Gerry Sutcliffe

Gerard Sutcliffe (born 13 May 1953) is a British Labour Party politician who was Member of Parliament (MP) for Bradford South from 1994 to 2015. He was the Minister for Sport and Tourism in the Brown Government.

Gerry Sutcliffe
Sutcliffe as Minister for Sport
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Sport
In office
29 June 2007 – 11 May 2010
Prime MinisterGordon Brown
Preceded byRichard Caborn
Succeeded byHugh Robertson
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Prisons and Probation Services
In office
5 May 2006 – 29 June 2007
Prime MinisterTony Blair
Preceded byFiona Mactaggart
Succeeded byMaria Eagle
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Consumer and Competition Policy
In office
13 June 2003 – 5 May 2006
Prime MinisterTony Blair
Preceded byMelanie Johnson
Succeeded byPosition abolished
Vice-Chamberlain of the Household
In office
8 June 2001 – 13 June 2003
Prime MinisterTony Blair
Preceded byGraham Allen
Succeeded byJim Fitzpatrick
Member of Parliament
for Bradford South
In office
9 June 1994 – 30 March 2015
Preceded byBob Cryer
Succeeded byJudith Cummins
Personal details
Born (1953-05-13) 13 May 1953
Salford, Lancashire, England
Political partyLabour

Biography

Born in Salford, Sutcliffe was educated in Bradford at Cardinal Hinsley Grammar School, but left aged sixteen, and then worked as a salesman and for a printers company, becoming a deputy branch secretary of the print workers trade union SOGAT. He was a member of Bradford City Council from 1982 to 1994, serving as the council's leader from 1992 to 1994.

When Bradford South's Labour MP Bob Cryer was killed in a car crash in April 1994, Sutcliffe was selected as the Labour candidate for the resulting by-election. He won the by-election with 55% of the vote,[1] and held the seat until he stood down in 2015.

In Parliament, he served on the Public Accounts Committee from 1996 to 1998, and was a member of the Unopposed Bills Panel from 1997 to 1999.

After the 1997 general election, when a Labour government took power under Tony Blair, Sutcliffe was appointed as Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to Harriet Harman, the Secretary of State for Social Security. After Harman was dismissed from the Cabinet in July 1998, he served as PPS to Stephen Byers, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury. When Byers was promoted to Secretary of State for Trade and Industry in December 1998, Sutcliffe remained his PPS.

From 2003 to 2006 he was Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department of Trade and Industry, with responsibility for employment and for consumer and competition policy. In the May 2006 reshuffle he was moved to the Home Office, as Minister for Prisons and the Probation Service. As part of the reorganisation of the Home Office he became Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the newly formed Ministry of Justice in May 2007. He stayed there only a short time until the reshuffle on 29 June 2007, when he was moved to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

As Minister for Sport at the time of the Beijing Olympics he entered a wager with his Australian counterpart Kate Ellis that Great Britain would finish above Australia in the final medal table, with each Minister promising to wear the opposite nation's colours to a sporting event if they lose.[2] Sutcliffe won the bet, with Britain finishing fourth and Australia sixth.

Sutcliffe supported Andy Burnham in the 2010 Labour Party leadership election and acted as Burnham's campaign manager. From 2010 until 2011, Sutcliffe served as Shadow Minister for Immigration.[3][4] In May 2014, Sutcliffe announced that he would stand down at the following general election.[5] He is a member of Unite the Union.

References
  1. Webster, Philip (10 June 1994). "Tories face crisis of confidence". The Times. No. 64977. p. 1. ISSN 0140-0460.
  2. "Minister stakes shirt on Olympics". BBC News. 8 August 2008. Archived from the original on 29 August 2008. Retrieved 18 August 2008.
  3. "UK Border Agency 'failing over visa controls'". BBC News. 16 February 2011. Archived from the original on 9 January 2019. Retrieved 20 June 2018.
  4. "Immigration: Labour – Migration levels increased because of strength of British economy". The Daily Telegraph. London. 22 February 2011. Archived from the original on 20 September 2016. Retrieved 2 April 2018.
  5. "Sutcliffe to stand down". Dewsbury Reporter. 28 May 2014. Archived from the original on 29 May 2014. Retrieved 28 May 2014.
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