Ian McCartney | |
---|---|
Minister of State for Trade | |
In office 5 May 2006 –27 June 2007 | |
Prime Minister | Tony Blair |
Preceded by | Ian Pearson |
Succeeded by | The Lord Jones of Birmingham |
Chairman of the Labour Party | |
In office 4 April 2003 –5 May 2006 | |
Leader | Tony Blair |
Preceded by | John Reid |
Succeeded by | Hazel Blears |
Minister without Portfolio | |
In office 4 April 2003 –5 May 2006 | |
Prime Minister | Tony Blair |
Preceded by | John Reid |
Succeeded by | Hazel Blears |
Minister of State for Pensions | |
In office 8 June 2001 –4 April 2003 | |
Prime Minister | Tony Blair |
Preceded by | Jeff Rooker |
Succeeded by | Malcolm Wicks |
Minister of State for the Cabinet Office | |
In office 28 July 1999 –11 June 2001 | |
Prime Minister | Tony Blair |
Preceded by | Peter Kilfoyle |
Succeeded by | Barbara Roche |
Minister of State for Competitiveness | |
In office 5 May 1997 –28 July 1999 | |
Prime Minister | Tony Blair |
Preceded by | Office established |
Succeeded by | Douglas Alexander (2001) |
Member of Parliament for Makerfield | |
In office 12 June 1987 –12 April 2010 | |
Preceded by | Michael McGuire |
Succeeded by | Yvonne Fovargue |
Personal details | |
Born | Lennoxtown,Scotland | 25 April 1951
Political party | Labour |
Website | Ianmccartney.com |
Sir Ian McCartney (born 25 April 1951) is a British Labour Party politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Makerfield from 1987 to 2010. McCartney served in Tony Blair's Cabinet from 2003 until 2007,when Gordon Brown became Prime Minister. He was made a Knight Bachelor in the 2010 Dissolution Honours List. [1]
He was born in Lennoxtown,Stirlingshire, [2] to future Labour MP for East Dunbartonshire Hugh McCartney and his wife,Margaret,a trade unionist. McCartney had two sisters,Irene and Margaret. [3]
Educated at Lenzie Academy, [4] he left the school at the age of 15 "under a bit of a cloud" without any qualifications. [5] He led a paper-boys' strike at the age of fifteen, [6] and had a number of jobs after leaving school,including a seaman,a local government manual worker,and a kitchen worker. [7] He was a councillor for Abram ward in Wigan from 1982 to 1987. [8]
McCartney became the MP for Makerfield following the 1987 general election. He was one of the founders of the All-Party Parliamentary Rugby League Group the same year,and was its first chairman. [9] He held a number of positions during Labour's period in opposition,and was variously a spokesman on Health,Employment,Education and Social Services. In 1994,he ran John Prescott's successful campaign to become Labour's Deputy Leader. McCartney was one of the shortest MPs,standing five feet,one inch tall. He described himself on his parliamentary notepaper as the "Socialist MP for Makerfield". [10]
On 23 May 2009,McCartney announced he would not stand again at the 2010 general election due to poor health. [11] [12] [13]
McCartney was made Minister of State for Competitiveness at the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) following the 1997 general election when Labour came to power. [7] While at the DTI,he steered the Competition Act 1998 through the House of Commons and introduced a major package of new employment rights which included whistleblowing protection,the National Minimum Wage and the first-ever right to paid holidays. [7] As a former low-paid worker who had been sacked upon asking for a pound pay rise after having a child,McCartney later described the minimum wage as very important to him,saying that he would have "died in the ditch" for it. [7] During this time he was also responsible for employment relations,the Post Office,Company Law and inward investment.
He was moved to be Minister of State at the Cabinet Office in 1999,where he was responsible for modernising Government and E-Government. During this year his drug addict son Hugh McCartney died of a heroin overdose in a Glasgow tenement block. In 2001,McCartney became Minister of State for Pensions at the Department for Work and Pensions,and he was promoted to the Cabinet as Minister Without Portfolio and Party Chairman in April 2003.
