Ann Cryer
Encyclopedia
Constance Ann Cryer JP
(born 14 December 1939) is a British
Labour Party
politician, who was the Member of Parliament
(MP) for Keighley
from the 1997 general election
up until she stood down at the 2010 general election. She became a Justice of the Peace
in 1996 and a member of the Bradford Cathedral Council
from 1999.
, Lancashire
, she comes from a political family: her father, Allen Place, was an activist in the Independent Labour Party
and her grandmother was a leading suffragette
. She was educated at the St John's Primary School in Darwen
and the Spring Bank Secondary Modern School, Darwen, before attending the Bolton Institute of Technology.
She began her career working as a clerk with the Imperial Chemical Industries
in 1955, moving to the General Post Office as a telephonist 1960 to 1964.
Cryer married Bob Cryer
, later an MP, in 1963. She became a researcher in social history
at the University of Essex
in 1969 before becoming a full time personal assistant to her husband from 1974, when he first entered the domestic British parliament, until his death in a car accident on 12 April 1994.
Cryer was elected to the House of Commons for one of her husband's former constituencies, Keighley, at the 1997 General Election
, defeating the sitting Conservative
MP Gary Waller by 7,132 votes and remained after the 2001 and 2005 general elections. She made her maiden speech
on 16 May 1997.
After the 2005 General Election
, Cryer was a member of the Home Affairs
Select Committee. Cryer has voted against the government on many occasions and was a member of the left-wing Socialist Campaign Group
during her time in parliament. Although lately her left-wing orientation were called into question when Cryer voted with the government to increase detention without trial to 42 days for terror suspects. She favours nuclear disarmament
and is viewed as being a Eurosceptic
.
Cryer has attracted some media attention for speaking out against forced marriages, honour killings and calling on immigrants
to learn to speak English
before entering the country. She acquired a reputation for being somewhat insensitive to her constituents, which included a sizable immigrant population. Following controversy over the grooming of young girls by Asian men, Nick Griffin
, the chairman of the far-right British National Party
, stood against her in Keighley in the 2005 general election
, coming fourth.
On 21 August 2008, Cryer announced that she would not contest the next general election, due to her health, energy levels and age.
—and a daughter, and two step children from her second marriage in 2003 to the Rev. John Hammersley, who died a year later in 2004.
When she entered parliament in 1997 she was joined by her son, John Cryer
who had been elected for Hornchurch
; they formed the only mother and son partnership in the Commons at that time, though John Cryer was out of parliament during the 2005-10 period.
page contained information associating the invention of the Internet
to her. This remained unchallenged for many years, causing Cryer to be forced to deny the assertion in the press .
Justice of the Peace
A justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...
(born 14 December 1939) is a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
politician, who was the Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
(MP) for Keighley
Keighley (UK Parliament constituency)
Keighley is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.- Boundaries :...
from the 1997 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1997
The United Kingdom general election, 1997 was held on 1 May 1997, more than five years after the previous election on 9 April 1992, to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party ended its 18 years in opposition under the leadership of Tony Blair, and won the general...
up until she stood down at the 2010 general election. She became a Justice of the Peace
Justice of the Peace
A justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...
in 1996 and a member of the Bradford Cathedral Council
Bradford Cathedral
Bradford Cathedral , full name Cathedral Church of St Peter, is situated in the heart of Bradford in West Yorkshire, England, on a site used for Christian worship since the 8th century when missionaries based in Dewsbury evangelised the region...
from 1999.
Early life
Born Constance Place in Lytham St AnnesLytham St Annes
Lytham St Annes is a conurbation in the Fylde district of Lancashire, England. The neighbouring towns of Lytham and St-Anne's-on-the-Sea have grown together and now form a seaside resort...
, Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
, she comes from a political family: her father, Allen Place, was an activist in the Independent Labour Party
Independent Labour Party
The Independent Labour Party was a socialist political party in Britain established in 1893. The ILP was affiliated to the Labour Party from 1906 to 1932, when it voted to leave...
and her grandmother was a leading suffragette
Suffragette
"Suffragette" is a term coined by the Daily Mail newspaper as a derogatory label for members of the late 19th and early 20th century movement for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom, in particular members of the Women's Social and Political Union...
. She was educated at the St John's Primary School in Darwen
Darwen
Darwen is a market town and civil parish located within Lancashire, England. Along with its northerly neighbour, Blackburn, it forms the Borough of Blackburn with Darwen — a unitary authority area...
and the Spring Bank Secondary Modern School, Darwen, before attending the Bolton Institute of Technology.
She began her career working as a clerk with the Imperial Chemical Industries
Imperial Chemical Industries
Imperial Chemical Industries was a British chemical company, taken over by AkzoNobel, a Dutch conglomerate, one of the largest chemical producers in the world. In its heyday, ICI was the largest manufacturing company in the British Empire, and commonly regarded as a "bellwether of the British...
in 1955, moving to the General Post Office as a telephonist 1960 to 1964.
Cryer married Bob Cryer
Bob Cryer
George Robert Cryer, known as Bob Cryer was a politician in the United Kingdom.He was educated at Salt High School, Shipley, and the University of Hull...
