Ian Cameron Swales is a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 Liberal Democrat

Liberal Democrats

The Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...

 politician

Politician

A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

. He is the Member of Parliament for the constituency of Redcar

Redcar (UK Parliament constituency)

Redcar is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.-Boundaries:...

 in England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 from May 2010. Swales took Redcar from Labour

Labour Party (UK)

The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...

 incumbent Vera Baird

Vera Baird

Vera Baird is a British Labour Party activist, barrister, author and lecturer. She serves as visiting lecturer at London Southbank University and is co-director of Astraea: Gender Justice...

 for the Liberal Democrats in the 2010 general election, with a 21.8% swing. Swales added over 10,000 votes to his 2005 general election

United Kingdom general election, 2005

The United Kingdom general election of 2005 was held on Thursday, 5 May 2005 to elect 646 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party under Tony Blair won its third consecutive victory, but with a majority of 66, reduced from 160....

 total. This was the biggest swing against any Labour candidate in the election and also the biggest gain by any Liberal Democrat.

An old Ashvillian, Ian was educated at Ashville College

Ashville College

Ashville College is a co-educational independent school for both day and boarding pupils aged 4–18 in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England. It was founded as a Methodist boarding school for boys in 1877, and subsequently merged with Elmfield College and New College in the 1930s...

 private school in Harrogate before graduating in chemical engineering

Chemical engineering

Chemical engineering is the branch of engineering that deals with physical science , and life sciences with mathematics and economics, to the process of converting raw materials or chemicals into more useful or valuable forms...

 from the UMIST, Swales worked for ICI

Imperial Chemical Industries

Imperial Chemical Industries was a British chemical company, taken over by AkzoNobel, a Dutch conglomerate, one of the largest chemical producers in the world. In its heyday, ICI was the largest manufacturing company in the British Empire, and commonly regarded as a "bellwether of the British...

 from 1978 to 1999.

Personal life

Swales has three children with his wife Pat. His interests include travel, reading, cooking, walking and keeping fit.

External links

• Ian Swales MP official constituency website
• Ian Swales MP official blog