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 and a candidate in the Labour Party deputy leadership election.

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[edit] Early Career

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-Madison 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 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.

[edit] Parliamentary Career

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]

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]

[edit] Labour deputy leadership election

On 27 September 2006, he announced his intention to stand for the deputy leadership of the Labour Party once the current deputy leader John Prescott stands down.[4] He has said that unlike the other candidates for the deputy leadership he does not want to be Deputy Prime Minister but instead act as a "transmission belt" with the grassroots of the party.[5] It is unclear whether he will be able to get 45 MPs to endorse him as required in order to stand but has received strong union backing, including from Derek Simpson General Secretary of Amicus.[6]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Hansard debate for 13 July 2001
  2. ^ Labour 'ignoring working classes' ,BBC
  3. ^ The Labour rebels on tuition fees, BBC
  4. ^ Cruddas to stand for deputy leadership
  5. ^ BBC interview with Jon Cruddas
  6. ^ Union leader backing Cruddas bid

[edit] External links

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