Janice Gregory

Janice Gregory (born 10 January, 1955) is a Welsh politician. She has been a Labour Party member of the National Assembly for Wales for Ogmore since the Assembly was set up in 1999. Her main contribution to the Assembly has been through chairing the Social Justice and Regeneration Committee.

Family

Gregory was born in Treorchy, the daughter of Sir Ray Powell, who was Labour Party Member of Parliament for Ogmore from 1979. She was educated at Bridgend Grammar School for Girls and worked as Constituency Secretary to her father from 1991, while also being active in the local Constituency Labour Party in which she was Women's Officer and Chair of the Ogmore Women's Forum. Several other members of the family were also active in Labour politics.

Election to the National Assembly

In 1999 Gregory was selected as Labour candidate for the same constituency as her father for the election to the National Assembly for Wales. She easily held the seat and was appointed as a Labour group whip in the Assembly. Together with three other whips, Gregory resigned this position in February 2000 after Alun Michael resigned as First Minister. Newspapers speculated that the three, being loyal to Michael, were unwilling to continue serving under Andrew Davies who had plotted to get rid of him.Paul Waugh, "I will not be Blair's Welsh puppet, says Morgan", "The Independent", 12 February 2000.]

Politics in the Assembly

Gregory rebelled against the Labour administration in June 2000 when she voted in favour of a building a landmark headquarters building for the Assembly.Paul Starling, "Glasshouse gets £30m go-ahead", "Daily Mirror", 22 June 2000.] She called on former cabinet minister Ron Davies to resign when it was revealed he had applied for jobs outside politics without informing the Labour leadership.Paul Starling, "Wrong Davies! Ron faces demands to resign after 'lies' over his bid to quit politics", "Daily Mirror", 9 July 2001.] When her father suddenly died in December 2001, Gregory immediately declined to seek selection to follow him.Phillip Nifield, "Candidates will be facing by-election", "South Wales Echo", 10 December 2001.] The death of Sir Ray Powell raised questions over whether Gregory would be reselected herself,"Gregory fighting for political survival", "Wales on Sunday", 20 January 2002.] but she managed to survive and was re-elected in the 2003 election with a 6,504 majority.

ocial Justice committee

She was then made Chair of the Social Justice and Regeneration Committee. She was described by the "Western Mail" as a "well below par performer by our reckoning" and given a rating of 4 marks out of ten in its assessment of the Assembly Members at the end of the 2003-07 term.Martin Shipton, Paul Carey, "End of term report ... we score each of our AMs out of 10", "Western Mail", 24 April 2007.] However, she increased her majority in the 2007 election.

References

Offices held