Having been critical of many aspects of the Blair government, he stood for the deputy leadership of the Labour Party in 2007, although he openly stated he did not wish to become Deputy Prime Minister. Despite winning the most votes in the first round of voting, he was eliminated in the penultimate round of the contest.
Cruddas is a visiting fellow at Nuffield College, Oxford (2016–present), and is also a visiting professor at the University of Leicester (2016–present), primarily involved with the Centre for Sustainable Work and Employment Futures.[5]
From the backbenches, Cruddas quickly became a vocal critic of the government for what he saw as their ignoring of their traditional, working-class support in a bid to be more appealing to middle-class voters.[6] He rebelled against the government on a number of occasions; including on the introduction of universitytop-up fees, the legislation on asylum seekers, the introduction of trust schools, proposals to renew the UK Trident nuclear weapons system, and foundation trusts.[7][8][9][10] He supported both the Fourth Option for direct investment in council housing and the Trade Union Freedom Bill.[11]
On 27 September 2006, Cruddas announced his intention to stand to become Deputy Leader of the Labour Party once the incumbent, John Prescott, stood down.[13] He said he did not want to be Deputy Prime Minister, but instead wished to act as a "transmission belt" with the grassroots of the party.[14] In interviews, Cruddas also said that he did not want the "trappings or baubles" that would potentially come with the job of Deputy Prime Minister, such as use of the Dorneywood weekend country residence.[15]
On 24 June 2007, it was announced that Harriet Harman had won the election, although Cruddas gained the highest proportion of votes in the first round. He was ultimately eliminated in the fourth round of voting, coming third behind Harman and Alan Johnson. He had secured the highest number of votes from members of affiliated organisation in every round before his elimination.[citation needed]
On 15 May 2012, Labour LeaderEd Miliband offered Cruddas a position in his Shadow Cabinet as Labour's Policy Coordinator, with a view to crafting Labour's manifesto for the 2015 general election. Cruddas accepted the offer, saying that it had always been his wish to influence policy.[12]
The Future of Work Commission
The Future of Work Commission was announced at the 2016 Labour Party Annual Conference in Liverpool. The goal of the commission is to make a set of achievable policy recommendations, which will be delivered in a report in September 2017 at Labour Annual Conference in Brighton. Jon Cruddas MP is one of the Commissioners working on the project.[23]
In August 2022 Cruddas announced his intention to retire from Parliament at the 2024 General Election.[26] He expressed optimism about Labour's chances of winning this.[2]
Jon Cruddas is an Honorary Professor at the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues at the University of Birmingham. Cruddas is also writing a history of the Labour Party to celebrate the 100 year centenary of the first Labour Government in January 2024.[27]
Cruddas's deputy leadership challenge was 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.[28] Cruddas won a Compass membership poll in March 2007, gaining 53% of first preference votes among the deputy leadership candidates.[29] In terms of his relative position within the Labour Party, newspapers have described Cruddas as "left wing";[30] however, he has also been described as "modernising centre-left",[31] and more recently has become associated with the socially conservative Blue Labour tendency and has formed a political partnership with James Purnell.[32] He described himself as "mistaken" over his decision to vote for British participation in the 2003 invasion of Iraq and has criticised his party's record on immigration, saying that "we had too many people coming too fast", and that "immigration has been used as a 21st century incomes policy, and protections in terms of the labour market have not been substantial enough."[33][34]
After speculation that Cruddas, a Catholic, was in favour of restricting abortion, he re-affirmed his pro-choice position.[35] In an interview concerning Cruddas' faith, he stated:
in our family the political heroes weren't Gaitskell or Bevan. They were the Kennedys because they were Irish, there was Óscar Romero because liberation theology was quite a big thing, and Pope John. So I joined the Labour Party, and my brother joined the Carmelites. The Labour Party always seemed to me to be a rational, natural element within some of those things we were brought up to believe in. It was as simple as that. My family was part of the Diaspora, they were all over the world, and again that returned to certain issues of solidarity. So there was always that seamless thing between faith and political agency, and union activity as well, forged out of the politics of Irish immigration".[36]
The Times Guide to the House of Commons describes him as "a well-liked and well-respected left winger who took on the BNP and won".[37]
In 2023 Cruddas publicly revealed his opposition to expansion of the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) by the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, calling it "an unwelcome hit on working people".[40]
Cruddas, Jon; Rutherford, Jonathan (2009), "Return to society", in Harrington, Peter; Burks, Beatrice Karol (eds.), What next for Labour? Ideas for progressive left: a collection of essays, Demos, pp.19–24, ISBN9781906693176.
Cruddas, Jon; Rutherford, Jonathan (2010), "The common table", in Williams, Rowan; Elliott, Larry (eds.), Crisis and recovery ethics, economics and justice, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp.54–76, ISBN9780230252141.
Cruddas, Jon; Rutherford, Jonathan (2011), "Common life ethics, class, community", in Pabst, Adrian (ed.), The crisis of global capitalism: Pope Benedict XVI's social encyclical and the future of political economy, Oregon, USA: Wipf and Stock Publishers, pp.237–254, ISBN9781608993680.
Cruddas, John (2015), "The Common Good in an Age of Austerity", in Geary, Ian; Pabst, Adrian (eds.), Blue Labour: Forging a New Politics, London: I.B. Tauris, pp.87–95, ISBN9781784532024.
