Kevan Jones
Kevan David Jones PC (born 25 April 1964) is a British Labour Party politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for North Durham from 2001 to 2024.
Kevan Jones
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Early life and career[edit]
Kevan Jones was born on 25 April 1964 in Nottinghamshire and is the son of a coal miner. He attended Portland Comprehensive School in Worksop and Newcastle Polytechnic,[1] before studying at the University of Southern Maine, gaining a BA (Hons) in Government and Public Policy.
Before becoming an MP, he was a Newcastle upon Tyne councillor from 1990 to 2001 and Chairman of the Development Committee as well as an elected officer of the GMB Union.[2]
Mental health[edit]
In 2012, in a debate in Parliament on mental health issues and their "taboo", Jones spoke about his experience of having depression, alongside Conservative Charles Walker, who spoke about his own 30-year experience of obsessive–compulsive disorder. Jones stated that he had had depression since 1996. Jones and Walker were both later praised for their speeches by Time to Change, a mental health anti-stigma campaign run by charities Mind and Rethink Mental Illness.[30]
In a 2015 public disagreement with Ken Livingstone regarding the Trident nuclear missile system, Livingstone told the Daily Mirror that Jones was "obviously depressed and disturbed" and "should see a GP". Jones responded that the remarks "belong in the dark ages" and that mental health should not be used to attack political differences.[31] Livingstone eventually apologised unreservedly.[32]