Rudi Vis

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Rudi Vis MP

Member of Parliament for Finchley and Golders Green
In office 1 May 1997 – Next United Kingdom general election
Preceded by	new constituency
Succeeded by	TBD
Majority	741 (1.7%)

Born	4 April 1941 (1941-04-04) (age 67) Alkmaar, Netherlands
Nationality	British
Political party	Labour

Dr Rudolf Jan "Rudi" Vis (born 4 April 1941) is a politician in the United Kingdom for the Labour Party. He currently sits as Member of Parliament for Finchley and Golders Green — part of which formed the former constituency of Margaret Thatcher — which he won in the 1997 general election. This was one of the Labour's more unexpected victories and Vis had not even taken leave of his post as an economics lecturer prior to the victory.

Vis was born in 1941 in the town Alkmaar, in the Netherlands. He is a graduate of the London School of Economics.

He also sits on the Council of Europe. His views are generally, though not dogmatically, to the left of the party. He abstained in the mayoral candidate selection of 2000. He opposed the use of PPP for the London Underground, the war on Iraq, top-up fees and foundation hospitals. However, he voted in favour of the government's controversial counter-terrorism legislation.

He won re-election in 2001 with a slightly increased majority, but in 2005 his majority slumped to 741, following an increase in support for the Liberal Democrats in the constituency. His constituency is now one of the top Conservative targets at the next general election owing to the seat's marginal status. Vis will not stand at the next election.^[1]^[2]

According to Dr Vis, his proudest achievement in Parliament has been responding to 90% of letters within three working days.