Janice Gregory

Janice Gregory (née Powell; born 10 January 1955) is a Welsh Labour politician, who represented the constituency of Ogmore from the time the National Assembly for Wales was established in 1999 to the election of 2016. Her main contribution to the Assembly has been through chairing the Social Justice and Regeneration Committee.

Background

Gregory was born in Treorchy, the daughter of Raymond Powell, who was Labour Party Member of Parliament for Ogmore from 1979. She was educated at Bridgend Grammar School for Girls and worked as Constituency Secretary to her father from 1991, while also being active in the local Constituency Labour Party in which she was Women's Officer and Chair of the Ogmore Women's Forum. Several other members of the family were also active in Labour politics.

Political Career

In 1999 Gregory was selected as Labour candidate for the Ogmore constituency, the same constituency as her father, for the 1999 Welsh assembly election. She easily picked up the seat and was appointed as a Labour group whip in the Assembly. Together with three other whips, Gregory resigned this position in February 2000 after Alun Michael resigned as First Minister. It was speculated that the three, being loyal to Michael, believed there was a plot against him, and were unwilling to work for Chief Whip Andrew Davies, who they felt was behind this plot. Shortly after she announced her support for Rhodri Morgan to replace Alun Michael.

Gregory rebelled against the Labour administration in June 2000 when she voted in favour of a building a landmark headquarters building for the Assembly.Paul Starling, "Glasshouse gets £30m go-ahead", ''Daily Mirror'', 22 June 2000. She called on former cabinet minister Ron Davies to resign when it was revealed he had applied for jobs outside politics without informing the Labour leadership.Paul Starling, "Wrong Davies! Ron faces demands to resign after 'lies' over his bid to quit politics", ''Daily Mirror'', 9 July 2001.

When her father suddenly died in December 2001, Gregory immediately declined to seek selection to follow him.Phillip Nifield, "Candidates will be facing by-election", ''South Wales Echo'', 10 December 2001. It was uncertain whether Gregory would be reselected herself, but she managed to survive and was re-elected in the 2003 election with a 6,504 majority.

In December 2005, she was cleared of breaches of the Assembly Code of Conduct, after alleging that a GP in her constituency using an 0870 national rate number was doing so to make "a fast buck". However, she was deemed to have failed to conduct herself in a proper manner.

After her re-election she was made Chair of the Social Justice and Regeneration Committee. She was described by the '' Western Mail'' as a "well below par performer by our reckoning" and given a rating of 4 marks out of ten in its assessment of the Assembly Members at the end of the 2003–07 term.Martin Shipton, Paul Carey, "End of term report ... we score each of our AMs out of 10", ''Western Mail'', 24 April 2007. However, she increased her majority in the 2007 election.

In December 2009, she was appointed to the role of Chief Whip by Carwyn Jones. She was re-elected at the 2011 Welsh Assembly election with a further increased majority.

She announced her intent to stand down at the 2016 Welsh Assembly election in 2015. Huw Irranca-Davies was selected to replace her as the Labour candidate for Ogmore. She in turn took his previous role as Labour's campaign co-ordinator for the 2016 Assembly election.

References

Offices held

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gregory, Janice
1955 births
Living people
Wales AMs 1999–2003
Wales AMs 2003–2007
Wales AMs 2007–2011
Wales AMs 2011–2016
Welsh Labour members of the Senedd
Female members of the Senedd
People educated at Ysgol Brynteg
20th-century British women politicians