Jon Cruddas

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Jonathan Cruddas (born 7 April 1962), known as Jon Cruddas, is a United Kingdom Labour Party politician. He is the Member of Parliament for Dagenham.

Jon Cruddas was born in Helston, the son of a sailor, he was educated at the Oaklands Roman Catholic Comprehensive School in Waterlooville, near Portsmouth, before attending the University of Warwick where he qualified as a Doctor of Philosophy. He was a visiting fellow at the University of Wisconsin for a year from 1987. In 1989 he became a policy officer with the Labour Party before becoming the chief assistant to the general secretaries of the party in 1994, serving both Larry Whitty and Tom Sawyer. After the 1997 general election he became the deputy political secretary to the new Prime Minister Tony Blair. He was a member of the Transport and General Workers Union 1989-2001.

He was elected as a member of the House of Commons at the 2001 general election when he inherited the safe Labour seat of Dagenham from the retiring Judith Church. He held the seat comfortably with a majority of 8,693 and has remained the MP there since. He used his maiden speech to show that there is more to Dagenham than the Ford Motor Company and praised the plans for development in the Thames Gateway on July 13, 2001. [1].

He has been married to fellow Labour activist Anna Mary Healy since 1992 and they have a son. His wife worked for Jack Cunningham, Mo Mowlam and Gus Macdonald. His constituency includes Becontree, which, when built in the early 1920s, was the largest council housing estate in Europe. Jon Cruddas has criticised the Blair government for ignoring their traditional support in the chase for middle class voters.[2]. He also rebelled against the government on tuition fees.[3]

On September 27, 2006, he announced his intention to stand for the deputy leadership of the Labour Party. [4]

[edit] External links

• Jon Cruddas MP - Campaigning for Change
• Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Jon Cruddas MP
• TheyWorkForYou.com - Jon Cruddas MP

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by: Judith Church	Member of Parliament for Dagenham 2001 – present	Incumbent