Vernon Coaker facts for kids

Quick facts for kids The Right Honourable The Lord Coaker
Official portrait, 2017
Shadow Spokesperson for Home Affairs
Incumbent
Assumed office 18 May 2021
Leader	The Baroness Smith of Basildon
Preceded by	The Lord Kennedy of Southwark
Shadow Spokesperson for Defence
Incumbent
Assumed office 18 May 2021
Leader	The Baroness Smith of Basildon
Preceded by	The Lord Touhig
Minister of State for Schools and Learners
In office 8 June 2009 – 11 May 2010
Prime Minister	Gordon Brown
Preceded by	Jim Knight
Succeeded by	Nick Gibb
Minister of State for Policing, Crime and Security
In office 3 October 2008 – 8 June 2009
Prime Minister	Gordon Brown
Preceded by	Tony McNulty
Succeeded by	David Hanson
Lord Commissioner of the Treasury
In office 10 May 2005 – 5 May 2006
Prime Minister	Tony Blair
Preceded by	Jim Murphy
Succeeded by	Alan Campbell
Shadow cabinet portfolios Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland In office 13 September 2015 – 26 June 2016 Leader Jeremy Corbyn Preceded by Ivan Lewis Succeeded by Dave Anderson In office 7 October 2011 – 7 October 2013 Leader Ed Miliband Preceded by Shaun Woodward Succeeded by Ivan Lewis Shadow Secretary of State for Defence In office 7 October 2013 – 13 September 2015 Leader Ed Miliband Harriet Harman (acting) Preceded by Jim Murphy Succeeded by Maria Eagle
Parliamentary offices Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal Life peerage 22 March 2021 Member of Parliament for Gedling In office 1 May 1997 – 6 November 2019 Preceded by Andrew Mitchell Succeeded by Tom Randall
Personal details
Born	Vernon Rodney Coaker (1953-06-17) 17 June 1953 (age 70) London, England
Political party	Labour
Spouse	Jacqueline Heaton ​ (m. 1978)​
Children	2
Alma mater	University of Warwick Nottingham Trent University
Awards	Life peer

Vernon Rodney Coaker, Baron Coaker (born 17 June 1953) is a British politician and life peer serving as Shadow Spokesperson for Home Affairs and Defence since 2021. A member of the Labour Party, he was Member of Parliament (MP) for Gedling from 1997 to 2019.

Coaker served in government as Minister of State for Policing, Crime and Security from 2008 to 2009, and Minister of State for Schools and Learning from 2009 to 2010. In opposition, he was Shadow Secretary of State for Defence from 2013 to 2015 and Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from 2011 to 2013, and again from 2015 to 2016. Coaker lost his seat at the 2019 general election.

Early life

Born in Westminster, London, Coaker attended Drayton Manor Grammar School in London. He studied for an Economics and Politics BA (Hons) degree at the University of Warwick, then obtained a PGCE at Trent Polytechnic (Clifton College of Education).

Coaker worked as a teacher, becoming a History teacher at Manvers Pierrepont School (now the Carlton Road Centre of Castle College Nottingham) from 1976 to 1982, then Head of Department at Arnold Hill School from 1982 to 1988. From 1989 to 1995, he was a senior teacher at Bramcote Park School and thence until 1997 he was Deputy Headmaster at Big Wood School in Bestwood, Nottingham. He is a member of the NUT.

Political career

Coaker served as a district councillor for the Cotgrave Ward in Rushcliffe, Nottinghamshire from 1983 to 1997 and was leader of the Labour group on the council between 1987 and 1997. He stood for the Rushcliffe constituency seat in 1983. He contested Gedling in 1987 and 1992, before defeating Andrew Mitchell at the 1997 election, becoming the first Labour MP to win the Gedling seat.

After a number of Parliamentary Private Secretary roles, Coaker became a government whip in May 2005, having been an assistant whip since June 2003. He served as a Minister of State at the Home Office between 2008 and 2009 before being moved to take up the role of Minister of State for Schools and Learning between 2009 and 2010.

Following the Labour defeat at the 2010 General Election, Coaker was appointed as Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in October 2011. Coaker joined dozens of shadow ministers in resigning from his position on 26 June 2016 in Labour's parliamentary disquiet over the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn. He supported Owen Smith in the failed attempt to replace Jeremy Corbyn in the 2016 Labour Party (UK) leadership election. He lost his seat in the 2019 general election.

In December 2020, it was announced he would be conferred a life peerage after a nomination by Labour Party Leader Keir Starmer. On 22 March 2021, he was introduced to the House of Lords as Baron Coaker, of Gedling in the County of Nottinghamshire. He made his maiden speech on 17 May 2021 during the Queen's Speech debate, and was later appointed to the front bench as a Home Affairs and Defence spokesperson.

Political positions

Coaker supports the modernisation of the UK Trident missile system, and Britain's membership of NATO. He supports the multilateral disarmament of nuclear weapons. Coaker belongs to the Labour Friends of Israel lobby group.

He also supports people taking part in shooting sports and angling.

In January 2010, Coaker apologised for remarks that misled MPs. He had earlier told MPs that 70 police officers were hurt as a result of a global warming protest at Kingsnorth power station. In fact there were only 12 injuries that were legally reportable with just four of those involving contact with another person. The remaining eight injuries included "wasp sting", an injury while "sitting in a car", and an officer succumbing "to sun and heat". There were 68 injuries in total with the rest being treated by first-aiders at the scene. The whole operation had involved more than 1,000 officers.

Personal life

He married Jacqueline Heaton on 23 December 1978 in Basford; the couple have a daughter and a son. He supports Tottenham Hotspur. His wife, who is a teacher, was a town councillor in Cotgrave, where they live in the district of Rushcliffe.

Honours

• He was awarded an Honorary Professorship of Modern Slavery Policy by the University of Nottingham on 23 July 2020.
• He was awarded the Freedom of the Borough of Gedling on 17 June 2022.