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John Hutton (Labour MP)
Encyclopedia
John Matthew Patrick Hutton, Baron Hutton of Furness (born 6 May 1955) is a British
Labour Party
politician
who was the Member of Parliament
(MP) for Barrow and Furness
in Cumbria
from 1992
to 2010, and has served in a number of Cabinet
offices, including Defence Secretary
and Business Secretary. He is now the Chairman of the Royal United Services Institute
.
, Essex
when he was 8. He was educated at Westcliff High School for Boys
and Magdalen College, Oxford
where he joined the Conservative, Liberal and Labour Associations and gained a BA
in 1976 and a BCL
1978. For two years he was a legal adviser to the CBI
. From 1980-81, he was a research associate for Templeton College, Oxford
. He went on to become a senior law lecturer at the Newcastle Polytechnic
from 1981-92 before turning back to politics.
seat in 1987. Two years later, he also failed to be elected as a Member of the European Parliament
(MEP) for the Cumbria and North Lancashire
region. His election to the Barrow and Furness seat in the 1992 general election
saw him replace Cecil Franks
as MP with a majority of 3,578. His majority increased to 14,497 in the Labour landslide of the 1997 Election
.
After being a part of the Department of Health
from 1998, he was made a member of the Privy Council
in 2001. In the reshuffle following the 2005 general election
(in which his majority fell to just over 6,000), he was made Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
and Minister for the Cabinet Office, replacing his close friend and former flatmate, Alan Milburn
.
His position in this role was short lived, however. Following the second resignation of David Blunkett
, Hutton was appointed as his replacement in the role of Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
on 2 November 2005. Hutton was seen as one of Tony Blair
's closest supporters but survived in cabinet following Blair's resignation in June 2007 and was moved by new Prime Minister Gordon Brown to be Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, which incorporated the bulk of portfolios from the now dissolved Department of Trade and Industry, including Energy security issues which many had expected to be ceded to DEFRA.
In September 2006, while discussing the forthcoming Labour Party leadership election
, Hutton gave an anonymous quote to BBC journalist Nick Robinson
that Gordon Brown
would be a "fucking disaster" as prime minister.
He was moved into the role of Secretary of State for Defence in the cabinet reshuffle on 3 October 2008. On 5 June 2009, Hutton resigned his Cabinet position and announced his intention to stand down as an MP at the next general election.
Hutton gave evidence to the Iraq Inquiry about his role as Defence Secretary on 25 January 2010, the same day as his predecessor, Des Browne
.
as Baron Hutton of Furness, of Aldingham in the County of Cumbria, and was introduced
in the House of Lords
on 1 July 2010, where he sits on the Labour benches.
. The Advisory Committee on Business Appointments
stipulated that he should not lobby his former department for 12 months.
It was also announced in June 2010, that the Conservative – Lib Dem coalition had asked him to head a commission into public sector pensions. His initial report was published in October 2010. On 19 June 2011, Hutton tetchily rejected claims by trade unionists and Labour colleagues that he had been used a 'stooge' by the government and dismissed speculation regarding his motives for accepting the coalition's invitation.
. They had three sons and a daughter, before divorcing in 1993.
- The King's Own Royal Lancasters
on the Western Front 1915-18
" (Pen and Sword Books, 2008). In it, Hutton gives a "graphic insight into the daily routine and grim reality of warfare on the Western Front for men who were mostly recruited from the Furness
area of the North-West
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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
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
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 Barrow and Furness
Barrow and Furness (UK Parliament constituency)
Barrow and Furness is a parliamentary constituency in Cumbria, represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom...
in Cumbria
Cumbria
Cumbria , is a non-metropolitan county in North West England. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local authority, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumbria's largest settlement and county town is Carlisle. It consists of six districts, and in...
from 1992
United Kingdom general election, 1992
The United Kingdom general election of 1992 was held on 9 April 1992, and was the fourth consecutive victory for the Conservative Party. This election result was one of the biggest surprises in 20th Century politics, as polling leading up to the day of the election showed Labour under leader Neil...
to 2010, and has served in a number of Cabinet
Cabinet of the United Kingdom
The Cabinet of the United Kingdom is the collective decision-making body of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom, composed of the Prime Minister and some 22 Cabinet Ministers, the most senior of the government ministers....
offices, including Defence Secretary
Secretary of State for Defence
The Secretary of State for Defence, popularly known as the Defence Secretary, is the senior Government of the United Kingdom minister in charge of the Ministry of Defence, chairing the Defence Council. It is a Cabinet position...
and Business Secretary. He is now the Chairman of the Royal United Services Institute
Royal United Services Institute
The Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies , officially still known by its old name, the Royal United Services Institution, is a British defence and security think tank. It was founded in 1831 by The Duke of Wellington.RUSI describes itself asIt won Prospect Magazine's...