Between October 2004 and October 2005,he was Chairman of the Labour Party in two capacities - as the Party Chair (appointed by the party's leader) with a seat in the Cabinet,and as the Chair of the National Executive Committee (elected by the members of the NEC). He was also chair of the party's National Policy Forum,which formulates Labour party policy. [14] The NPF also oversaw the 'Big Conversation' project,which saw the Labour Government try to consult the general public on the future direction of party and government policy. Trusted by both leadership and membership,he was seen as a key link between the Government and the wider Labour movement.[ citation needed ]
He worked to make the role of Party Chair a voice for Labour Party members within the Labour Government. As architect of the Warwick Agreement by Labour's National Policy Forum,he was a key figure in co-ordinating the election manifesto for Labour's third term general election campaign. In 2006 he took a three-month leave of absence following heart bypass surgery, [15] and publicly told of his fight to lose weight for the sake of his health. His return to frontline politics was marked by his speech to the Labour Party 2006 Spring Conference in Blackpool in which he shed a tear while celebrating 100 years of the Parliamentary Labour Party. He returned to government as Minister of State for Trade in May 2006,attending Cabinet but not voting there,but stepped down in 2007 when Gordon Brown became Prime Minister.
Beginning in October 2007,McCartney worked with the construction,engineering and nuclear energy company Fluor,providing them with advice in anti-corruption and business ethics policies;political,economic,environmental and regulatory issues;and outside relations including working with trade unions. After details of this position were published in The Independent ,McCartney stated unequivocally that he personally received none of the remuneration for this role,instead using part of the fee to employ someone in the House of Commons from his Makerfield constituency. The remainder was used to support the Women's Interlink Foundation, [16] [17] [18] a charity based in India which rescues street children and disadvantaged women who are exposed to poverty and sometimes at the risk of rape and murder,providing them with clean drinking water,health treatments,housing and education.
In August 2008,after admitting that some of his claims for furnishing his second home were "inappropriate",McCartney repaid £15,000 of expenses claimed for among other items,a dining table,18-piece dinner set and champagne glasses. McCartney had asked for the review;although only a portion of the amount was deemed excessive,he said he felt strongly that the full amount should be returned. He commented that as a senior minister he held meetings at home and "had to feed guests". [12] [19]
In May 2009,after stepping down citing health issues,McCartney said his family had urged him to step down following a further bout of illness after his 2005 heart surgery,and that he was also being treated for disc injury and was possibly facing further surgery. [20] [21] [22]
McCartney was chair of Healthwatch Wigan,resigning from the post in 2016. [23]
He was married firstly to Jean ( née Murray),with whom he had son Hugh and daughters Yvonne and Karen,later divorcing. [24] Hugh died aged 23 of a drugs overdose in 1999 in his flat in Parkhead. [25]
Hugh,known as "Shug", [26] had battled drug addiction since his teenage years. Only recently released from prison,he had been trying to break his habit. [27] In 2002,McCartney gave an interview to the Sunday Herald discussing his son's experiences in the justice system and how McCartney believed "the way we deal with addicts sentenced his son to death". [28] In 2003,McCartney stated in an interview he was still having break downs over the death of his only son. [29]
McCartney's second and current wife is Ann Kevan Parkes,whom he married in 1988. [24] [27] [30]
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.
Nicholas Hugh Brown,known as Nick Brown,is a British former politician and trade unionist who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Newcastle upon Tyne East between 1983 and 2024. He represented the Labour Party until his resignation in 2023. Brown is the longest-serving Chief Whip of the Labour Party,discontinuously holding the position several times between 1997 and 2021 under Blair,Brown,Miliband,Corbyn and Starmer.
Stephen Daniel Twigg is a British Labour Co-op politician who has served as the 8th Secretary-General of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association since August 2020. He served as Member of Parliament for Enfield Southgate from 1997 to 2005,and for Liverpool West Derby from 2010 to 2019.
