John Ryan (30 April 1940 – 26 March 2002) was a British politician, businessman and University Lecturer.

Student political career

Ryan was born in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

and went to Lanark Grammar School followed by

Glasgow University , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

where he obtained an Honours degree in Economic History. He joined the Labour Party in 1958, and was a member of the National Association of Labour Students Organisations from 1958 to 1962. He also joined the

Fabian Society The Fabian Society is a British socialist organisation whose purpose is to advance the principles of social democracy and democratic socialism via gradualist and reformist effort in democracies, rather than by revolutionary overthrow. T ...

in 1961. At the 1964 general election Ryan was Labour candidate for

South Buckinghamshire South Bucks was one of four local government districts in the non-metropolitan county of Buckinghamshire, in South East England. The district was formed on 1 April 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972, by the amalgamation of the area of Be ...

; at the age of 24, he was one of the youngest candidates. He was on the Executive Committee of Paddington North

Constituency Labour Party __NOTOC__ A constituency Labour Party (CLP) is an organisation of members of the British Labour Party who live in a particular parliamentary constituency. In England and Wales, CLP boundaries coincide with those for UK parliamentary constituenc ...

from 1964.

Parliament

Ryan was selected as candidate for

Uxbridge Uxbridge () is a suburban town in west London and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Hillingdon. Situated west-northwest of Charing Cross, it is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. Uxb ...

, and managed to win the seat in the 1966 general election. He was the youngest Member of Parliament elected in the election, and held the title until

Les Huckfield Leslie John Huckfield (born 7 April 1942) is a British Labour politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Nuneaton from 1967 to 1983 and as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 1984 to 1989. Early life From 1960 to 1963, Hu ...

was elected in a byelection the following year. Ryan shared with others progressive

avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretica ...

positions: outspoken criticism of the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

which the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

ultimately conceded, advocacy for

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminst ...

reform, which ultimately came to pass after his lifetime. Equally he opposed any alliance with the white settler-led

Rhodesia Rhodesia (, ), officially from 1970 the Republic of Rhodesia, was an unrecognised state in Southern Africa from 1965 to 1979, equivalent in territory to modern Zimbabwe. Rhodesia was the ''de facto'' successor state to the British colony of So ...

n government. He allied with the left-wing

Tribune Group ''Tribune'' is a democratic socialist political magazine founded in 1937 and published in London, initially as a newspaper, then converting to a magazine in 2001. While it is independent, it has usually supported the Labour Party from the left. ...

and was a Director of Tribune Publications from 1969.

Subsequent career

Ryan was defeated at the 1970 general election. He became a Management Consultant and associate member of the Market Research Society, and later took up a position as a Lecturer. At the time of his death he was Senior Lecturer in Management Studies at

Napier University , mottoeng = Without knowledge, everything is in vain , established = 1992 – granted University status 1964 – Napier Technical College , type = Public , academic_staff = 802 , administrative_staff = 562 , chancellor = Will Whitehorn , ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

References

*M. Stenton and S. Lees, "Who's Who of British MPs", Vol. IV (Harvester Press, 1981) *Who Was Who

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ryan, John 1940 births 2002 deaths Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1966–1970