Gareth Thomas

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Gareth Richard Thomas (born 15 July 1967) is a British Labour Co-operative politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Harrow West since 1997 and the Chair of the Co-operative Party since 2001. Thomas held the position of Minister of State at the Department for International Development and, following the 2010 election, joined the shadow frontbench team.

He sought to become the Labour Party's candidate in the 2016 election for Mayor of London, but came last of the six candidates in the ballot

Parliamentary career
Gareth Thomas is Chair of the Co-operative Party and served as President of the 2003 Co-operative Congress. He was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for International Development in 2003 and sponsored the Industrial and Provident Societies Act through Parliament.

In 2003 Thomas made an early attempt to ban smoking in restaurants with a Private Members Bill.

After 29 June 2007 reshuffle he remained at International Development whilst also being part of the new Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, being appointed as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Trade Policy and Consumer Affairs. He had the responsibility of co-ordinating trade policy between the two departments.

Following Gordon Brown's reshuffle of 3 October 2008, Thomas was promoted to Minister of State in both departments, taking on the portfolio of Trade, Investment and Consumer Affairs. In the June 2009 reshuffle DBERR was abolished, leaving Thomas to continue his role solely at International Development, with responsibility for Consumer Affairs passing to Kevin Brennan.

In May 2010 he was re-elected as Member of Parliament for Harrow West with a reduced majority (based on a notional 2005 result). He was Shadow Minister for Higher Education and Science from October 2010 to October 2011, Shadow Minister for Civil Society from October 2011 to October 2013 and then served as the Shadow Minister for Europe until October 2014. He now holds the position of Shadow Minister for Africa and the Middle East. In addition he is Deputy Shadow Minister for London.

At the 2015 general election Conservative candidate Hannah David produced a swing from Labour to the Conservatives, and Thomas saw his majority reduced to 2,208.

In the 2017 general election he was re-elected as the Member of Parliament for Harrow West with a substantially increased majority of 13,314