.
Early life
Hutton was born 6 May 1955, in London, though his family moved to Westcliff-on-SeaWestcliff-on-Sea
Westcliff-on-Sea is a suburb of Southend-on-Sea, a seaside resort in the East of England and unitary authority in Essex. It is situated on the northern bank of the Thames Estuary and about 34 miles east of London.-Geography:...
, Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
when he was 8. He was educated at Westcliff High School for Boys
Westcliff High School for Boys
Westcliff High School for Boys is a selective academy grammar school for boys aged 11 to 18 in Westcliff-on-Sea, near Southend-on-Sea, Essex and surrounding areas. In September 2001 the school was awarded "Beacon" status for its breadth of achievements and quality of work...
and Magdalen College, Oxford
Magdalen College, Oxford
Magdalen College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. As of 2006 the college had an estimated financial endowment of £153 million. Magdalen is currently top of the Norrington Table after over half of its 2010 finalists received first-class degrees, a record...
where he joined the Conservative, Liberal and Labour Associations and gained a BA
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in 1976 and a BCL
Bachelor of Civil Law
Bachelor of Civil Law is the name of various degrees in law conferred by English-language universities. Historically, it originated as a postgraduate degree in the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, but many universities now offer the BCL as an undergraduate degree...
1978. For two years he was a legal adviser to the CBI
CBI
- Places and installations :* Cape Breton Island, part of Nova Scotia, Canada* Center for Biomedical Imaging, a research facility of Boston University Medical Center* Central Bukidnon Institute, a secondary school in the Philippines...
. From 1980-81, he was a research associate for Templeton College, Oxford
Templeton College, Oxford
Templeton College was one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford, England. It was an all-graduate college, concentrating on the recruitment of students in business and management studies....
. He went on to become a senior law lecturer at the Newcastle Polytechnic
Northumbria University
Northumbria University is an academic institution located in Newcastle upon Tyne in the North East of England. It is a member of the University Alliance.- History :...
from 1981-92 before turning back to politics.
Parliamentary career
Hutton first stood for election in the Penrith and the BordersPenrith and The Border (UK Parliament constituency)
Penrith and The Border is a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It is represented by one Member of Parliament elected by the first past the post system of election. This Cumbrian constituency was first contested in 1950.-History:The constutuency is...
seat in 1987. Two years later, he also failed to be elected as a Member of the European Parliament
Member of the European Parliament
A Member of the European Parliament is a person who has been elected to the European Parliament. The name of MEPs differ in different languages, with terms such as europarliamentarian or eurodeputy being common in Romance language-speaking areas.When the European Parliament was first established,...
(MEP) for the Cumbria and North 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...
region. His election to the Barrow and Furness seat in the 1992 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1992
The United Kingdom general election of 1992 was held on 9 April 1992, and was the fourth consecutive victory for the Conservative Party. This election result was one of the biggest surprises in 20th Century politics, as polling leading up to the day of the election showed Labour under leader Neil...
saw him replace Cecil Franks
Cecil Franks
Cecil Simon Franks is a British solicitor and politician from Manchester. He was the Member of Parliament for Barrow and Furness from the 1983 General Election until the 1992 General Election....
as MP with a majority of 3,578. His majority increased to 14,497 in the Labour landslide of the 1997 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...
.
After being a part of the Department of Health
Department of Health (United Kingdom)
The Department of Health is a department of the United Kingdom government with responsibility for government policy for health and social care matters and for the National Health Service in England along with a few elements of the same matters which are not otherwise devolved to the Scottish,...
from 1998, he was made a member of the Privy Council
Privy Council of the United Kingdom
Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, usually known simply as the Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the Sovereign in the United Kingdom...
in 2001. In the reshuffle following 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....
(in which his majority fell to just over 6,000), he was made Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster is, in modern times, a ministerial office in the government of the United Kingdom that includes as part of its duties, the administration of the estates and rents of the Duchy of Lancaster...
and Minister for the Cabinet Office, replacing his close friend and former flatmate, Alan Milburn
Alan Milburn
Alan Milburn is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Darlington from 1992 until 2010...
.
His position in this role was short lived, however. Following the second resignation of David Blunkett
David Blunkett
David Blunkett is a British Labour Party politician and the Member of Parliament for Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough, having represented Sheffield Brightside from 1987 to 2010...
, Hutton was appointed as his replacement in the role of Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions is a post in the British Cabinet, responsible for the Department for Work and Pensions. It was created on 8 June 2001 by the merger of the Employment part of the Department for Education and Employment and the Department of Social Security.The Ministry...
on 2 November 2005. Hutton was seen as one of Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
's closest supporters but survived in cabinet following Blair's resignation in June 2007 and was moved by new Prime Minister Gordon Brown to be Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, which incorporated the bulk of portfolios from the now dissolved Department of Trade and Industry, including Energy security issues which many had expected to be ceded to DEFRA.
