Chris Mullin | |
---|---|
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs | |
In office 13 June 2003 –10 May 2005 | |
Prime Minister | Tony Blair |
Preceded by | Mike O'Brien |
Succeeded by | The Lord Triesman |
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development | |
In office 26 January 2001 –11 June 2001 | |
Prime Minister | Tony Blair |
Preceded by | George Foulkes |
Succeeded by | Hilary Benn |
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Environment,Transport and the Regions | |
In office 29 July 1999 –25 January 2001 | |
Prime Minister | Tony Blair |
Preceded by | Alan Meale |
Succeeded by | Bob Ainsworth |
Chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee | |
In office 18 July 2001 –15 July 2003 | |
Prime Minister | Tony Blair |
Preceded by | Robin Corbett |
Succeeded by | John Denham |
In office 17 July 1997 –18 October 1999 | |
Preceded by | Ivan Lawrence |
Succeeded by | Robin Corbett |
Member of Parliament for Sunderland South | |
In office 12 June 1987 –12 April 2010 | |
Preceded by | Gordon Bagier |
Succeeded by | Constituency abolished |
Personal details | |
Born | Chelmsford,Essex,England | 12 December 1947
Political party | Labour |
Spouse | Ngoc Mullin |
Children | 2 |
Residence | Northumberland |
Alma mater | University of Hull |
Occupation | Politician and author |
Profession | Journalist |
Website | chrismullinexmp |
Christopher John Mullin (born 12 December 1947) [1] is a British journalist,author and Labour politician.
As a journalist in the 1980s,Chris Mullin led a campaign that resulted in the release of the Birmingham Six,victims of a miscarriage of justice. In March 2022,a court case settled that Mullin would not need to release any notes relating to who may have planted the two bombs. Mullin is the author of four novels,including A Very British Coup (1982),which was later adapted for television,and its sequel The Friends of Harry Perkins. Mullin is also a celebrated diarist.
Mullin was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Sunderland South from 1987 until 2010. In Parliament,he served as Chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee and as a Minister in the Department for Environment,Transport and the Regions,the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and in the Department for International Development.
Mullin is the son of a Scottish Protestant father and an Irish Catholic mother,both of whom worked for Marconi. Mullin was educated at St Joseph's College,a Roman Catholic boarding independent school for boys (now co-educational) in the town of Ipswich in Suffolk,followed by the University of Hull, [2] where he studied Law. He joined the Labour Party after his politics shifted leftward in response to the Vietnam War. [3]
Before being elected as an MP,Mullin was a journalist,training with the Daily Mirror . [4] In this period Mullin travelled to Russia and China. [5] From there,his first main activity as a journalist came in the Vietnam War. He has been highly critical of the American strategy in Vietnam and has stated that he believes that the war,intended to stop the advance of Communism,instead only delayed the coming of market forces in the country. [6] Mullin also reported from Cambodia in 1973 and 1980.
Mullin,working for the Granada current affairs programme World in Action ,was pivotal in securing the release of the Birmingham Six,a long-standing miscarriage of justice. In 1985,the first of several World in Action programmes casting doubt on the men's convictions was broadcast. In 1986,Mullin's book,Error of Judgment:The Truth About the Birmingham Pub Bombings,set out a detailed case supporting the men's claims that they were innocent. It included his claim to have met some of those who were actually responsible for the bombings.
In March 1990,ITV broadcast the Granada Television documentary drama,Who Bombed Birmingham?,which re-enacted the bombings and subsequent key events in Mullin's campaign. Written by Rob Ritchie and directed by Mike Beckham,it featured John Hurt as Mullin,with Martin Shaw as World in Action producer Ian McBride,Ciaran Hinds as Richard McIlkenny,one of the Six,and Patrick Malahide as Michael Mansfield (QC). [7] [8] It was repackaged for export as The Investigation –Inside a Terrorist Bombing,and first shown on American television on 22 April 1990. [9] [10] Granada's BAFTA-nominated follow-up documentary after the release of the six men,World in Action Special:The Birmingham Six –Their Own Story,was telecast on 18 March 1991. [11]
In 2019,Mullin was criticised by the relatives of some of the victims of the attack for not naming IRA bombing suspects who he met whilst investigating the case in the 1980s. Mullin was called "scum" and a "disgrace". Mullin has defended this decision on the grounds of journalistic ethics. He was quoted in The Guardian as having said:"In order to track down the bombers,I had to give assurances not only to guilty but to innocent intermediaries that I would not,during their lifetime,disclose the names of those who cooperated. Had I not done so,no one would have cooperated". [12]
Mullin edited two collections of Tony Benn's speeches and writings,Arguments for Socialism (1979) and Arguments for Democracy (1981),and,as editor of the left-wing weekly Tribune from 1982 to 1984,provided effective support for Benn and his ideas. Mullin also sought to turn Tribune into a readers' cooperative,to its shareholders' chagrin.[ citation needed ]
Mullin has published a total of four novels. His first novel was A Very British Coup,published in 1982,which portrays the destabilisation of a left-wing British government by the forces of the Establishment. He wrote it having discussed the idea of a left-wing Prime Minister being undermined by the establishment following the 1981 Labour Party Conference with Peter Hain,Stuart Holland and Tony Banks. Holland revealed in this discussion that he had written a number of chapters in a potential novel containing this story and that Hain had contacted publishers regarding the possibility of a similar novel. Subsequently Mullin was told by the former BBC correspondent Peter Hardiman Scott that he had been writing a book on this topic at the time. [13]
The novel was adapted for television by Alan Plater,with substantial alterations to the plot,and screened in 1988. The screenwriter was Alan Plater and it was directed by Mick Jackson. Starring Ray McAnally,the series was first screened on Channel 4 and won Bafta and Emmy awards,and was syndicated to more than 30 countries. The book was also the basis for the 2012 four-part Channel 4 series, Secret State . [14] Starring Gabriel Byrne,this version was written by Robert Jones. [15] Mullin later wrote a sequel to A Very British Coup called The Friends of Harry Perkins which was published in 2019. The book explores Brexit and American–Chinese relations amongst other topics. [13]
Mullin also published The Last Man Out of Saigon in 1986 featuring a plot in which a CIA agent sent into Vietnam in the last week of the war to set up a network of agents and also The Year of the Fire Monkey,a thriller about a CIA attempt to assassinate Chairman Mao using a Tibetan agent,in 1991.
Mullin stood unsuccessfully in the 1970 general election against Liberal Leader Jeremy Thorpe in North Devon. [16] Mullin also fought Kingston-upon-Thames in February 1974.
By 1980,he was an executive member of the Labour Co-ordinating Committee. [17] Mullin was also on the executive of the influential Campaign for Labour Party Democracy. As such he was an active supporter of Tony Benn when,in 1981,disregarding an appeal from party leader Michael Foot to abstain from inflaming the party's divisions,Benn stood against the incumbent Deputy Leader of the Labour Party,Denis Healey. In addition Mullin edited two collections of Benn's speeches and writings Arguments for Socialism (1979) and Arguments for Democracy (1981). He was widely regarded as a leading 'Bennite',a highly influential movement within the Labour Party in the early 1980s.
Mullin was first elected MP for Sunderland South in 1987,and was returned at every subsequent election up to and including 2005. His constituency was the first to declare in every general election between 1992 and his standing down in 2010 (1992,1997,2001 and 2005). [18] Mullin joked about being the UK's sole MP for a few minutes and muses about forming a government. [19] He did not seek re-election in 2010. Mullin was on the left of the party and his selection for Sunderland South (occasioned by the retirement of Gordon Bagier MP) met with the disapproval of Neil Kinnock,at the time the Leader of the Labour Party. In the late 1980s,the right-wing,tabloid press targeted Mullin for his left-wing views frequently. Headlines included:"20 things you didn't know about crackpot Chris","Loony Lefty MP",and "Is this the most odious man in Britain?"[ citation needed ]
Having reported from Cambodia in 1973 and 1980,in 1990 he was outspoken on the British Government's record in Cambodia,being a leading voice in some of the first protracted debates on Britain's provision of military support to the Khmer Rouge and attributing increasing public interest in the issue to the documentary films of John Pilger. [20]
He was a member of the Socialist Campaign Group,Secretary of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Vietnam,a member of the All-Party Group on Tibet and Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Cambodia,Member of the Home Affairs Select committee (1992–97),and Chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee from 1997 to 1999 and again from 2001 to 2003.
Despite occasional criticism of the government,he replaced Alan Meale as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department of the Environment,Transport,and the Regions in July 1999 before taking over from George Foulkes as Parliamentary Under-Secretary,Department for International Development in 2001.
Despite having voted against the Iraq war,he returned to government in June 2003,as a Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in charge of Africa,but after the 2005 election again returned to the backbenches. Before the Labour victory of 1997,Mullin had attained a reputation for campaigning on behalf of victims of injustice and opposition to the curtailing of civil rights. His campaigning stance had to change while a minister because of the collective responsibility of government. His vote against the government's proposal for 90 days' detention without trial for persons suspected of terrorism,as one of 49 Labour rebels, [21] seemed to indicate a re-emergence of his civil libertarian instincts. Mullin criticised the Labour government's rotation of Ministers expressing his belief that the Blair Government changed Ministers too often and noted this in his final speech to the House of Commons. [22]
After leaving government,Mullin also voted against the United Kingdom maintaining a nuclear deterrent. [23]
During the UK Parliamentary expenses scandal,Mullin,one of the lowest claimers, [24] provided some comic relief when it was revealed that the television at his second home is a very old black-and-white model with a £45 TV licence. [25]
On 10 May 2008,the Sunderland Echo site reported that Mullin had decided to stand down at the 2010 general election. [26] This left Mullin having contested seven General Elections and having been elected in five of them.
Mullin published three volumes of widely praised diaries [27] that described the progress of "New Labour" from the death of the party leader John Smith in 1994 to the 2010 general election:A View from the Foothills (2009) (recounting Mullin's ministerial career from 1999–2005),Decline &Fall:Diaries 2005–2010 (2010) and A Walk-On Part:Diaries 1994–1999 (2011). Among other things,Mullin recorded his gradual disillusion with the Labour Party's left wing and his rather reluctant support,after Smith's death,for fellow North-Eastern MP Tony Blair (whom he dubbed "The Man") as the person most likely to lead the party back to power. He admired Blair as a leader and for his capacity to create a broad-based Labour Party. In spite of Iraq,Mullin remains an admirer of Blair,viewing him as a leader of exceptional ability. [28] Peter Riddell of the Times suggested that A View From the Foothills deserved to become "the central text for understanding the Blair years", [29] while Decline &Fall,in which Mullin (by then a backbencher again) expressed wry consternation at the way the government operated under Blair's successor Gordon Brown,were commended for their independence of outlook,revealing,as Jenni Russell put it in the Sunday Times,Mullin's "readiness to like people who don't echo his politics". [30]
The three volumes were adapted for the stage by Michael Chaplin as A Walk on Part. It premiered at the Live Theatre in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in May 2011,before moving to the Soho Theatre in London. [31] [32] Mullin regularly gives talks on his diaries,politics and the rise and fall of New Labour.
The fourth volume,Didn’t You Use to Be Chris Mullin? Diaries 2010–2022,chronicling the post-parliamentary period of his life,from the fallout of the 2010 general election to the death of Queen Elizabeth II,was released in May 2023. [33]
Mullin and his wife,Nguyen Thi Ngoc,who he met while in Vietnam, [34] married in April 1987, [35] in Ho Chi Minh City, [36] had two daughters,and live in Northumberland. His hobbies include gardening. [4]
In football he supports Sunderland A.F.C.,and mentioned it in the May 1997 State Opening of Parliament speech. [37] [38]
On 28 January 2011,his alma mater,Hull University,awarded him an honorary Doctorate in Law,in recognition of his achievements. [2] In December 2011,Newcastle University awarded Chris Mullin an honorary degree. Mullin now teaches a module at Newcastle University called 'The Rise and Fall of New Labour'. He was also awarded an honorary degree by the University of Essex in 2011. [39] Mullin has also received honorary degrees from the University of Sunderland (2010) and City University London (1992).
Sir Thomas Dalyell, 11th Baronet, known as Tam Dalyell, was a Scottish Labour Party politician who was a member of the House of Commons from 1962 to 2005. He represented West Lothian from 1962 to 1983, then Linlithgow from 1983 to 2005. He formulated what came to be known as the "West Lothian question", on whether non-English MPs should be able to vote upon English-only matters after political devolution. He was also known for his anti-war, anti-imperialist views, opposing the Falklands War, the Gulf War, the War in Afghanistan and the Iraq War.
Anthony Neil Wedgwood Benn, known between 1960 and 1963 as The Viscount Stansgate, was a British Labour Party politician and political activist who served as a Cabinet minister in the 1960s and 1970s. He was the Member of Parliament for Bristol South East and Chesterfield for 47 of the 51 years between 1950 and 2001. He later served as President of the Stop the War Coalition from 2001 to 2014.
Roy Sydney George Hattersley, Baron Hattersley, is a British politician, author and journalist from Sheffield. A member of the Labour Party, he was MP for Birmingham Sparkbrook for over 32 years from 1964 to 1997, and served as Deputy Leader of the Labour Party from 1983 to 1992.
Clare Short is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for International Development from 1997 to 2003.
Margaret Mary Beckett, Baroness Beckett,, is a British politician. A member of the Labour Party, she was the United Kingdom's first female foreign secretary, and served as a minister under Prime Ministers Harold Wilson, James Callaghan, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. Beckett was Deputy Leader of the Opposition and Deputy Leader of the Labour Party from 1992 to 1994, and briefly Leader of the Opposition and acting Leader of the Labour Party following John Smith's death in 1994. A member of the Labour Party, she served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Lincoln from 1974 to 1979, and for Derby South from 1983 to 2024. Her 45 years in the House of Commons makes her the longest-serving female MP in British history.
Sir Christopher John Bryant is a British politician and former Anglican priest who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Rhondda and Ogmore, and previously Rhondda, since 2001. A member of the Labour Party, he has been the Minister of State for Data Protection and Telecoms and Minister of State for Creative Industries, Arts and Tourism since 2024.
Hilary James Wedgwood Benn is a British politician who has served as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland since 2024. A member of the Labour Party, he has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Leeds South, formerly Leeds Central, since 1999. He previously served in various ministerial positions under Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown from 2001 to 2010.
Jeremy Bernard Corbyn is a British politician who has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Islington North since 1983. An independent, Corbyn was a member of the Labour Party from 1965 until his expulsion in 2024, and is a member of the Socialist Campaign Group parliamentary caucus. He served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party from 2015 to 2020. Corbyn identifies ideologically as a socialist on the political left.
The Socialist Campaign Group, also simply known as the Campaign Group, is a UK parliamentary caucus of the Labour Party including Members of Parliament in the House of Commons. The group also includes some MPs who formerly represented Labour in Parliament but have had the whip withdrawn or been expelled from the party.
Tribune is a democratic socialist political magazine founded in 1937 and published in London, initially as a newspaper, then converting to a magazine in 2001. While it is independent, it has usually supported the Labour Party from the left. Previous editors at the magazine have included Aneurin Bevan, the Minister of Health who spearheaded the establishment of the National Health Service, former Labour leader Michael Foot, and writer George Orwell, who served as Literary Editor.
Robert Graham Marshall-Andrews KC is a British barrister, author, and retired politician, who was the Labour Member of Parliament (MP) for Medway from 1997 to 2010. He defected from his former party at the 2017 general election and endorsed the Liberal Democrats.
Alice Mahon was a British trade unionist and Labour politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Halifax from 1987 until 2005.
Shaun Anthony Woodward is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from 2007 to 2010.
Paul William Barry Marsden is a British writer, businessman and former politician. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Shrewsbury and Atcham from 1997 until 2005. He was most prominently known for his anti-war views and crossing the floor twice, from Labour to the Liberal Democrats in 2001 and returning to Labour in 2005. He instructed a solicitor in 2010 to begin action for phone hacking that allegedly took place back in 2003 by a newspaper. In 2012, Marsden was appointed to draft the parliamentary inquiry report into VIP security at the Olympic and Paralympic Games in London. Marsden is currently Head of Quality for the Transpennine Route Upgrade West rail alliance, improving the railway between Manchester and Leeds.
Siôn Llewelyn Simon is a British Labour Party politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Birmingham Erdington from 2001 to 2010 and as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the West Midlands from 2014 to 2019.
Edward Samuel Miliband is a British politician who has served as Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero since July 2024. He has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Doncaster North since 2005. Miliband was Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition between 2010 and 2015. Alongside his brother, Foreign Secretary David Miliband, he served in the Cabinet from 2007 to 2010 under Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He was Leader of the Opposition from 1994 to 1997 and held various shadow cabinet posts from 1987 to 1994. Blair was Member of Parliament (MP) for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007, and was special envoy of the Quartet on the Middle East from 2007 to 2015. He is the second-longest-serving prime minister in post-war British history after Margaret Thatcher, the longest-serving Labour politician to have held the office, and the first and only person to date to lead the party to three consecutive general election victories.
Lance Price is Chief of Staff to Kim Leadbeater, MP for Batley and Spen in the UK. He returned to active politics to help run her by-election campaign, having worked with her at the Jo Cox Foundation since the murder of her sister, who was MP for the constituency from 2015 to 2016. He is also a writer, broadcaster and political commentator. He was a journalist for the BBC from 1981 to 1998, then became special adviser to Prime Minister Tony Blair, eventually assuming the role of Director of Communications for the Labour Party, coordinating the Labour Party election campaign of 2001. He has published five books, and appears regularly on Sky News and the BBC. Price's fourth book, The Modi Effect, which details the rise of the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was published by Hodder & Stoughton in 2015.
The 2007 Labour Party leadership election was triggered on 10 May 2007 by incumbent leader Tony Blair's announcement that he would resign as leader on 27 June. At the same time that Blair resigned, John Prescott resigned as Deputy Leader, triggering a concurrent election for the deputy leadership.
Richard Burgon is a British politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Leeds East since 2015. Burgon served as Shadow Secretary of State for Justice and Shadow Lord Chancellor in the Shadow Cabinet of Jeremy Corbyn from 2016 to 2020. A Labour Party MP, on 23 July 2024 he had the whip withdrawn and was suspended from the party for six months as a result of voting for a Scottish National Party amendment to scrap the two child benefit cap. He now sits as an Independent MP until the whip is re-established, subject to a review.