Byers, Stephen
Tuesday, 09, Feb 2010 08:25
| Party Name: | Labour |
| Constituency: | North Tyneside |
| Name: | Stephen John Byers |
| Date of Birth: | 13 April 1953 |
| Personal Website: | http://www.labour.org.uk/maps/locinfo.phtml?ctid=2260 |
| Party website: | http://www.labour.org.uk/ |
| WestminsterTelephone: | 020 7219 4085 |
| ConstituencyTelephone: | 0191 268 9111 |
| Constituency Address: | 7 Palmersville
Great Lime Road
Forest Hall
Newcastle upon Tyne NE12 9HN
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| Biography: | Stephen Byers was born in Wolverhampton. He was educated at the fee paying Wymondham College, the City of Chester Grammar School and the Chester College of Further Education, gained a law degree at Liverpool John Moores University and became a law lecturer at Northumbria University from 1977 until his election to Parliament in 1992.
Byers was elected as a councillor to the North Tyneside District Council in 1980, and was its deputy leader from 1985 until he became an MP. He contested the safely Conservative seat of Hexham at the 1983 General Election, finishing in third place and some 14,000 votes behind the former Cabinet minister Geoffrey Rippon. He was first elected to Parliament at the 1992 General Election for the safe seat of Wallsend, following the retirement of Ted Garrett, and secured a majority of 19,470.
In 1993 Byers joined the influential Home Affairs Select Committee. He became an ally of Tony Blair, a fellow northeastern Labour MP who was also a supporter of modernising the Labour Party. Blair gave him a job as soon as he became the Leader of the Opposition, placing him in the Whips Office. He became a spokesman on Education and Employment in 1995.
He joined the Cabinet in July 1998 as Chief Secretary to the Treasury, and became a Member of the Privy Council. After the sudden resignation of Peter Mandelson, Byers was appointed as Secretary of State for Trade and Industry in December 1998. After the 2001 General Election he was made Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government & the Regions.
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