Jon Cruddas

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Jon Cruddas MP
Jon Cruddas
Member of Parliament
for Dagenham
Incumbent
Assumed office 
7 June 2001
Preceded by Judith Church
Born 7 April 1962 (1962-04-07) (age 46)
Helston
Nationality British
Political party Labour
Alma mater University of Warwick
Religion Roman Catholic
Website [1]

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. Cruddas was a candidate in the Labour Party deputy leadership election of 2007, being eliminated in the penultimate round of the contest which was won by Harriet Harman MP. Jon Cruddas won the most votes of all candidates in the first round of voting, obtaining 19.39 per cent of the vote from party members and party affiliate organizations. It is thought that the second choice votes of the supporters of Cruddas won the contest for Harman.

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[edit] Early career

Jon Cruddas was born in Helston, the son of a sailor, and was educated at the Oaklands Roman Catholic Comprehensive School in Waterlooville, near Portsmouth, before attending the University of Warwick where he qualified with a M.A. and later a Ph.D. in Philosophy, for a thesis entitled An analysis of value theory, the sphere of production and contemporary approaches to the reorganisation of workplace relations[1]. 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 and as the link between the Prime Minister and the trade unions, he worked on the introduction of the minimum wage. 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 one son, Emmett. His wife worked for Jack Cunningham, Mo Mowlam, Gus Macdonald and now Harriet Harman

[edit] Parliamentary career

Cruddas 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 say 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.[2]

Jon Cruddas has criticised the Blair government for ignoring their traditional support in the chase for middle class voters.[3] He rebelled against the government on university top-up fees,[4] the limiting of asylum seeker rights,[5] the replacement of comprehensive education system with trust schools and proposals to renew the UK's Trident nuclear weapons submarine system.[6]

He supports the Fourth Option for direct investment in council housing and opposes further privatisation within the NHS [7] and has also supported the Trade Union Freedom Bill.[8]

Cruddas is unique amongst deputy leader candidates to be one of over 100 Labour MPs to sign a letter demanding a recall of Parliament when the Blair government refused to call for an immediate stop to the Israeli bombing of Lebanon in 2006.[9]

[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.[10] He has said that unlike the other candidates for the deputy leadership he does not want to be Deputy Prime Minister, but instead to act as a "transmission belt" with the grassroots of the party.[11] In interviews, Cruddas has said he does not want the "trappings or baubles" that traditionally come with the job, such as use of the Dorneywood weekend country residence.[12]

Cruddas accrued nominations from 49 MPs and has received strong union backing, including that of Derek Simpson General Secretary of Amicus [13] and from the Transport and General Workers' Union.[14] He has also received backing from former Labour Party deputy leader Roy Hattersley,[15] Mayor of London Ken Livingstone,[16] NUS President Gemma Tumelty, and former National Executive Committee member, actor and presenter Tony Robinson.[17] The Labour publication Tribune endorsed him as "the change that is required".[18]

On 24 June 2007, it was announced that Harriet Harman won the deputy leadership, although Jon Cruddas did win in the first round of votes.

[edit] Platform and political views

Cruddas's deputy leadership challenge has been based on the precepts contained in a pamphlet called 'Fit for purpose: A programme for Labour Party renewal', co-authored with journalist John Harris and funded by the pressure group Compass.[19] Cruddas won a Compass membership poll in March 2007, gaining 53% of first preference votes among the deputy leadership candidates.[20]

In terms of his relative position within the Labour Party, newspapers have described Cruddas as "left wing",[21] however he has also been described as "modernising centre-left",[22] and is not a member of the Socialist Campaign Group.

After speculation that the Roman Catholic Cruddas was in favour of restricting legal abortion, he stated that he is pro-choice,[23] .

He has described himself as 'mistaken' over his decision to vote for British participation in the 2003 Iraq Conflict [23] and has called for an inquiry to form "part of the reconciliation process".[24]

On May 26, 2007, Cruddas signed an open letter to the Guardian, expressing support for Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's decision not to renew the broadcast license of opposition television station RCTV. The letter justified this support on the grounds that RCTV had encouraged and supported the attempted coup against Chavez in April 2002.[25]

[edit] Trivia

On October 03, 2007, Jon Cruddas was elected Honorary Chairman of the University of Sheffield Labour Club, following Harriet Harman who was the first Honorary Chairman elected in 2006

[edit] References

  1. ^ University of Warwick Library /All
  2. ^ Hansard debate for 13 July 2001
  3. ^ Labour 'ignoring working classes' BBC News, 25 September 2005
  4. ^ The Labour rebels on tuition fees BBC News, 27 January 2004
  5. ^ Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Bill — Clause 43 — Accommodation — 29 Mar 2006 at 17:00 — Commons Division No. 205 The Public Whip
  6. ^ The Labour rebels on Trident replacement BBC News, 14 March 2007
  7. ^ Labour contender calls for halt to privatisation in NHS The Guardian, 21 May 2007
  8. ^ EDM 532 Trade Union Freedom Bill CampaignPIMS, 18 December 2006
  9. ^ Recall letter
  10. ^ Cruddas to stand for deputy leadership The Guardian, 27 September 2006
  11. ^ Interview: Jon Cruddas BBC News, 2 March 2007
  12. ^ Jon Cruddas: You Ask The Questions The Independent, 7 May 2007
  13. ^ Union chief backing Cruddas bid BBC News, 9 March 2007
  14. ^ Choose change: Vote Cruddas TGWU.org
  15. ^ Jon Cruddas Gains Momentum With Hattersley Endorsement CCNMatthews, 19 May 2007
  16. ^ Ken Livingstone and Unite back Jon Cruddas for deputy leader JonCruddas.org.uk, 18 May 2007
  17. ^ Tony Robinson backs Jon Cruddas JonCruddas.org.uk, 9 May 2007
  18. ^ Leader column Leader column from the Tribune JonCruddas.org.uk, 11 May 2007
  19. ^ Fit for Purporse: A programme for Labour Party renewal
  20. ^ Members of Compass overwhelmingly vote to support Jon Cruddas for Labour Deputy Leader Compass, 7 March 2007
  21. ^ For Labour flavour, who will be deputy is the top tussle Financial Times, 26 February 2007 (republished on JonCruddas.org.uk)
  22. ^ Labour's lost its moral purpose, warns Cruddas The Telegraph, 14 April 2007
  23. ^ a b Compass Youth interviews Jon Cruddas Compass Youth, 30 October 2006
  24. ^ Ministers urge Brown to launch Iraq inquiry The Independent, 19 May 2007
  25. ^ Letter: Television's role in the coup against Chávez | The Guardian | Guardian Unlimited

[edit] External links

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