Robert V. Jackson
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Robert Victor Jackson (born September 24 1946, Rhodesia) is a politician in the United Kingdom. He was Member of Parliament for Wantage from 1983 to 2005, having been elected as a Conservative; however, he joined the Labour Party in 2005.
He was educated at Falcon College in then-Rhodesia, St Edmund Hall and All Souls College, Oxford. Jackson is married to Caroline Jackson, a Member of the European Parliament. He had worked as a political advisor to senior ministers prior to being elected and also as political advisor to the Governor of Rhodesia during its transition to independent Zimbabwe.
In 1974, Jackson stood in Manchester Central without success. In 1979 he became MEP for Upper Thames. In 1983, he was elected MP for Wantage. Since then he has been a junior minister at the Department of Education and Science (1987-90), the Department of Employment (1990-92) and the Office of Public Service and Science (1992-93).
On January 15, 2005, he defected to the Labour Party, claiming that the Tories under Michael Howard had "incoherent" policies on public services, "dangerous" views on Europe, and had "wobbled" on the issue of Iraq. He had been on the liberal and pro-European wing of the Conservatives, one of the few of that Party's MPs who supported the reduction in the age of consent for gay men. He has been treasurer of the Conservative Mainstream association and supported Ken Clarke in the 2001 Leadership election.
Prior to defecting, Jackson had indicated he would not stand in the forthcoming General Election, following Iain Duncan-Smith's election as Conservative Leader, and duly stepped down in April 2005. The local Conservative Association selected Ed Vaizey, a prominent conservative columnist and pundit to fight the 2005 general election.