Gary Titley (born 19 January 1950) is a British Labour Party politician and a former

Member of the European Parliament A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...

(MEP) for the

North West of England North West England is one of nine official regions of England and consists of the ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of 7,4 ...

. Born in

Salford Salford ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in Greater Manchester, England, on the western bank of the River Irwell which forms its boundary with Manchester city centre. Landmarks include the former Salford Town Hall, town hall, ...

, Titley was educated at the

University of York The University of York (abbreviated as or ''York'' for Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a public Collegiate university, collegiate research university in York, England. Established in 1963, the university has expanded to more than thir ...

. He worked as a teacher, then as campaign manager for Terry Pitt, and later for John Bird. He served on

West Midlands County Council West Midlands County Council (WMCC) was, from 1974 to 1986, the upper-tier administrative body for the West Midlands county, a metropolitan county in England. History The WMCC existed for a total of twelve years. It was established on 1 April 1 ...

from 1981 to 1986, and unsuccessfully contested

Bromsgrove Bromsgrove is a town in Worcestershire, England, about north-east of Worcester and south-west of Birmingham city centre. It had a population of 34,755 in at the 2021 census. It gives its name to the wider Bromsgrove District, of which it is ...

at the

1983 general election The following elections occurred in the year 1983. Africa * 1983 Cameroonian parliamentary election * 1983 Equatorial Guinean legislative election * 1983 Kenyan general election * 1983 Malagasy parliamentary election * 1983 Malawian general elec ...

, and Dudley West at the 1987 general election. He is a former director of the West Midlands Enterprise Board and chaired the West Midlands

Co-op A cooperative (also known as co-operative, coöperative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democr ...

Finance Company and the

Black Country The Black Country is an area of England's West Midlands. It is mainly urban, covering most of the Dudley and Sandwell metropolitan boroughs, with the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall and the City of Wolverhampton. The road between Wolverhampto ...

Co-op Development Agency. He was previously a member of the Labour Party's Plant Committee on

electoral reform Electoral reform is a change in electoral systems that alters how public desires, usually expressed by cast votes, produce election results. Description Reforms can include changes to: * Voting systems, such as adoption of proportional represen ...

. He was first elected an MEP in June 1989. From 1991 to 1993, he was the chair of the Joint Parliamentary Committee with Finland, from 1991 to 1994 he was the Parliament’s Rapporteur of Finland’s accession to the EU, from 1993 to 1994 he was the Founding President of the European Economic Area Joint Parliamentary Assembly, from 1996 to 1999 he was the Foreign Affairs spokesman for the

Socialist Group Socialism is an economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes the economic, political, and social ...

, from 1997 to 2001 he was European Parliamentary Private Secretary to Rt Hon Robin Cook MP, the Foreign Secretary, from 1999 to 2002 he was chair of the Joint Parliamentary Committee with Lithuania, and from 2002 to 2004 he was vice president of the Socialist Group with Responsibility for Enlargement. He then served as leader of the

European Parliamentary Labour Party The European Parliamentary Labour Party (EPLP) was the parliamentary party of the British Labour Party in the European Parliament. The EPLP was part of the pan-European Group of Socialists and Democrats (S&D), (with MEPs from sister parties such a ...

(EPLP) from 2002 until January 2009. In January 2004 a

letter bomb A letter bomb is an explosive device sent via the postal service, and designed with the intention to injure or kill the recipient when opened. They have been used in terrorist attacks such as those of the Unabomber. Some countries have agenc ...

was sent to his office and opened by his wife, a member of his staff. It immediately started to smoke and then caught fire, but no one was injured. As a result of his activities in the European Parliament he has been made a Commander of the White Rose of Finland, and the

Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas The Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas is the Lithuanian Presidential Award which was re-instituted to honour the citizens of Lithuania for outstanding performance in civil and public offices. Foreign nationals may also be awarded this O ...

. He announced in 2009 that he would not stand for re-election in the

2009 European Parliament election The 2009 European Parliament election was held in the 27 member states of the European Union (EU) between 4 and 7 June 2009. A total of 736 Member of the European Parliament, Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) were elected to represent s ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Titley, Gary 1950 births Living people Labour Party (UK) councillors Labour Party (UK) MEPs Labour Friends of Israel Alumni of the University of York Councillors in the West Midlands (county) People from Salford MEPs for England 1989–1994 MEPs for England 1994–1999 MEPs for England 1999–2004 MEPs for England 2004–2009 Recipients of the Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas