Steven Linares
. Steven Ernest Linares is a Gibraltarian teacher, trade unionist, barrister and politician affiliated to the Gibraltar Liberal Party. He is an MP at the Gibraltar Parliament and as of December 2011 formed part of the Government of Gibraltar as Minister for Sport, Culture, Heritage & Youth.Biography
Linares was one of the first admitted to the Bayside Comprehensive School, along with Peter Montegriffo, Gilbert Licudi and Dominique Searle. He worked in several positions before, at the age of 23, enrolling at Leeds Trinity University College where he received his B.Ed. in 1987. In 1988 he taught at St Joseph's Middle School and then for twelve years at the Bishop Fitzgerald Middle School before being elected to Parliament in the 2000 general elections.
Affiliated in 1989 to the Gibraltar Teachers' Association, Linares was also a member of Gibraltar Socialist Labour Party, where he remained until 1992. That year, he joined the Gibraltar National Party and chose to focus more on union issues. He became vice president of the GTA in 1993 and president in 1995. He was elected to the Gibraltar Trades Council in 1994 and was president of the Gibraltar Representative Organisation from 1993 to 1995, where he worked with Jaime Netto and Joe Holliday.
In 1996, with the defeat of the National Party in the general elections and its transformation into the Liberal Party, Linares was one of the architects of the rapprochement between the LP and the GSLP. In 2000, he became Shadow Minister for Education, Training, Youth and Culture.
In 2009, he became a barrister in the UK, and in 2010 in Gibraltar. Linares attended the University of Wolverhampton, University of the West of England and is a member of Middle Temple. As a barrister, he worked for the law firm Charles Gomez & Co.
In 2011, with the GSLP's victory in the general elections, Linares was appointed Minister for Sport, Culture, Heritage and Youth.
