Tony Wright (Cannock Chase MP)

Tony Wright
Member of Parliament for Cannock Chase Cannock and Burntwood (1992–1997)
In office 10 April 1992 – 12 April 2010
Preceded by	Gerald Howarth
Succeeded by	Aidan Burley
Personal details
Born	11 March 1948 Leicester, Leicestershire, England
Nationality	British
Political party	Labour
Spouse(s)	Moira Wright
Children	Three sons
Alma mater	London School of Economics Balliol College, Oxford Harvard University
Website	www.tonywright.org

Anthony Wayland Wright (born 11 March 1948) is a British Labour Party politician and author, who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Cannock Chase from 1997 to 2010. He was first elected in 1992 for Cannock and Burntwood.

Early life

Wright was educated at Desborough County Primary School, then Kettering Grammar School (now known as the Tresham Institute although the old building has been recently knocked down) on Windmill Avenue in Kettering. Wright was educated at the London School of Economics (gaining a First class honours BSc in Government in 1970), Harvard University (where he was a Kennedy Scholar from 1970–1), and Balliol College, Oxford, gaining a DPhil in 1973.

He was a lecturer in politics at the University College of North Wales, Bangor from 1973–5. He was a lecturer in politics from 1975–92 at the University of Birmingham (School of Continuing Studies), where he is now an honorary professor.

Parliamentary career

He contested the Kidderminster seat in 1979. He has a keen interest in constitutional affairs, and from 1999 to 2010 was Chairman of the Public Administration Select Committee. He also chaired the Reform of the House of Commons Committee ("the Wright Committee") from 2008 to 2009. He has written or edited 21 books.

On 21 July 2008 Wright announced that, for health reasons, he would not stand again at the 2010 general election.^[1] Susan Woodward stood as the Labour Party Candidate for Cannock Chase at the 2010 election but lost to the Conservative candidate Aidan Burley.

Return to academia

On 10 May 2010, University College London announced that Wright had been appointed Professor of Government and Public Policy.^[2] He joined the Department of Politics at Birkbeck College as a Professorial Fellow on 1 September 2010.^[3]

Personal life

He married Moira Phillips in 1973 in Oxford, and they have three sons, one of whom is BBC political correspondent Ben Wright. He has had leukaemia.

Works

• Restating the State? (Blackwell, 2004) ISBN 1-4051-2454-7
• British Politics: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford Paperbacks, 2002) ISBN 0-19-285459-3
• The British Political Process: An Introduction edited by Tony Wright (Routledge, 1999) ISBN 0-415-04965-2
• The New Social Democracy edited by Tony Wright and Andrew Gamble (Blackwell, 1999) ISBN 0-631-21765-7
• The People's Party: the History of the Labour Party with Matt Carter (Thames and Hudson, 1997) ISBN 0-500-01768-9
• Why Vote Labour? (Penguin, 1997) ISBN 0-14-026397-7
• Who Wins Dares: New Labour – New Politics (Fabian Society, 1997) ISBN 0-7163-0579-8
• Socialisms: Old and New (Routledge, 1996) ISBN 0-415-15179-1
• Power to the Back Benches? Restoring the Balance Between Government and Parliament by Stuart Weir, Tony Wright (Charter 88, 1996) ISBN 1-873311-36-2
• Values, Visions and Voices edited with Gordon Brown (Mainstream, 1995) ISBN 1-85158-731-4
• Beyond the Patronage State (Fabian Society, 1995) ISBN 0-7163-0569-0
• Contemporary Political Ideologies edited by Roger Eatwell, Anthony Wright (Pinter, 1993) ISBN 0-86187-096-4
• Citizens and Subjects (Routledge, 1993) ISBN 0-415-04964-4
• Political Thought Since 1945: Philosophy, Science, Ideology edited by Leonard Tivey, Anthony Wright (Edward Elgar, 1992) ISBN 1-85278-311-7
• Consuming Public Services by Nicholas Deakin, Anthony Wright (Routledge, 1990) ISBN 0-415-03208-3
• Matters of Death and Life: a Study of Bereavement Support in NHS Hospitals in England (King's Fund, 1988) ISBN 1-870551-84-2
• R.H. Tawney (Manchester University, 1987) ISBN 0-7190-1998-2
• Socialisms: Theories and Practices (Oxford University Press, 1986) ISBN 0-19-219188-8
• Socialism and Decentralisation (Fabian Society, 1984) ISBN 0-7163-0496-1
• Worlds of Labour: Essays in Birmingham Labour History edited by Anthony Wright, Richard Shackleton (University of Birmingham, 1983) ISBN 0-7044-0673-X
• G.D.H.Cole and Socialist Democracy (Oxford University, 1979) ISBN 0-19-827421-1

References

1. Labour MP set to quit over health; BBC News, 21 July 2008
2. "Tony Wright joins SPP". University College London. 10 May 2010. Retrieved 9 August 2010.
3. Tony Wright joins Department of Politics (Birkbeck press release)

External links

• Staff profile at University College London
• www.tonywright.org – official site
• Tony Wright photos on Flickr
• Guardian Unlimited Politics – Ask Aristotle: Tony Wright MP
• TheyWorkForYou.com – Tony Wright MP
• BBC Politics page
• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Tony Wright

News items

• Announcing his leukaemia in October 2004