In September 2006, while discussing the forthcoming Labour Party leadership election
Labour Party (UK) leadership election, 2007
The 2007 Labour Party Leadership Election was formally triggered on 10 May 2007 by the resignation of Tony Blair, Labour Leader since the previous leadership contest on 21 July 1994...
, Hutton gave an anonymous quote to BBC journalist Nick Robinson
Nick Robinson
Nicholas Anthony "Nick" Robinson is a British journalist and political editor for the BBC. Robinson was interested in politics from a young age, and went on to study a Philosophy, Politics, and Economics degree at Oxford University, where he was also President of the Oxford University Conservative...
that Gordon Brown
Gordon Brown
James Gordon Brown is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007...
would be a "fucking disaster" as prime minister.
He was moved into the role of Secretary of State for Defence in the cabinet reshuffle on 3 October 2008. On 5 June 2009, Hutton resigned his Cabinet position and announced his intention to stand down as an MP at the next general election.
Hutton gave evidence to the Iraq Inquiry about his role as Defence Secretary on 25 January 2010, the same day as his predecessor, Des Browne
Des Browne
Desmond Henry Browne, Baron Browne of Ladyton is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament for Kilmarnock and Loudoun from 1997 to 2010...
.
House of Lords
On 27 June 2010, he was created a life peerLife peer
In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the Peerage whose titles cannot be inherited. Nowadays life peerages, always of baronial rank, are created under the Life Peerages Act 1958 and entitle the holders to seats in the House of Lords, presuming they meet qualifications such as...
as Baron Hutton of Furness, of Aldingham in the County of Cumbria, and was introduced
Introduction (House of Lords)
Introduction is a ceremony in the House of Lords whereby new members are "introduced" to the existing membership. Introductions in the Lords are more elaborate than those in the House of Commons.-Origins:...
in the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
on 1 July 2010, where he sits on the Labour benches.
Later career
In June 2010, it was announced that Hutton had joined the board of U.S. nuclear power company Hyperion Power GenerationHyperion Power Generation
Hyperion Power Generation, Inc. is a privately held corporation formed to construct and sell several designs of relatively small nuclear reactors, which they claim will be modular, inexpensive, inherently safe, and proliferation-resistant...
. The Advisory Committee on Business Appointments
Advisory Committee on Business Appointments
The Advisory Committee on Business Appointments is an non-departmental public body in the UK, which was set up in 1975 to provide advice on applications from the most senior Crown servants who wish to take up outside appointments after they leave Crown service. Since 1995 it has also provided...
stipulated that he should not lobby his former department for 12 months.
It was also announced in June 2010, that the Conservative – Lib Dem coalition had asked him to head a commission into public sector pensions. His initial report was published in October 2010. On 19 June 2011, Hutton tetchily rejected claims by trade unionists and Labour colleagues that he had been used a 'stooge' by the government and dismissed speculation regarding his motives for accepting the coalition's invitation.
Personal life
John Hutton married Rosemary Caroline Little in 1978 in OxfordOxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
. They had three sons and a daughter, before divorcing in 1993.
Publications
In 2008 John Hutton's first book was published, a non-fiction titled "Kitchener's MenKitchener's Army
The New Army, often referred to as Kitchener's Army or, disparagingly, Kitchener's Mob, was an all-volunteer army formed in the United Kingdom following the outbreak of hostilities in the First World War...
- The King's Own Royal Lancasters
King's Own Royal Regiment (Lancaster)
The King's Own Royal Regiment was an infantry regiment of the line of the British Army, which served under various titles from 1680 to 1959. Its lineage is continued today by the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment.-History:...
on the Western Front 1915-18
Western Front (World War I)
Following the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the German Army opened the Western Front by first invading Luxembourg and Belgium, then gaining military control of important industrial regions in France. The tide of the advance was dramatically turned with the Battle of the Marne...
" (Pen and Sword Books, 2008). In it, Hutton gives a "graphic insight into the daily routine and grim reality of warfare on the Western Front for men who were mostly recruited from the Furness
Furness
Furness is a peninsula in south Cumbria, England. At its widest extent, it is considered to cover the whole of North Lonsdale, that part of the Lonsdale hundred that is an exclave of the historic county of Lancashire, lying to the north of Morecambe Bay....
area of the North-West
External links
- John Hutton MP Official site
- Rt Hon John Hutton MP - Official profile Cabinet Office
- John Hutton: Electoral history and profile The Guardian
- John Hutton MP TheyWorkForYou.com
News items
- Profile: John Hutton BBC News, 3 November 2005
- Dead Chinook pilots not cleared BBC News, 9 December 2008 - Gross negligence verdicts against RAF crew to stand
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