Mike Summers

Michael Victor Summers OBE (born 1952) is a Falkland Islands politician who has served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly for the Stanley constituency since he won a by-election in 2011.^[1] He was previously a Member of the Legislative Council from 1996–2009.^[2]

Summers was born in Stanley and grew up in Port Howard. He moved to the UK at the age of eleven after winning a government scholarship to Shaftesbury Grammar School, a Dorset boarding school. He went on to read business studies at Middlesex University. After university, Summers worked for various construction and engineering companies all round the world, before returning to the Falklands in 1989 when he became General Manager of the Falkland Islands Development Corporation. During his time as General Manager, Summers negotiated the air link between the Falklands and mainland South America with the Chilean airline LAN, which remains the only commercial airline to fly to the islands.^[2]

Summers resigned as General Manager in 1996 to pursue a political career. Later that year he was elected in a by-election to the Legislative Council (which was reconstituted as the Legislative Assembly in the 2009 constitution). Summers was re-elected in 1997, 2001 and 2005, but he lost his seat in the 2009 general election.^[3]

In 2011, Summers returned to the Legislative Assembly after winning a by-election to fill the seat left vacant by Glenn Ross. At the time of the election, Summers was in the Isle of Wight for the 2011 Island Games in his role as Team Leader of the Falkland Islands Overseas Games Association.^[1] He won re-election in 2013.

In April 2017, Mike Summers was the only member to vote against same-sex marriage, but did vote in favour of civil partnerships.^[4]

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