Former Labour MP for Manchester, Gorton (18 Jun 1970 – 26 Feb 2017)
Lee Rowley: ...first Prime Minister of Jewish heritage, Benjamin Disraeli, in the 19th century, to the iron Chancellor Nigel Lawson, to the Liberal leader Herbert Samuel, and to celebrated Labour figures, such as Gerald Kaufman and Manny Shinwell, as was mentioned. The creation of a designated Jewish history month would give us an opportunity as a nation to celebrate this history and the vibrancy of...
Ivan McKee: ...who supported Palestinians facing daily attacks from settlers backed by the Israeli army. I also commend the Jewish voices who are no longer with us but deserve and need to be heard. The Labour MP Gerald Kaufman spoke in a debate in the House of Commons during an earlier Israeli assault on Gaza—there have been many such assaults. He said: “My grandmother was ill in bed when the Nazis...
Lord Weir of Ballyholme: ...the answer to those is. On the issue of contradictory documents, anybody who takes the time to read the Command Paper and the proposed EU laws will see myriad differences across a range of areas. Gerald Kaufman referred to the infamous 1983 Labour manifesto as the longest suicide note in history. This Command Paper may be the longest press release ever written, and it does not seem to bear...
Lord Norton of Louth: ...protecting our system of government. Ironically, an unelected monarch serves as the ultimate protector of the political institutions that have displaced the sovereign as the body that governs. As Gerald Kaufman said in the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee year, “What she has done in making this United Kingdom a permanent democracy, a democracy that is impregnable, is perhaps the greatest of her...
Tony Lloyd: My dear deceased friend, Gerald Kaufman, once said, “Never kick a man until he’s down.” I appreciate that it is unfair to be kicking the Prime Minister at the moment of his maximum weakness—the Minister might not want to comment on that. But, seriously, is changing the VI-1 certification worth all the problems that we have heard about today? This is so trivial that I hope the...
John Whittingdale: ...do. I remember from the early days of the industry—before the time that the hon. Gentleman talked about—another campaign mounted by the Culture, Media and Sport Committee, whose then Chair, Gerald Kaufman, was the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton. The Committee pointed out that CDs cost tuppence-ha’penny to produce, and therefore it cost virtually nothing to make millions of...
Baroness Smith of Basildon: ...be brought out and improved. They need to understand the roles that each have and they need to develop the skills to manage their private office, their civil servants and, indeed, their own work. Gerald Kaufman’s book, which was referred to earlier, is quite a useful starting point for many a Minister just to learn some of the tricks of the trade. Perhaps the noble Lord, Lord True, will...
Tony Lloyd: ...anti trade union Bill. John Smith was a passionate defender of the rights of people in the workplace. He was sponsored by the Amalgamated Society of Boilermakers, along with my good friend Gerald Kaufman—perhaps the two most unlikely boilermakers ever to hit this place. Nevertheless, they were committed to the principles of that union and what trade unionism was about in the Britain of...
Michael Fabricant: ...when there was a move some years ago to get me off the Culture, Media and Sport Committee, for reasons I will not bore hon. Members with now, I was told by the then Chairman, the late, great Sir Gerald Kaufman MP, that a Member of Parliament was elected to a Select Committee for a Parliament. It might have changed, but, regardless of shenanigans, I think the principle still stands.
John Bercow: ..., that seems to me to constitute an additional reason why it would be politic or prudent for that letter of response to be provided. The right hon. Gentleman probably recalls that the late Sir Gerald Kaufman was much given to tabling questions about when he would receive a reply to a letter he had sent or a question he had posed. He was wont to observe that, shortly after tabling said...
John Bercow: ...On many such occasions, a reply has then winged its way to the complaining hon. Member with remarkable rapidity. That was the experience of the late Member of Parliament for Manchester, Gorton. Sir Gerald Kaufman was much given to raising on a point of order the fact that he had not received a reply to a question or a letter, and he would sometimes table a written question asking a...
John Bercow: ...are many examples of Members on both sides of the House who have specialised in such an approach. I feel sure that the hon. Lady will not mind my praying in aid the late and, to many, great Sir Gerald Kaufman, who was not to be dissuaded from the pursuit of what he thought was proper by non-answers, delay or procrastination. That right hon. Gentleman simply went on and on and on until he...
Lord Warner: ...they face no effective deterrent response from the Governments of the US, the UK, Europe or other Arab countries. We should perhaps reflect on the views expressed by the late and—by me—lamented Gerald Kaufman MP, who was the son of Polish Jews and whose grandmother was killed by the Nazis. Gerald once described Israel as a “pariah state” requiring the application of economic...
John Bercow: ...are addressed fully. A moment ago, we heard from the Father of the House—perhaps I may respond on this point because it is quite an important one for all of us. A former Father of the House, Sir Gerald Kaufman, when he did not receive substantive replies to questions or letters, was given to tabling a written question on the matter, inquiring when he would receive a substantive reply....
Angus MacNeil: I recall that in this House on 15 January 2009, the then Member for Manchester, Gorton, Gerald Kaufman, said: “My grandmother was ill in bed when the Nazis came to her home town of Staszow. A German soldier shot her…in her bed.” He continued: “My grandmother did not die to provide cover for Israeli soldiers murdering…grandmothers in Gaza.”—[Official Report, 15 January 2009;...
John Bercow: ...the matter in the Chamber today, a reply might be more speedily forthcoming than would otherwise have been the case. Secondly, if the hon. Gentleman wished to follow the practice of the late Sir Gerald Kaufman, he might be minded to table a written question asking a Minister when they intended to reply to his earlier named day question. In Sir Gerald’s experience, publicly reminding a...
John Bercow: ...tabling of a written question. If she is interested in exploring historic copies of the Official Report, she will know that the former Member for Manchester, Gorton, our late and dear friend Sir Gerald Kaufman, was fond of highlighting unanswered correspondence to which he demanded a reply, unanswered questions to which he demanded a reply, or undelivered meetings that he had been promised...
Afzal Khan: .... I cannot think of a more powerful message to the terrorists and bigots that their attempts to divide us will never succeed. I am humbled to follow in the footsteps of my predecessor, the late Sir Gerald Kaufman. Sir Gerald was a legend in this place and he will be missed by Members on all sides. He brought colour to proceedings here—sometimes literally through his keen sense of style,...
Nigel Dodds: ...it will necessarily dominate much of our time and consideration in the months and years ahead. I join others who have spoken in paying tribute to the Members who sadly passed away in the past year, Gerald Kaufman and Jo Cox. I remember speaking just over a year ago from the Bench below on behalf of all the Northern Ireland Members of Parliament—nationalist, Unionist and independent—and...
Dame Cheryl Gillan: ...Speaker. I start by adding my belated congratulations to the Father of the House. He took over earlier this year, when we sadly lost another member of the 1970 intake, the very well respected Sir Gerald Kaufman, of whom the Leader of the Opposition said: “He loved life and politics.” I can honestly say that that can be said of you, too, Mr Clarke. As Mr Bercow said, you have served in...