Ian Bruce Lang,Baron Lang of Monkton,PC DL is a British Conservative Party politician and Life Peer who served as the Member of Parliament for Galloway,and then Galloway and Upper Nithsdale,from 1979 to 1997.
Frank Doran was a Labour Party politician in the United Kingdom,who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Aberdeen South from 1987 to 1992,when he lost his seat. He was re-elected in 1997 to Aberdeen Central,and most recently represented Aberdeen North. He was the husband of former Labour MP Dame Joan Ruddock.
Sir Joseph Alan Meale is a former British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Mansfield from 1987 to 2017.
Laurence Anthony Robertson is a British politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Tewkesbury from 1997 to 2024. A member of the Conservative Party,he chaired the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee for seven years,from 2010 to 2017.
Andrew John Gwynne is a British Labour and Co-operative politician who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Gorton and Denton,previously Denton and Reddish,since 2005. He was Shadow Minister for Social Care from 2023 to the 2024 election. He is currently serving as the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Public Health and Prevention.
Patrick Bosco McFadden is a British politician who has served as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster since July 2024. A member of the Labour Party,he has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Wolverhampton South East since 2005. McFadden has previously held various junior ministerial positions and shadow portfolios in his parliamentary career between 2005 and 2024.
Ian Christopher Austin,Baron Austin of Dudley is a British politician who sits as a life peer in the House of Lords. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Dudley North from the 2005 general election until the 2019 general election when he stood down. Formerly a member of the Labour Party,he resigned from the party on 22 February 2019 to sit as an independent,and was ennobled in the 2019 Dissolution Honours. He served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Communities and Local Government from 2009 to 2010.
Labour Friends of Israel (LFI) is a group in the Parliament of the United Kingdom that advocates a strong bilateral relationship between the United Kingdom and Israel,and seeks to strengthen ties between the British Labour Party and the Israeli Labor Party. LFI says it supports a two-state solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict,with Israel recognised and secure within its borders,and the establishment of a viable Palestinian state. As of July 2020,it comprises around one quarter of the Parliamentary Labour Party and one third of the Shadow Cabinet.
Hugh McCartney was a Scottish Labour Party politician.
Ian Graham Davidson is a Scottish politician who served as chair of the Scottish Affairs Select Committee from 2010 to 2015. A member of the Scottish Labour Party and Co-operative Party,he was Member of Parliament (MP) for Glasgow South West,formerly Glasgow Pollok,from 1992 to 2015.
The Minister of State for Competitiveness was an office held by a member of the United Kingdom government and appointed by the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
John Matthew Patrick Hutton,Baron Hutton of Furness,is a British politician who served in several offices in the Cabinet of the United Kingdom. He was Work and Pensions Secretary from 2005 to 2007,Business Secretary from 2007 to 2008,and Defence Secretary from 2008 to 2009. A member of the Labour Party,Hutton served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Barrow and Furness from 1992 to 2010.
Ian Murray is a Scottish politician who has served as Secretary of State for Scotland since July 2024. A member of the Labour Party,he has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Edinburgh South since 2010. He previously served as Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland from 2015 to 2016 and again from 2020 to 2024.
The 2010 Dissolution Honours List was issued on 28 May 2010 at the advice of the outgoing Prime Minister,Gordon Brown. The list was gazetted on 15 June.
Andrew Joseph McDonald is a British Labour Party politician and solicitor serving as Member of Parliament (MP) for Middlesbrough and Thornaby East since 2012.
In the United Kingdom,a minister without portfolio is often a cabinet position,or often attends cabinet. The role is sometimes used to enable the chairman of the governing party,contemporarily either the chairman of the Conservative Party or the chair of the Labour Party,to attend cabinet meetings. The sinecure positions of Lord Privy Seal,Paymaster General,and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster which have few responsibilities and have a higher rank in the order of precedence than minister without portfolio can also be used to similar effect. There is currently one minister without portfolio,Ellie Reeves,who was appointed following the 2024 general election.