, later an MP, in 1963. She became a researcher in social history
Social history
Social history, often called the new social history, is a branch of History that includes history of ordinary people and their strategies of coping with life. In its "golden age" it was a major growth field in the 1960s and 1970s among scholars, and still is well represented in history departments...
at the University of Essex
University of Essex
The University of Essex is a British campus university whose original and largest campus is near the town of Colchester, England. Established in 1963 and receiving its Royal Charter in 1965...
in 1969 before becoming a full time personal assistant to her husband from 1974, when he first entered the domestic British parliament, until his death in a car accident on 12 April 1994.
Politics
Cryer was selected to stand for election for Labour through an all-women shortlist. This method of selection was subsequently ruled illegal in January 1996 as it breached sex discrimination laws. Despite the ruling, the Labour party did not force candidates already chosen via this method (including Cryer) to seek re-selection.Cryer was elected to the House of Commons for one of her husband's former constituencies, Keighley, at the 1997 General Election
United Kingdom general election, 1997
The United Kingdom general election, 1997 was held on 1 May 1997, more than five years after the previous election on 9 April 1992, to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party ended its 18 years in opposition under the leadership of Tony Blair, and won the general...
, defeating the sitting Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
MP Gary Waller by 7,132 votes and remained after the 2001 and 2005 general elections. She made her maiden speech
Maiden speech
A maiden speech is the first speech given by a newly elected or appointed member of a legislature or parliament.Traditions surrounding maiden speeches vary from country to country...
on 16 May 1997.
After the 2005 General Election
United Kingdom general election, 2005
The United Kingdom general election of 2005 was held on Thursday, 5 May 2005 to elect 646 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party under Tony Blair won its third consecutive victory, but with a majority of 66, reduced from 160....
, Cryer was a member of the Home Affairs
Home Office
The Home Office is the United Kingdom government department responsible for immigration control, security, and order. As such it is responsible for the police, UK Border Agency, and the Security Service . It is also in charge of government policy on security-related issues such as drugs,...
Select Committee. Cryer has voted against the government on many occasions and was a member of the left-wing Socialist Campaign Group
Socialist Campaign Group
The Socialist Campaign Group is a left-wing democratic socialist grouping of Labour Party Members of Parliament in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. It was formed in December 1982 as an alternative Parliamentary left-wing group to the Tribune Group...
during her time in parliament. Although lately her left-wing orientation were called into question when Cryer voted with the government to increase detention without trial to 42 days for terror suspects. She favours nuclear disarmament
Nuclear disarmament
Nuclear disarmament refers to both the act of reducing or eliminating nuclear weapons and to the end state of a nuclear-free world, in which nuclear weapons are completely eliminated....
and is viewed as being a Eurosceptic
EuroSceptic
EuroSceptic is the second album of British singer Jack Lucien. It was released in October 2009.Due to being an album influenced by Europop, it features songs with parts in different languages...
.
Cryer has attracted some media attention for speaking out against forced marriages, honour killings and calling on immigrants
Immigration
Immigration is the act of foreigners passing or coming into a country for the purpose of permanent residence...
to learn to speak English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
before entering the country. She acquired a reputation for being somewhat insensitive to her constituents, which included a sizable immigrant population. Following controversy over the grooming of young girls by Asian men, Nick Griffin
Nick Griffin
Nicholas John "Nick" Griffin is a British politician, chairman of the British National Party and Member of the European Parliament for North West England....
, the chairman of the far-right British National Party
British National Party
The British National Party is a British far-right political party formed as a splinter group from the National Front by John Tyndall in 1982...
, stood against her in Keighley in the 2005 general election
United Kingdom general election, 2005
The United Kingdom general election of 2005 was held on Thursday, 5 May 2005 to elect 646 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party under Tony Blair won its third consecutive victory, but with a majority of 66, reduced from 160....
, coming fourth.
On 21 August 2008, Cryer announced that she would not contest the next general election, due to her health, energy levels and age.
Family
Cryer has a son— the MP JohnJohn Cryer
John Robert Cryer is an English Labour Party politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for Leyton and Wanstead since the general election in May 2010...
—and a daughter, and two step children from her second marriage in 2003 to the Rev. John Hammersley, who died a year later in 2004.
When she entered parliament in 1997 she was joined by her son, John Cryer
John Cryer
John Robert Cryer is an English Labour Party politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for Leyton and Wanstead since the general election in May 2010...
who had been elected for Hornchurch
Hornchurch (UK Parliament constituency)
Hornchurch was a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election...
; they formed the only mother and son partnership in the Commons at that time, though John Cryer was out of parliament during the 2005-10 period.
Wikipedia Controversy
Until 2009, Cryer's WikipediaWikipedia
Wikipedia is a free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its 20 million articles have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world. Almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the site,...
page contained information associating the invention of the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
to her. This remained unchallenged for many years, causing Cryer to be forced to deny the assertion in the press .
Works
- Boldness be My Friend: Remembering Bob Cryer by Ann Cryer and John Cryer, 1997, Bradford Arts, Museums and Libraries Service, ISBN 0-907734-48-0