page_title: Gerald Kaufman
section_title: Opinions
hierarchical_section_title: Gerald Kaufman / Opinions
context_page_description: Sir Gerald Bernard Kaufman was a British Labour politician who served as a Member of Parliament from 1970 until his death in 2017, first for Manchester Ardwick and then for Manchester Gorton. He was a government minister in the 1970s and a member of the Shadow Cabinet in the 1980s. Knighted in 2004, he became Father of the House in 2015 and was the oldest sitting MP of the UK Parliament at the time of his death.
  He was known for his forthright views, but very rarely voted against the Labour Party whip, thus his two rebellions carried greater weight. Kaufman was a critic of the state of Israel and came under criticism himself during the 2009 parliamentary expenses scandal.
context_section_description: Kaufman wrote many books and articles. Some are political: How to be a Minister (1980) is an irreverent look at the difficulties faced by ministers trying to control the civil service. Some are cultural: Meet Me in St Louis is a study of the 1944 Judy Garland film. He contributed a chapter about John Hodge, the Labour MP for Manchester Gorton elected in 1906, to Men Who Made Labour, edited by Alan Haworth and Diane Hayter.
  Kaufman was an outspoken opponent of hunting with hounds. In 2004, he was assaulted by a group of pro-fox hunting campaigners and said that he was subjected to antisemitic taunts. These he said he found ironic as he had recently been accused of being a self-hating Jew by a member of the Board of Deputies of British Jews.
  He opposed Barack Obama, saying that U.S. voters did not "know a phoney when they see one" and adding: "If they did, Barack Obama would not be president".
  Kaufman was one of 48 Labour MPs to vote against the second reading of the government's Welfare Reform and Work Bill, which included £12bn in welfare cuts, on 20 July 2015. In doing so they defied the party's leadership, which had ordered MPs to abstain.
caption: Gerald Kaufman by Trog
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