Michael Cecil John Barnes

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(22 September 1932 – 22 March 2018) was a British Labour Party politician, marketing consultant and senior public official. Barnes was born in

Painswick Painswick is a town and civil parish in the Stroud District in Gloucestershire, England. Originally the town grew from the wool trade, but it is now best known for its parish church's Taxus baccata, yew trees and the local Painswick House, Pain ...

, Gloucestershire to Major Cecil Barnes and Katherine Barnes. He studied at Malvern School before completing national service as a second lieutenant in the

Wiltshire Regiment The Wiltshire Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, formed in 1881 under the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 62nd (Wiltshire) Regiment of Foot and the 99th Duke of Edinburgh's (Lanarkshire) Regiment of Foot. T ...

. He then went on to university, where he read

Classics Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek literature, Ancient Greek and Roman literature and ...

Corpus Christi College, Oxford Corpus Christi College (formally, Corpus Christi College in the University of Oxford; informally abbreviated as Corpus or CCC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1517 by Richard Fo ...

and joined the Labour Party in his final year. After graduating, Barnes worked for advertising agencies for several years. Barnes entered politics at the age of 32. Having unsuccessfully fought Wycombe in

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 – In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patria ...

, he was Member of Parliament for Brentford and Chiswick in

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

. As an MP, he argued in support for refugees from the Biafran Civil War and for Bangladesh in its fight for independence. Barnes also voted in favour of the UK joining the

EEC The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organisation created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisbo ...

, rebelling against a Labour

three line whip A whip is an official of a political party whose task is to ensure party discipline (that members of the party vote according to the party platform rather than their constituents, individual conscience or donors) in a legislature. Whips ...

. Barnes remained an MP until 1974, when the Brentford and Chiswick seat was abolished in boundary changes. At the February 1974 general election, he stood in the new Brentford and Isleworth constituency against the Conservative MP Barney Hayhoe, whose own Heston and Isleworth constituency had also been abolished. Hayhoe won by 726 votes. Afterwards, Barnes became a founding member of the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...

, before returning to the Labour Party two years later. Between 1990 and 1996 Barnes served as Legal Services Ombudsman. Between 2002 and 2010, he served as the Independent Assessor of the

Financial Ombudsman Service The Financial Ombudsman Service is an ombudsman in the United Kingdom. It was established in 2000, and given statutory powers in 2001 by the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, to help settle disputes between consumers and UK-based busi ...

. He was appointed CBE in the 1998 New Year Honours. Barnes also worked part-time for the

Gulbenkian Foundation The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (), commonly referred to simply as the Gulbenkian Foundation, is a Portuguese institution dedicated to the promotion of the arts, philanthropy, science, and education. One of the wealthiest charitable founda ...

. Barnes died in March 2018 at the age of 85, survived by his wife Anne and two children, Hugh and Kate.

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* 1932 births 2018 deaths Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1966–1970 UK MPs 1970–1974 Social Democratic Party (UK) politicians Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Oxford {{England-Labour-UK-MP-stub