IN the run up to the General Election on May 6, the Harrow Times is featuring daily profiles on the candidates vying for your votes in Brent and Harrow.

Today features Barry Gardiner, Labour candidate for Brent North.

For comprehensive election coverage, click here.

Barry Gardiner is hoping to retain his seat in Brent North as a candidate for the Labour Party.

The 53-year-old, who was born in Glasgow, has been the sitting MP since 1997, having previously worked as a senior partner in a company of Marine Arbitrators in the City.

He was the subject of local scrutiny for his living arrangements during the expenses scandal, having his main home in Chorleywood, Herts.

However, he has declared at this election his home is the flat he bought last year in Talisman Way, Wembley, in the heart of Brent North.

Barry's political career began in 1988 when he was elected to Cambridgeshire City Council, serving as Mayor and as the chairman of the finance committee.

Following his election to Parliament in 1997, Barry has held a series of government posts, including in the Northern Ireland office, in the Department of Trade and Industry, as Biodiversity Minister, and as the Prime Minister's Special Envoy for Forestry.

Since 2008, he has been the Parliamentary Private Secretary for Lord Mandelson.

Barry key policies are:

To invest in local jobs and skills to nurse families through the recession.

Reject a Tory wage freeze for Brent teachers, nurses, police, and firemen.

New school buildings for Copland, Alperton and Byron Court.

Bring digital screening for breast cancer to Brent residents.

- Protect and improve our local parks and global environment.”