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Peter LAW Independent BLAENAU GWENT '05- Majority: 9,121 (25.9 Peter LAW Independent BLAENAU GWENT '05- Majority: 9,121 (25.9%) over Labour 6-way Description: The former coal and steel seat expanded in the '80s to straddle three Monmouthshire valleys, including the towns of Ebbw Vale, Tredegar, Brynmawr and Abertillery; the last pit shut in the '80s and the steelworks went in '02: "It was a tragic day for us when the Corus steel company closed the steelworks", "the local economy was devastated beyond belief" (PL); a Labour fortress from its creation as Ebbw Vale in '18, it elected Aneurin Bevan '29-60, and Michael Foot '60-92; it was Labour's safest seat in Wales and fifth safest in Britain; this changed when the Labour leadership tried to impose an all-women shortlist to replace retiring Llew Smith, excluding its favourite native son, Peter Law; rebellion split the Labour vote and let in Peter Law as an Independent in '05; Position: Welsh Assemblyman (AM): (Secretary for Local Government, Environment and Planning 99-00) '99-; ex: Blaenau Gwent Councillor (Mayor '88-89) '74-99; Nantyglo and Blaina Urban District Councillor '70-74; Outlook: The previously-loyal favourite son, angered by the imposition of an all-women shortlist into defying a brain tumour and the party leadership to overturn a 19,000 Labour majority and win by 9,000 votes as an Independent; the local heir-apparent who rammed a spoke into the Labour leadership's plan to further change the male-female ratio in predominantly-male Welsh seats; he and the retiring Leftwing rebel MP Llew Smith also saw the selected woman candidate, NEC member Maggie Jones as a parachuted-in compliant Blairite rather than a local socialist; local activists - in a "constituency where we still have the great socialist and trade union values" (PL) - saw her as a punishment for the local party's opposition to the Iraq war; they saw him as a locally popular longtime councillor and Welsh Assemblyman and as the victim of a brain tumour on the eve of the election; "Llew Smith and I told top party officials what would happen if they imposed an all-women shortlist but they ignored us" (PL); although long a campaigner for Welsh devolution, he has been an awkward member of the Welsh Assembly, being dropped from Labour's Executive there in '00; he has turned strongly against Rhodri Morgan over fees for higher eduction; in Westminster he is the third Independent, after Martin Bell ('97-01) and Dr Richard Taylor ('01-); History: He joined the Labour Party at 15, '63; he was elected to Nantyglo and Blaina UDC at 22, May '70; he was elected to Blaenau Gwent Borough Council May '74; he co- campaigned for a `Yes' vote in the devolution referendums in Mar '79 and Sep '98; he was elected to the Welsh Assembly for Blaenau Gwent, becoming its Secretary for Local Government, Environment and Planning May '99; he was dropped from the Assembly's Cabinet when Labour formed a coalition with the LibDems Oct '00; he was re-elected to the Welsh Assembly May '03; he was defeated for the post of the Assembly's Deputy Presiding Officer by Independent, ex-Labour MP and Assemblyman John Marek, with many Labour Assemblymen voting against him to keep the party's one-vote Assembly majority May '03; although Llew Smith had announced his intention to retire as MP for Blaenau Gwent before the NEC's Dec '02 deadline - after which all-women shortlists would be automatic - a women- only shortlist was imposed on Blaenau Gwent, despite opposition from local party officers and Llew Smith, with Peter Law threatening to stand as an Independent; NEC member Maggie Jones was selected Dec '03; he defied the Whips in the Assembly to oppose student top-up fees Nov '04; he reacted to the successful opposition by late-retiring Jack Cunningham and his GMB union to the imposition of an all-women shortlist for his successor at Copeland, 1 Copyright © Parliamentary Profile Services Ltd. Peter LAW Independent BLAENAU GWENT '05- saying, "There is one law for the people of Blaenau Gwent and another for Copeland; this is hypocrisy and it stinks" Jan '05; he said Blaenau Gwent was being "used as a social experiment to make people happy over the dinner tables of the chattering classes" Mar '05; he announced he was quitting Labour to stand as an Independent, thus destroying Labour's majority in the Welsh Assembly; he called on Rhodri Morgan to resign as the Assembly's First Minister Apr '05; David Blunkett visited Blaenau Gwent to urge Law to withdraw; Gordon Brown sent a similar letter to all voters Apr '05; on the diagnosis of a brain tumour, Law reversed his decision to stand, but after the six-hour operation a fortnight later, he said he would stand Apr '05; after wiping out Labour's 19,000 majority with his own majority of 9,000, he said "I did what I did for the integrity of the people of Blaenau Gwent" and "they treated us like a bunch of sheep up here" May '05; Welsh Secretary Peter Hain rejected as "blackmail" Law's offer to rejoin Labour to restore the party's majority in the Welsh Assembly, so long as his supporters were not expelled; when 20 of them were expelled, he expressed surprise that the NEC "have decided to shoot from the hip, two weeks after having had such a drubbing, losing the safest seat in Wales" May '05; he said he would sit in both the Welsh Assembly and the Commons for the time being; he would decide later whether to stand for re- election to the Assembly in '07: "What I will not do is stand aside and let some New Labour Mafia man who doesn't care about the people be put up for the Assembly" June '05; in his Maiden, he insisted his candidacy "was never about women or men; it was about the right of choice"; "no one has the right to manipulate 60,000 electors, to tell us what to do"; he also complained that, following the '02 closure of the Ebbw Vale steelworks, "no Minister came to see us, to boost our morale, and perhaps that is another reason why I am standing here today as the Independent Member for Blaenau Gwent" June '05; he backed legislation to increase the transport powers of the Welsh Assembly June '05; Plaid MP Hywel Williams welcomed him to the "awkward bench" occupied by Plaid and the SNP June '05; he urged making pigeon- racing an official sport, eligible to receive grants June '05; he voted against banning incitement to religious hatred July '05; he voted with the Tories and LibDems against the 2nd Reading of the Terrorism Bill Oct '05; he voted for Clare Short's Bill to require a vote in Parliament before committing troops to conflict Oct '05; as an Independent, he chalked up a poor Commons voting record Dec '05; opposing incapacity benefit `reforms', he sneered, "How can a Labour government justify proposals that will push poor people further into poverty?" Jan '06; Born: 1 April 1948 , Abergavenny Family: Son, of late Rita Mary and late John/`Jack' Law, grocer; m '76 Patricia/'Trish' (Bolton); 5c; Education: Llanfoist Primary; Grofield Secondary Modern; King Henry School; Nantyglo Community College; Open University courses; Occupation: Welsh Assemblyman '99-; ex: PR Adviser, to local government and public authorities '87-99; Self-employed Grocer, in family business '64-87; (GMB, APEX, RMT, CWU; USDAW); Traits: Square face, formerly with short hair and a forelock, but "radio therapy has left him with downy strands of hair in place of his old charcoal grey thatch" (John Harris, INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY); he is learning Welsh; he likes forestry and Land Rovers; Address: House of Commons, Westminster, London SW1A 0AA; 1 Bethcart Street, Ebbw Vale NP23 6HH; Telephone: 0207 219 4347 (H of C); 01495 304569; 2 Copyright © Parliamentary Profile Services Ltd. .
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