Phil Woolas

Philip James Woolas (born 11 December 1959) is a British environmental consultant, political lobbyist and former television producer and politician who served as Minister of State for Borders and Immigration from 2008 to 2010.

Woolas was born in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, on 11 December 1959.

He went to Nelson Grammar School and, after O levels, Nelson and Colne College.

He received a BA in philosophy from the Victoria University of Manchester.

Woolas joined the Labour Party at the age of 16, and became involved in student politics through the Anti-Nazi League.

Before becoming an MP, he was president of the National Union of Students from 1984 to 1986, a television producer for the BBC on Newsnight from 1988 to 1990 (where he became firm friends with fellow Manchester United supporter Michael Crick), producer at ITN's Channel 4 News from 1990 to 1991 and head of communications at the GMB trade union from 1991 to 1997.

A member of the Labour Party, he was Member of Parliament (MP) for Oldham East and Saddleworth from 1997 to 2010.

Prior to being elected at the 1997 general election, Woolas was president of the National Union of Students (NUS), a producer for BBC programme Newsnight and a trade unionist at the GMB trade union.

He first won his seat for Labour in the 1997 general election, having contested the predecessor Littleborough and Saddleworth seat at a by-election in 1995, which was marked by Labour's particularly vicious and personal campaign, attacking the Liberal Democrat candidate, Chris Davies, as "high on tax and soft on drugs".

Peter Mandelson admitted in his autobiography that they had gone "on the attack", writing "After the campaign was over, not only our opponents but some in Labour would denounce our 'negative' tactics in highlighting Lib Dem front-runner Chris Davies' support for higher taxes and a Royal Commission to liberalise drugs laws. For tactical reasons, I felt we had had little choice".

On 21 May, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith announced that all Gurkha veterans who had served four years or more in the British Army before 1997 would be allowed to settle in Britain.

Gurkhas serving after 1997 had been given UK settlement rights in 2004.

Woolas stated that cost was a prime consideration: "Our estimate is £1.4 billion, and I remind the House that that would come from the defence budget."

However, according to a Freedom of Information request, the only impact on the Defence budget has been £20,000 per year to set up and run the settlement office in Kathmandu.

In 1999, Woolas became parliamentary private secretary to Lord Macdonald of Tradeston, a Transport Minister, and was made a whip in 2001.

In June 2003, he was appointed Deputy Leader of the House of Commons under the Government's newly appointed Leader of the Commons, Peter Hain.

During the May 2005 ministerial reshuffle, he also served briefly under Hain's successor, Geoff Hoon.

During 2005, Woolas was accused of evading parliamentary questions with regard to public calls for reform of the Local Government Ombudsman in 2005.

In October 2006, Woolas was involved in the United Kingdom debate over veils, particularly the case of Aishah Azmi, a Muslim teaching assistant who wore an Islamic veil in class.

Between the same reshuffle and June 2007, Woolas was Minister of State for Local Government at the Deputy Prime Minister's Office and then the Department for Communities and Local Government, the 2006 successor to the DPMO.

On 28 June 2007, he became Minister for the Environment at the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (in the Brown ministry).

He had responsibility for climate change, energy and sustainable development.

In February 2008, he raised the question of inter-cousin marriage as a cause of the high incidence of disability within predominantly Pakistani culture.

The debate was welcomed by Ann Cryer MP who cited incidences in her own constituency.

Following the cabinet re-shuffle of 3 October 2008, Woolas was made Minister of State for Borders and Immigration at both the Home Office and HM Treasury.

In November 2008, Woolas attacked lawyers and charities working on behalf of asylum seekers, accusing them of undermining the law and "playing the system" by taking legal action.

In the United Kingdom parliamentary expenses scandal of 2009, Phil Woolas reportedly claimed expenses for items not allowed under the rules.

Woolas said the items were on a receipt he submitted under food claims, but were not claimed themselves, and threatened a newspaper with legal action.

The Legge enquiry into MPs' expenses cleared Woolas.

In spring 2009, Woolas was involved in a controversy regarding the rights for Gurkhas to settle in the United Kingdom.

On 24 April 2009, Woolas proposed a new settlement for Gurkhas who were discharged before 1997.

According to The Economist:"Veterans would be allowed to settle only if they met one or more conditions based on length of service, gallantry or related illness. Many of the requirements seemed designed to frustrate: for example, one way to qualify automatically was by soldiering for at least 20 years, though most rank-and-file Gurkhas serve for only 15. Another was to prove that a long-term medical condition was caused or worsened by active service; a tall order for those whose injuries were sustained decades ago."

These proposals later were denounced in a vote at the House of Commons, with many Labour MPs voting across party lines.

Woolas was later confronted at the BBC Westminster studios by the actress Joanna Lumley, the face of the Gurkha Justice Campaign.

After Ms Lumley pursued him around the studio, the pair held an impromptu press conference in which she pressured him into agreeing to further talks over the settlement rights of Gurkhas.

In November 2010, he was found to have breached the Representation of the People Act 1983 in the course of the 2010 general election.

As a result, his victory of 103 votes at the election was declared void, he lost his seat in the House of Commons and he was barred from standing again at the subsequent by-election.

In February 2010, following the accusations of bullying made against Gordon Brown and other members of the UK cabinet, Woolas was quoted as referring to the head of the National Bullying Helpline, Christine Pratt, as "this prat of a woman" in a radio interview.

He was also suspended from the Labour Party until January 2011, when his suspension was lifted.

This debate was still continuing in 2011.