Derek Hatton

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Derek Hatton (born 17 January 1948 in Liverpool), was a local politician in Liverpool, England.

He attended Liverpool Institute for Boys, 1959 to 1964, having passed the 11 plus exam. However by the end of summer term July 1960 12 year old DH was third from the bottom of 3D [a lower stream class] and the Head, J.R. John Robert Edwards was warning "his position is disgraceful and his place in the school is in jeopardy..." By Christmas 1960 JRE wrote " next term will decide whether he stay in the school." His maths teacher observed that he wastes time by talking..."my mother was constantly being called to the school to be told what a disgrace I was, but in spite of all the threats to expel me, I somehow managed to stay on till I was 16 [1964], largely I suspect due to the fear of what repercussions there would have been at home had the Institute thrown me out ..." Derek Hatton, Inside Left: The Story so Far [auto-biography], London: Bloomsbury, 1988. [There are incidentally in this auto-biography what appear to be several deliberate errors of fact concerning his school years.]

His academic success was limited but he enjoyed sports & appeared on stage as Gratiano in the school play, 'Merchant of Venice' alongside Bill Kenwright. These gifts were later to become evident in his well-tailored personal appearance, his platform presence and gift of political oratory.

Hatton was a member of the Labour Party and the high-profile deputy leader of Liverpool City Council in the 1980s. He was expelled in 1986 for belonging to the Militant Tendency, an entryist faction in the Labour Party promoting Trotskyism. The National Executive Committee of the party voted to expel him by 12 votes to 6, the move being a policy aim of Neil Kinnock.

Liverpool shared in a national economic recession during Hatton's time in leadership. Businesses stopped investing in Liverpool. Every council employee was handed a redundancy notice, one of the key pieces of evidence used against Hatton by the central Labour Party when he was expelled.. Furthermore, one of Hatton's alleged successes was the building of new housing in poorer areas of the city. Hatton claims that the faults and disasters of his time in office were the result of the policy of the Thatcher government, and that he did his best to control the damage. He was the most noted and controversial local councillor in 20th century Liverpool.^{[citation needed]}

After his expulsion from the party, Hatton pursued a career in the media, presenting a show on Talk Sport, and appearing on such programmes as Have I Got News For You. He even began modelling menswear (he had worked in a mens' tailoring shop as a teenager).

He presented the lunchtime phone-in on 105.4 Century FM when it launched in 1998, titled "The Degsy Debate". The BBC2 fly-on-the-wall documentary Trouble at the Top followed the station's launch, and Hatton's training.

The darker side of Hatton’s reign was alluded to in the Alan Bleasdale drama G.B.H. shown on Channel 4 in 1991 in which the lead character was reputedly based on a Hatton-like politician.

Derek Hatton is now Chairman of the new media company Rippleffect.

[edit] Sources

Derek Hatton, Inside Left: The Story so Far [auto-biography], London: Bloomsbury, 1988. ISBN 0747501858
Michael Crick, The March of Militant, London: Faber, 1986. ISBN 0571146430