Cruddas, Jon (2021). The Dignity of Labour. London: Polity Press. ISBN 1509540792
Denis Winston Healey, Baron Healey, was a British Labour Party politician who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1974 to 1979 and as Secretary of State for Defence from 1964 to 1970; he remains the longest-serving Defence Secretary to date. He was a Member of Parliament from 1952 to 1992, and was Deputy Leader of the Labour Party from 1980 to 1983. To the public at large, Healey became well known for his bushy eyebrows, his avuncular manner and his creative turns of phrase.
Hilary James Wedgwood Benn is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Leeds Central from 1999 to 2024 and for Leeds South since 2024. He has served as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland since 2024, after previously serving as Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from 2023 to 2024. Benn previously served as Environment Secretary and Development Secretary and as Chairman of the Brexit Select Committee.
Andrew Richard Rosindell MP is a British politician who has served as the Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Romford since 2001.
Dame Angela Eagle DBE is a British Labour Party politician serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Wallasey since 1992. Eagle was born in Yorkshire and studied PPE at the University of Oxford, before working for the CBI and then a trade union.
Jon Hedley Trickett is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for 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.
Hornchurch was a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. At the 2010 general election parts formed the new seats of Hornchurch and Upminster; and Dagenham and Rainham.
Barking is a constituency in Greater London represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament.
Dagenham was a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament that elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. It was replaced at the 2010 general election largely by Dagenham and Rainham.
Dagenham and Rainham is a parliamentary constituency in Greater London that was created in 2010. It has been represented in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom since 2024 by Margaret Mullane and was previously represented from 2010 by Jon Cruddas, both members of the Labour Party.
The 2007 Labour Party deputy leadership election was a British political party election for the position of deputy leader of the Labour Party. John Prescott, the previous deputy leader, announced on 10 May 2007 that he was standing down from that position and that he would be leaving as deputy prime minister about the same time that Tony Blair tendered his resignation as prime minister.
The 2010 Labour Party leadership election was triggered on 10 May 2010 by incumbent leader Gordon Brown's resignation following the 2010 general election which resulted in a hung parliament; the first since 1974. Brown resigned as Leader of the Labour Party on 10 May and as Prime Minister on 11 May, following the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats forming a coalition government. The National Executive Committee decided the timetable for the election the result of which would be announced at the annual party conference. On 25 September 2010, Ed Miliband became the new Leader of the Labour Party, narrowly defeating his older brother, David Miliband.
The National Union of Students (NUS) "Vote for Students" pledge is a pledge in the UK to vote against tuition fee increases that was signed by over 1,000 candidates standing in the general election in 2010, notably including a large number of Labour Party MPs, who had introduced the fees in 1998 and all 57 subsequently elected Liberal Democrat MPs.
On 5 May 2011, a by-election was held for the UK House of Commons constituency of Leicester South. It was prompted by the resignation of Sir Peter Soulsby of the Labour Party, who stood down from Parliament to contest the election for Mayor of Leicester. Soulsby was appointed Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead on 1 April 2011, and the writ for a new election was issued on 5 April. The election was won by Labour Party candidate Jon Ashworth.
Jonathan Michael Graham Ashworth 14 October 1978) is a British former Labour and Co-op politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Leicester South from 2011 to 2024. He had served as Shadow Paymaster General from September 2023 until unexpectedly losing his seat in the 2024 General Election by a slim margin.
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.
The Socialist Labour Party (SLP) is a socialist political party in the United Kingdom. The party was established in 1996 and was led by Arthur Scargill, a former Labour Party member and the former leader of the National Union of Mineworkers. The party's name highlights its commitment to socialism and acknowledges Clause IV of the Labour Party's former constitution, as fundamental to the party's identity. As of 2024, it is led by Jim McDaid.
The 2015 Labour Party leadership election was triggered by the resignation of Ed Miliband as Leader of the Labour Party on 8 May 2015, following the party's defeat at the 2015 general election. Harriet Harman, the Deputy Leader, became Acting Leader but announced that she would stand down following the leadership election. It was won by Jeremy Corbyn in the first round. Coterminous with the leadership election, in the 2015 Labour Party deputy leadership election, Tom Watson was elected to succeed Harman as deputy leader.
The 2015 Labour Party deputy leadership election was triggered on 8 May 2015 by the resignation of Harriet Harman as Deputy Leader of the Labour Party of the United Kingdom following the party's defeat at the 2015 General Election. Harman, the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, became Acting Leader following Leader Ed Miliband's resignation. Harman announced on the same day that she would step down as Deputy Leader, with her resignation taking effect when the new Leader and Deputy Leader are elected.
Labour Together, formerly known as Common Good Labour, is a British think tank closely associated with the British Labour Party. It remained neutral during the 2020 Labour leadership election, though has since been a vocal supporter of Keir Starmer. It works to measure public opinion and develop political policy, and intends to support Labour in the 2024 general election as well as for a second term in government. It is regarded by The Guardian, Politico, The Times and Business Insider as a highly influential group upon the current Labour Party, and seen as an "incubator" of its next manifesto. It has sought to resemble the centre-right think tank Onward.
Margaret Mullane is a British Labour Party politician who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Dagenham and Rainham since 2024. She succeeded Jon Cruddas who decided not to run for re-election in 2022 and who she worked for as office manager. She has also served as a councillor for the Village ward in the Barking and Dagenham London Borough Council since 2010 and previously served as Cabinet Member for Enforcement and Community Safety.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
