Jon Trickett

Jon Hedley Trickett (born 2 July 1950) is a British Labour Party politician, who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Hemsworth in West Yorkshire since the 1996 by-election. He served as the Parliamentary Private Secretary to Prime Minister Gordon Brown from 2008 to 2010, and was promoted to Ed Miliband's Shadow Cabinet in 2011 as Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office.

Early life

He studied at Roundhay Grammar School (now called Roundhay School) in Leeds. Formed politically in the anti-Vietnam war movement, Trickett joined the Labour Party in 1969 and was active on the Labour Left in Leeds from the late 1960s being the secretary of the 'Vote No' campaign in the Common Market referendum, and also the election agent for Michael McGowan who became the MEP for Leeds.

During the 1970s was a member of the ILP (the successor body of the Independent Labour Party) and contributed to their newspaper—the Labour Leader—and was elected for a number of years to the ruling body, the National Administrative Council. Trickett was also active in anti-fascist and anti-war movements. He was a delegate to the Leeds Trades Council.

Trickett became leader of Leeds City Council in 1989 and was first elected to the Leeds City Council in 1984 for the Beeston ward. He had gained a BA in Politics from the University of Hull, and later an MA in Political Sociology from the University of Leeds. From 1974-86 he also worked as a builder and plumber.

Parliamentary career

Elected on 1 February 1996 in a by-election brought about by the death of the previous MP, Labour's Derek Enright, Trickett was made PPS to Peter Mandelson after Labour was elected to power and worked in the Cabinet office and subsequently the DTI. After leaving the government at the time of Mandelson's fall from grace, Trickett was chair of the Compass pressure group.

He played a significant role in rebelling against the Iraq War and participated in demonstrations against the War in London, Wakefield and Leeds. He rebelled on a number of occasions against Tony Blair's attempts to bring about marketisation of public services. He led the demands for a recall of Parliament at the time of the Israeli attacks on the Lebanon. He led the campaign inside the Commons to amend the Companies Bill to secure public listed companies reporting on 'supply chain issues' in line with the suggestions of a range of non governmental organisations. He was a leading figure in the campaign to prevent a decision to replace the Trident^[1] nuclear weapons system in 2007. He was Jon Cruddas' campaign manager during the 2007 Labour Party deputy leadership election. He had previously voted against the Blair Government's 90 detention proposals—the only time Blair was defeated in the Commons.

He and Cruddas voted in favour of the 42-day detention proposal and Trickett then resigned from his position in Compass after voting in favour of the legislation despite opposition from some members of Compass to the Bill.

In June 2007 he was asked by Gordon Brown to chair the party's manifesto group on housing, a position which he declined to take up.

Trickett was appointed by the trades unions as acting Chair of the Tribune newspaper Board in 2007, Trickett ceased in this role when the paper was taken over by a private proprietor.

Following the cabinet reshuffle of 3 October 2008, Trickett became the Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown.^[2]

On 7 October 2011, Trickett was appointed Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office by Labour Leader Ed Miliband.^[3]

Personal life

He married Sarah Balfour on 31 October 1993. They have 3 children.

References

External links

• Jon Trickett MP official constituency website
• Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom
• Contributions in Parliament at Hansard 1803–2005
• Current session contributions in Parliament at Hansard
• Electoral history and profile at The Guardian
• Voting record at Public Whip
• Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou
• Profile at Westminster Parliamentary Record
• Profile at BBC News Democracy Live
• Articles authored at Journalisted