Andrew Pakes

Andrew Pakes (born 24 April 1973 as Andrew Stone) is a British Labour Party politician, and a former President of the National Union of Students (NUS).

Pakes grew up in Newport Pagnell, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire. An active member of Labour Students, he was on the national executive of the National Union of Students from 1996-2000 and was twice elected the National President of NUS, serving in the role from 1998-2000. He had previously served as the organisation's National Treasurer from 1997-1998.^[1] Pakes was the second openly gay individual to be elected NUS President after Stephen Twigg (who was President from 1990-92).^[2]

After his term as NUS President, Pakes worked for the Association of University Teachers (AUT, now part of the University and College Union), and for the then-Deputy Mayor of London, Nicky Gavron. He later worked as a consultant on environmental and transport policy, and served as Chair of the Socialist Environment and Resources Association (SERA, a Labour-linked environmental campaign)^[3] and as a member of the Labour Party's National Policy Forum, representing the affiliated socialist societies. He was a Councillor in the London Borough of Southwark from 2006 to 2010, standing down in that year to contest the Milton Keynes North parliamentary seat.

Pakes stood as the Labour and Co-operative parliamentary candidate in the constituency of Milton Keynes North at the 2010 general election,^[4] where he was defeated by the Conservative Party candidate Mark Lancaster on a swing of 9.2%. This was one of the largest swings from Labour to the Conservatives recorded in the United Kingdom during the 2010 General Election.

In 2011, Pakes was selected to become Labour's Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Milton Keynes South, for the next general election.

He is a special adviser to Mary Creagh, working with the shadow DEFRA team.

Controversy

In January 2013 Pakes was criticised for comments he was reported to have made to the Labour Students’ National Council about two midlands car workers he had seen speak at a conference, describing them as being "drunk", having "Noddy Holder accents" and being so inarticulate that it was like "listening to someone outside a nightclub." Critics described these comments as "patronising and stereotyped statements directed towards working class people". ^[5]

In March 2015 Pakes attracted criticism for his decision to accept a donation from Tony Blair despite having campaigned against the Iraq War, with the donation being described as "blood money" in the local press and a local anti-war campaign group stating that Pakes was guilty of "selling [his] principles on the cheap".^[6]

During campaigning for the 2015 General Election, Pakes attracted controversy after a canvasser for his campaign allegedly urinated in a bush outside the home of a local voter. Pakes later apologised for the incident. ^[7]

References

1. ↑ Left in power or left in the lurch?, Times Higher Education, 27 March 1998
2. ↑ Glad to be gay, but still unequal, Times Higher Education, 20 November 1998
3. ↑ "About Andrew Pakes", Connect Public Affairs
4. ↑ "Andrew Pakes for Milton Keynes North Website Home Page", andrewpakes.org.uk
5. ↑ Labour candidate unacceptably mocks working class people, "Left Futures", 22 January 2013
6. ↑ Would-be Milton Keynes MP takes ‘Blair’s blood money’, "Milton Keynes Citizen", 20 March 2015
7. ↑ Urine trouble Labour canvasser relieves himself outside voters home, "Milton Keynes Citizen", 30 March 2015

External links

• www.andrewpakes.org.uk - Official Website