 | This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . (Learn how and when to remove these messages)
|
John Burton was a Labour Party councillor in County Durham, England. He was a member of Sedgefield Borough Council, representing the ward of Fishburn and Old Trimdon. [1] He was the constituency agent of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who represented the Sedgefield constituency from 1983 until standing down as Prime Minister in 2007.
Burton was one of the first to spot the potential of the young Tony Blair. [2] [ unreliable source? ] When the new Sedgefield constituency was created for the 1983 general election, which included Burton's home of Trimdon, the local Labour Party found themselves needing to appoint a candidate for the forthcoming election at short notice. [3] Blair, then a London-based barrister, identified Burton as a branch secretary willing to consider his candidature and travelled to Trimdon (Burton's power base) to put his case. Blair secured the nomination, was elected an MP and began his political rise. [4]
The Sunday newspaper The Observer reported in December 2007 that Burton planned to write a book about Tony Blair, focusing on his faith. [5] However, to date, this has not materialised.
Burton was suspended by Sedgefield Borough Council for one month in 2007 after threatening the former Deputy Leader of the Council that he would be deselected if he voted against a planning application. [6] Burton was a strong critic of Jeremy Corbyn's leadership of the Labour Party, saying before the 2017 general election that he couldn't see Labour forming a Government for 30 years. [7] After the Labour Party's historic loss at the 2019 United Kingdom general election, he blamed Corbyn for the loss of Blair's former Sedgefield seat, citing Brexit and the public's mistrust of the leadership, confessing that, even though he had voted Labour, he did not wish to see a Corbyn-led government. He also encouraged centrist Labour MPs to split from the left-leaning leadership to form a new party. [8]
According to Sedgefield Council's Register of Members' Interests, Burton is a member of the Transport and General Workers' Union, a church warden, and a governor of Trimdon College. He was formerly a physical education teacher. [9] John Burton's biography is called The Grit in the Oyster. [10]
Hilary Jane Armstrong, Baroness Armstrong of Hill Top, DL is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for North West Durham from 1987 to 2010.
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.
Sir Wayne David is a Welsh politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Caerphilly from 2001 to 2024. A member of the Labour Party, he was Leader of the European Parliamentary Labour Party from 1994 to 1998. As a Member of the European Parliament, he represented South Wales from 1989 to 1994 and South Wales Central from 1994 to 1999.
Joan Marie Ryan is a British former politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Enfield North from 1997 to 2010 and from 2015 to 2019. She was first elected as a Labour Party MP but later defected to join Change UK.
Jon Hedley Trickett is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Normanton and Hemsworth, previously Hemsworth, since 1996. He was Shadow Lord President of the Council from 2016 to 2020 and served as Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office from 2011 to 2013 and 2017 to 2020. He was the Labour Party National Campaign Coordinator under Jeremy Corbyn from 2015 to 2017.
Sedgefield District was, from 1974 to 2009, a local government district and, borough in County Durham, in North East England. It had a population of about 87,000. It was named after Sedgefield, but its largest town was Newton Aycliffe. Other places included Shildon, Ferryhill and Spennymoor.
David George Hanson, Baron Hanson of Flint,, is a British Labour Party politician who has served as Minister of State for the Home Office since July 2024. He previously served as the member of Parliament (MP) for Delyn from 1992 to 2019. He held several ministerial offices in the Blair and Brown governments, serving in the Home Office, the Ministry of Justice, the Wales Office, the Northern Ireland Office and the Whips' Office. Hanson sat on Ed Miliband's opposition front bench as a shadow treasury minister, and later the shadow immigration minister.
Reginald Thomas Keys is the father of a British serviceman killed in the Iraq War. He stood in the 2005 general election as an anti-war independent candidate for in Sedgefield, a constituency represented by the then Prime Minister, Tony Blair.
Sedgefield was a constituency in County Durham represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament from 2019 until its abolition for the 2024 general election by Paul Howell of the Conservative Party.
Robert Alan Clay, known as Bob Clay, is a left-wing politician and former Labour MP in the United Kingdom.
David John Nellist is a British Trotskyist activist who was the MP for the constituency of Coventry South East from 1983 to 1992. Elected as a Labour MP, his support for the Militant tendency led to his eventual expulsion from the party in late 1991. He is the National Chair of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC), a member of the Socialist Party, and was a city councillor in Coventry from 1998 to 2012.
The 1994 Labour Party leadership election was held on 21 July 1994 following the death of the incumbent leader, John Smith, on 12 May. Tony Blair won the leadership and became Prime Minister after winning the 1997 general election.
The 2007 Ealing Southall by-election was a by-election for the House of Commons constituency of Ealing Southall, in west London. It was held on 19 July 2007.
The 2007 Sedgefield by-election was a by-election held on 19 July 2007 for the House of Commons constituency of Sedgefield in County Durham. The Ealing Southall by-election was also held on 19 July.
Philip Wilson is a British Labour Party politician. He was elected as Member of Parliament (MP) for Sedgefield in a by-election that followed the resignation of Tony Blair, former Prime Minister, from the seat. He lost the seat at the 2019 general election to Paul Howell of the Conservative Party.
Elections to Sedgefield Borough Council were held on 3 May 2007. The whole council was up for election and the Labour Party stayed in overall control of the council.
Yvonne Helen Fovargue is a British Labour Party politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Makerfield from 2010 to 2024.
Paul Howell is a British Conservative Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Sedgefield from 2019 until 2024. Prior to his political career, he was an accountant.
Trimdon Labour Club was a bar and local branch of Sedgefield Labour Party in the village of Trimdon, County Durham in England. It opened in 1993, as a conversion of a former Working Men's Club. It was the local Labour Club of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who lived in nearby Trimdon Colliery.
Newton Aycliffe and Spennymoor is a constituency of the House of Commons in the UK Parliament. Following the completion of the 2023 periodic review of Westminster constituencies, it was first contested at the 2024 general election. The seat was won by Alan Strickland MP of Labour, with a majority of 8,839 and a vote share of 46.2%.