Roger Thomas (British politician)

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Roger Gareth Thomas (14 November 1925 – 1 September 1994) was a British Labour Party politician.

In 1979, Thomas was elected Member of Parliament for Carmarthen, defeating the President of Plaid Cymru, Gwynfor Evans. Thomas was re-elected in 1983. He was one of the few Labour MPs to represent a predominantly rural area and concentrated on agriculture and EEC issues.

On January 30, 1984 Thomas was convicted at Gowerton Magistrates' Court, Swansea, of importuning for immoral purposes at a men's public lavatory (he was fined £75). The case was reported and attracted negative publicity for Thomas, who announced to Carmarthen Constituency Labour Party on March 2 that he would resign his seat. However, he delayed his resignation to allow for a successor to be selected.

In the meantime, Thomas continued his Parliamentary activity and became one of the most active Welsh MPs of all. He also received a good deal of sympathy on his plight, and times had moved on since William Field was forced to resign in similar circumstances thirty years before. A similar scandal involving a Conservative MP also deflected some attention. He was also pressed to stay on by the Labour whips who feared a byelection in a marginal seat may be lost. By the end of July, Thomas had started to have doubts about resigning, to the chagrin of his constituency, and on August 17 he announced he would remain until the dissolution of Parliament.

In an acrimonious selection of a new Labour Candidate for the constituency in 1985, Thomas' preferred choice was a London-based, Welsh-speaking trade union official and London Borough of Bromley Councillor, Ira Walters, who acquired the majority of branch nominations, largely from the eastern, industrialised areas of the Constituency and who had previously contested Conwy in the 1983 General Election. Walters, however, despite being the favourite to gain the nomination lost to the local Trinity College lecturer, Dr Alan Williams, who went on to win the seat in the subsequent General Election.

Thomas duly retired from Parliament at the dissolution in 1987.

[edit] References

• Times Guide to the House of Commons 1983
• Leigh Rayment's Peerage Page

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Gwynfor Evans	Member of Parliament for Carmarthen 1979–1987	Succeeded by Alan Wynne Williams