About Alan Meale
Sir Joseph Alan Meale is a former British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Mansfield from 1987 to 2017. He was the longest-standing MP in Mansfield's history. Meale was Vice Chair of the APPG for Cyprus, and was regarded by Greek Cypriot groups as one of their "oldest and closest friends in Parliament". According to Meale, he first became interested in the political situation in Cyprus back in 1987 when Tony Benn advised him to "pick a political issue and stick with it". Meale lost his seat at the 2017 general election when Ben Bradley overturned a 2015 Labour majority of 5,315 to become the first ever Conservative MP for the seat. Meale was a whip from 1992 to 1994 when he became Parliamentary Private Secretary to John Prescott in Prescott's different portfolios until 1998.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.