Malcolm Wicks - Parliamentary Career

Parliamentary Career

He was first elected in 1992 for Croydon North West after having previously contested the seat unsuccessfully in 1987.

Wicks' was one of the few MPs whose Private Member's Bill reached the statute books, with the Carers (Recognition and Services) Act 1995 recognising the needs of family carers.

He was Chairman of the Education Select Committee from 1998 until his July 1999 appointment as Minister for Lifelong Learning in the Department for Education and Employment. In July 2001 he moved to the Department for Work and Pensions, where he spent four years, first as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, and then as Minister of State, for Pensions. In May 2005, he was appointed as Minister for Energy at the Department of Trade and Industry in the post-election Cabinet reshuffle. In a mini-reshuffle on 10 November 2006, following the retirement of Lord Sainsbury, Wicks was appointed as Minister of State for Science and Innovation in the same department.

In Gordon Brown's first reshuffle on 28 June 2007, Wicks was moved to the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, which replaced the Department of Trade and Industry, to resume his old role as Minister for Energy. He was a vice-president of Carers UK and the Alzheimer's Society. Wicks stood down from the government in October 2008, accepting an appointment to the Privy Council and becoming the Prime Minister's special representative on international energy issues. He emerged with enhanced repution during the MPs expenses scandal being deemed a "parliamentary angel." Wicks was re-elected as the MP for Croydon North on 6 May 2010 with an increased majority of 16,483.

He married Margaret Baron in 1968 and they had a son and two daughters. He died in September 2012 after a long illness, aged 65.