Jeff Rooker

The son of a factory worker, Jeff Rooker attended Aldridge Road Secondary Modern Boys School, Aldridge Road, Great Barr. He later attended Handsworth Technical School and College, Goldshill Road, Handsworth. He initially trained as a production engineer, working in various factories in and around Birmingham for 14 years and then became a lecturer on the subject at Lanchester Polytechnic. Rooker graduated with an undergraduate degree from Aston University in the city of Birmingham and he served as editor of the Birmingham Student Union News (SUN) from 1963 to 1964. He later received a postgraduate degree from the University of Warwick in industrial relations. In 1966, he was an unsuccessful candidate for membership of Birmingham City Council. == Early parliamentary career ==

Rooker was selected as the prospective parliamentary candidate in October 1971 for his home constituency of Birmingham Perry Barr, which he won in the February 1974 general election. Rooker achieved a measure of national prominence in June 1977 while still a backbencher. With fellow MP Audrey Wise, he introduced the so-called Rooker–Wise Amendment to the Budget. This linked personal tax allowances to the rate of inflation, thereby preventing the erosion of non-taxable income. The BBC has described the amendment as "a rare example of direct backbench influence on the Budget". Beginning in 1998, Rooker led an unsuccessful attempt to prosecute World War II German general Wilhelm Mohnke for his alleged role in war crimes inflicted on British troops at Wormhoudt in 1940. == Ministerial career ==

After Tony Blair led Labour to power in the 1997 general election, Rooker served as Minister of State for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. In July 1999, he was moved to the Department of Social Security where he served as Minister of State for Pensions. He was made a Privy Counsellor in 1999. Rooker did not seek re-election as an MP at the 2001 general election and was created a life peer on 16 June 2001 with the title Baron Rooker, of Perry Barr in the County of West Midlands. As a member of the House of Lords, he was re-appointed to the government as the Minister of State for Asylum and Immigration and remained in the post for a year. He then was moved to the Department for Communities and Local Government, where he served as Minister of State for Housing and Planning, then subsequently Minister of State for Regeneration and Regional Development. Following the 2005 general election, Rooker was named the Minister of State at the Northern Ireland Office, with responsibility for children in Northern Ireland. On 6 May 2006, Rooker was appointed Minister of State for Sustainable Food, Farming and Animal Health at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. He was a controversial choice as minister responsible for animal welfare due to his well-known pro-hunting views. In 2007, following Rooker's appointment, numerous complaints from animal welfare campaigners were sent to the Labour Party. He later also became deputy leader of the House of Lords. He retained both these roles when Gordon Brown became Labour leader and Prime Minister in 2007 and showed himself to be outspokenly in favour of genetically modified (GM) foods at the September 2008 Labour Party Conference, when he accused people opposed to GM foods of "ignorance". Rooker's ministerial appointed ended at a reshuffle in October 2008. == Later career ==

Rooker is a vice president of The Birmingham Civic Society. As of January 2008, he is a lay governor of Aston University. In July 2009, he was appointed as chair of the Food Standards Agency and resigned the Labour party whip for the duration until he ceased to be chair in 2013. In December 2015, Rooker called for Jeremy Corbyn to be removed as Labour Party leader before 2020. Rooker is a member of Labour Friends of Israel. ==Personal life==

Rooker married Angela Edwards in 1972 in Paddington, London, who died in January 2003; he married second wife Helen Hughes on 5 February 2010 in a private ceremony in Christchurch, New Zealand. In 2001, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from Aston University of which he is an alumnus. ==References==