Mike Gapes

Mike Gapes
Official portrait, 2017
Chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee
In office 19 July 2005 – 17 May 2010
Preceded by	Donald Anderson
Succeeded by	Richard Ottaway
Member of Parliament for Ilford South
In office 9 April 1992 – 6 November 2019
Preceded by	Neil Thorne
Succeeded by	Sam Tarry
Personal details
Born	Michael John Gapes (1952-09-04) 4 September 1952 (age 71) Wanstead, Essex, England
Political party	Labour and Co-operative (1968–2019; 2023–present)
Other political affiliations	Change UK (2019)
Spouse	Frances Smith ​ ​ (m. 1992; div. 2004)​
Children	Rebecca Gapes (1993–2012) 2 other daughters
Alma mater	Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge Middlesex Polytechnic
Website	www.mikegapes.org
Other offices March–June 2019: Change UK Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and Defence

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.

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]