Denzil Davies

Labour MP Llanelli

Date of birth

9 October 1938

Political profile

Denzil Davies is a long-serving backbencher and was a leading Labour figure in the 1970s and 80s.

He served as a minister in the Treasury under both Harold Wilson and Jim Callaghan, and was shadow defence secretary during four years of Mrs Thatcher's premiership.

As a moderate, he worked to soften the electoral impact of Labour's unilateralist stance.

However, he resigned from the front bench in 1988, claiming that Neil Kinnock made policy changes without consulting him.

Since then, he has become an entrenched figure on the backbenches, too popular in his constituency to be targeted by New Labour, but far from the centre of power.

He has developed a role as a devoted campaigner on specific issues, particularly constitutional matters, on which he often goes against the grain of Labour thought.

He is one of the most fervent Eurosceptics in the House, and even made an abortive attempt to stand in the 1994 leadership election in an attempt to highlight what he saw as the dead hand of continued European centralisation.

He has also been a consistent opponent of Welsh devolution, swimming against the Welsh Labour tide for the past two decades.

Mr Davies is standing down at th enext general election.

Contact

Commons office: 020 7219 4252
Constituency office: 01554 756374