View source for Gerry Sutcliffe

{{Short description|British politician}}
{{EngvarB|date=July 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2016}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix = 
| name = Gerry Sutcliffe
| honorific-suffix = 
| image = Gerry Sutcliffe.jpg
| caption = Sutcliffe as Minister for Sport
| office = [[Minister for Sport and Civil Society|Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Sport]]
| primeminister = [[Gordon Brown]]
| predecessor = [[Richard Caborn]]
| successor = [[Hugh Robertson (politician)|Hugh Robertson]]
| term_start = 29 June 2007
| term_end = 11 May 2010
| office1 = [[Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Prisons and Probation Services]]
| primeminister1 = [[Tony Blair]]
| predecessor1 = [[Fiona Mactaggart]]
| successor1 = [[Maria Eagle]]
| term_start1 = 5 May 2006
| term_end1 = 29 June 2007
| office2 = [[Department of Trade and Industry (United Kingdom)|Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Consumer and Competition Policy]]
| predecessor2 = [[Melanie Johnson]]
| successor2 = ''Position abolished''
| term_start2 = 13 June 2003
| term_end2 = 5 May 2006
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=yes|1953|05|13}}
| birth_place = [[Salford]], Lancashire, England
| death_date = 
| death_place = 
| nationality = British
| spouse = 
| party = [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]]
| relations = 
| children = 
| residence = 
| alma_mater = 
| occupation = 
| profession = 
| signature = 
| website = 
| footnotes = 
| office3 = [[Vice-Chamberlain of the Household]]
| office4 = [[Member of Parliament (UK)|Member of Parliament]] <br /> for [[Bradford South]]
| primeminister3 = [[Tony Blair]]
| primeminister4 = 
| primeminister2 = [[Tony Blair]]
| predecessor3 = [[Graham Allen (politician)|Graham Allen]]
| predecessor4 = [[Bob Cryer]]
| successor4 = [[Judith Cummins]]
| successor3 = [[Jim Fitzpatrick (politician)|Jim Fitzpatrick]]
| majority4 = 
| term_start3 = 8 June 2001
| term_start4 = 9 June 1994
| term_end3 = 13 June 2003
| term_end4 = 30 March 2015
}}
'''Gerard Sutcliffe''' (born 13 May 1953) is a [[British Labour Party]] politician who was Member of Parliament (MP) for [[Bradford South]] from [[1994 Bradford South by-election|1994]] to [[2015 United Kingdom general election|2015]]. He was the [[Minister for Sport and Tourism]] in the [[Brown Government]].

== 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 [[City of Bradford|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 [[1994 Bradford South by-election|by-election]]. He won the by-election with 55% of the vote,<ref>{{cite news |last1=Webster |first1=Philip |title=Tories face crisis of confidence |work=The Times |issue=64977 |date=10 June 1994 |page=1|issn=0140-0460}}</ref> and held the seat until he stood down in [[2015 United Kingdom general election|2015]].

In Parliament, he served on the [[Public Accounts Committee (United Kingdom)|Public Accounts Committee]] from 1996 to 1998, and was a member of the Unopposed Bills Panel from 1997 to 1999.

After the [[1997 United Kingdom general election|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 (United Kingdom)|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 (United Kingdom)|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 [[2008 Summer Olympics|Beijing Olympics]] he entered a wager with his Australian counterpart [[Kate Ellis (politician)|Kate Ellis]] that [[Great Britain at the 2008 Summer Olympics|Great Britain]] would finish above [[Australia at the 2008 Summer Olympics|Australia]] in the final medal table, with each Minister promising to wear the opposite nation's colours to a sporting event if they lose.<ref name="Olympics bet">{{cite news |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7548855.stm |title=Minister stakes shirt on Olympics |date=8 August 2008 |access-date=18 August 2008 |work=BBC News |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080829064558/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7548855.stm |archive-date=29 August 2008 |url-status=live }}</ref> Sutcliffe won the bet, with Britain finishing fourth and Australia sixth.

Sutcliffe supported [[Andy Burnham]] in the [[2010 Labour Party leadership election (UK)|2010 Labour Party leadership election]] and acted as Burnham's campaign manager. From 2010 until 2011, Sutcliffe served as Shadow Minister for Immigration.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12477197 | work=BBC News | title=UK Border Agency 'failing over visa controls' | date=16 February 2011 | access-date=20 June 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190109130208/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12477197 | archive-date=9 January 2019 | url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/immigration/8339146/Immigration-Labour-Migration-levels-increased-because-of-strength-of-British-economy.html | location=London | work=The Daily Telegraph | title=Immigration: Labour – Migration levels increased because of strength of British economy | date=22 February 2011 | access-date=2 April 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160920102140/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/immigration/8339146/Immigration-Labour-Migration-levels-increased-because-of-strength-of-British-economy.html | archive-date=20 September 2016 | url-status=live }}</ref> In May 2014, Sutcliffe announced that he would stand down at the following general election.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.dewsburyreporter.co.uk/news/local/sutcliffe-to-stand-down-1-6642150 |title=Sutcliffe to stand down |newspaper=Dewsbury Reporter |date=28 May 2014 |access-date=28 May 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140529051658/http://www.dewsburyreporter.co.uk/news/local/sutcliffe-to-stand-down-1-6642150 |archive-date=29 May 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref> He is a member of [[Unite the Union]].

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* [http://www.gerrysutcliffe.org.uk/ Gerry Sutcliffe MP] official site
* [https://archive.today/20130420205125/http://politics.guardian.co.uk/person/0,9290,-5068,00.html Guardian Unlimited Politics – Ask Aristotle: Gerry Sutcliffe MP]
* [https://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/gerry_sutcliffe/bradford_south TheyWorkForYou.com – Gerry Sutcliffe MP]
* {{YouTube|user=gerrysutcliffe}}
* [http://search.independent.co.uk/topic/gerry-sutcliffe Stories about Gerry Sutcliffe]{{dead link|date=January 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} from [[The Independent]]
* {{C-SPAN}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-par|uk}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Bob Cryer]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=Member of Parliament for [[Bradford South]]|years=[[1994 Bradford South by-election|1994]]–[[2015 United Kingdom general election|2015]]}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Judith Cummins]]}}
{{s-off}}
{{succession box | title=[[Minister for Sport and Tourism]] | before=[[Richard Caborn]] | years=2007–2010 | after=[[Hugh Robertson (politician)|Hugh Robertson]]}}
{{s-npo|union}}
{{succession box|title=Deputy General Secretary of the [[Graphical, Paper and Media Union]]|years=1992–1994|before=[[Brenda Dean]]|after=[[Tony Burke (trade unionist)|Tony Burke]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Ministers for Sport}}
{{England 2018}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sutcliffe, Gerry}}
[[Category:1953 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Councillors in Bradford]]
[[Category:Graphical, Paper and Media Union-sponsored MPs]]
[[Category:Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies]]
[[Category:Politicians from Salford]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1992–1997]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1997–2001]]
[[Category:UK MPs 2001–2005]]
[[Category:UK MPs 2005–2010]]
[[Category:UK MPs 2010–2015]]
[[Category:Politicians from Bradford]]
[[Category:Rugby league chairmen and investors]]