Michael Cecil John Barnes (born 22 September 1932) has been 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...

 Labour Party

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...

 politician and marketing consultant.

He was Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 for Brentford and Chiswick

Brentford and Chiswick (UK Parliament constituency)

Brentford and Chiswick was a parliamentary constituency centred on the Brentford and Chiswick districts of west London. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom....

 from 1966 to 1974, when the seat was abolished in boundary changes. At the February 1974 general election

United Kingdom general election, February 1974

The United Kingdom's general election of February 1974 was held on the 28th of that month. It was the first of two United Kingdom general elections held that year, and the first election since the Second World War not to produce an overall majority in the House of Commons for the winning party,...

, he stood in the new Brentford and Isleworth constituency against the Conservative MP

Conservative Party (UK)

The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...

 Barney Hayhoe

Barney Hayhoe

Bernard "Barney" John Hayhoe, Baron Hayhoe PC is a British Conservative politician.He was the Member of Parliament for Heston and Isleworth from 1970 until February 1974, then for Brentford and Isleworth from February 1974 until he retired at the 1992 general election...

, whose own Heston and Isleworth

Heston and Isleworth (UK Parliament constituency)

Heston and Isleworth was a parliamentary constituency centred on the Heston and Isleworth districts of west London. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom....

 constituency had also been abolished. Hayhoe won by 726 votes. Between 1990 and 1996 Barnes served as Legal Services Ombudsman

Legal Services Ombudsman

In England and Wales, the Legal Services Ombudsman was a statutory officer that investigated allegations about the improper, ineffective or inefficient way that complaints about lawyers are handled by their respective self-regulating professional bodies. The Ombudsman is appointed by, and is...

. He currently serves as the head of the Financial Ombudsman Service

Financial Ombudsman Service

The United Kingdom's Financial Ombudsman Service is an ombudsman established in 2001 as a result of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 to help settle disputes between consumers and UK-based businesses providing financial services, such as banks, building societies, insurance companies,...

.