Rathfelder at English Wikipedia · Public domain

Gerald Kaufman rose from a Polish Jewish family in Leeds to become a Labour minister in the 1974-1979 government and, by 2015, the longest-serving MP in the House of Commons, a status that made him Father of the House. Before politics he worked as a journalist and as an adviser to Prime Minister Harold Wilson, and later chaired the Culture, Media and Sport Committee for over a decade. He was knighted in 2004, though his standing was dented in 2009 when he was found to have made excessive expense claims during that year's parliamentary scandal.