected to Birmingham City Council in 1966, he was elected to the House of Commons at the February 1974 general election and joined the government after the Labour victory at the 1997 general election as Minister of State at the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.

Upon standing down from the Commons at the 2001 general election, Rooker was later appointed to the House of Lords where he continued to serve in the government under several ministerial portfolios until 2008, including as Deputy Leader of the House of Lords and Minister of State for Sustainable Food, Farming and Animal Health from 2005 to 2008. He resigned the Labour whip in 2009 after being appointed chair of the Food Standards Agency. He sat as an independent member in the House of Lords until 2013 when, standing down as chair of the FSA, he took up the Labour whip once again.