Bryan Charles Gould, CNZM (born 11 February 1939 in New Zealand[1]) is a former United Kingdom politician. He served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1974–79, and again from 1983–94. He was a member of the Labour Party's[2] Shadow Cabinet from 1986–94, and stood unsuccessfully for the leadership of the party in 1992.
Gould currently holds a number of positions including director at TVNZ.[1]
Gould was a 1962 New Zealand Rhodes Scholar at Balliol College, Oxford. After completing a degree in Law with first-class honours, he joined the British Diplomatic Service in 1964. He then returned to Oxford as a tutorial Fellow in Law at Worcester College alongside Francis Reynolds.
Gould became a Labour MP for Southampton Test in October 1974, a seat he held until 1979. He worked as a television journalist from 1979–83, and was then elected as MP for Dagenham from 1983 until resigning on 17 May 1994.
Gould was a member of Neil Kinnock's Shadow Cabinet, where he served as Shadow Chief Secretary, and was spokesman on Trade and Industry, the Environment,[3] and Heritage. In 1992 he founded the Full Employment Forum, but was defeated in the leadership election to succeed Kinnock which took place after the general election, which it lost to the Conservative Party for the fourth election in succession.[4]
He subsequently resigned from John Smith's shadow cabinet, in a dispute about Europe, and departed from British politics.
In July 1994 Gould returned to New Zealand and became Vice-Chancellor of the University of Waikato, until his retirement in 2004. In this poistion Gould was instrumental in initiating The Great Race, a rowing race for Waikato University against international universities on the Waikato River. The Brian Gould Cup for the woman's eights race is named after him.[5]
Gould was awarded Companionship of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2003 for services to Education. In October 2006, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Waikato. He is a board member of TVNZ.
Bryan Gould's brother is Wayne Gould, best known for popularising Sudoku.
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by James Hill |
Member of Parliament for Southampton Test October 1974–1979 |
Succeeded by James Hill |
| Preceded by John Parker |
Member of Parliament for Dagenham 1983–1994 |
Succeeded by Judith Church |
|
||||||||