Ian Gibson put his own principles above politics

Ian Gibson, who has died aged 82 of pancreatic cancer, had a considerable reputation as a cancer researcher before seeking a political career in order to try to advance the cause of science in public life.

He was elected for the first time in 1997, aged 58, as the Labour MP for Norwich North and spent the ensuing 12 years in an energetic pursuit of this case, while also propounding his strongly held convictions on a wide range of issues about health and education.

He was a popular, figure who won the chairmanship of the Commons select committee on science and technology in 2001, despite the opposition of his own party whips.

Had he not been an intractable individualist, his political career might possibly have progressed, but his primary loyalty was always to his own principles, which is never a recipe for success in politics. He put the interests of science and of the people of Norwich some way above those of the Labour Party; a stance that brought him only respect.

As a scientist for 32 years at the University of East Anglia, where he had been dean of the school of biological sciences immediately before election to Westminster, Mr Gibson did bring a degree of expertise to political debate on scientific issues. He was one of the first MPS to insist there was medical evidence to support the existence of Gulf War syndrome, the condition suffered by military troops who had served in the Middle East in the first Gulf War in 1991. He also played a small but dramatic personal part in the run up to the Iraq War in 2003. Three years later he revealed that, before the invasion of Iraq, he had been secretly flown by British security personnel to an unknown destination he believed to have been in the Middle East in order to meet a former student of his at UEA.

Mr Gibson had supervised the PHD of Rihab Taha, a biochemist who studied plant toxins in Norwich between 1980 and 1984, before heading the Iraqi research and development programme on biological and chemical weapons. Mr Gibson was instructed to ask her if Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction, which she denied. Taha was later dubbed “Dr Germ” when named in what became known as the “dodgy dossier”.

Mr Gibson opposed the subsequent Iraq War. He had first voted against Tony Blair’s government – on benefit cuts – within months of being elected, and by this time had an established record as an uncompromising left-wing rebel.

It made for a sometimes difficult relationship with Charles Clarke, his fellow Labour MP for the adjoining constituency of Norwich South, notably when Mr Gibson opposed the £3,000 university top-up fees introduced by Mr Clarke as education secretary.

But Mr Gibson was a clever, funny man with a common touch. He was a keen amateur footballer and from 1999 to 2005 was coach of the parliamentary football squad.

RESPECT: Ian Gibson was often at odds with his party.