Anthony James McNulty (born 3 November 1958) is a retired British politician who was the Labour Member of Parliament (MP) for Harrow East from

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

. During his ministerial career, which began in 2003, he was Minister for London and later Minister of State for Employment and Welfare Reform at the

Department for Work and Pensions The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for welfare spending, welfare, pensions and child maintenance ...

. He resigned his position on 5 June 2009 after allegations in the press regarding his expenses.

Background, education and early political career

His father migrated to England from

County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county of the Republic of Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and is the northernmost county of Ireland. The county mostly borders Northern Ireland, sharing only a small b ...

, Ireland. McNulty was educated at the Salvatorian College, Wealdstone and at Stanmore Sixth Form College. He graduated from the

University of Liverpool The University of Liverpool (abbreviated UOL) is a Public university, public research university in Liverpool, England. Founded in 1881 as University College Liverpool, Victoria University (United Kingdom), Victoria University, it received Ro ...

with a BA in Political Theory and Institutions and an MA in Political Science from

Virginia Tech The Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, commonly referred to as Virginia Tech (VT), is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States ...

in the United States. Before becoming an MP, he was leader of the Labour group on Harrow council and a senior lecturer in

Organisational Behaviour Organizational behavior or organisational behaviour (see American and British English spelling differences, spelling differences) is the "study of human behavior in organizational settings, the interface between human behavior and the organiza ...

, at the

University of North London The University of North London (UNL) was a university in London, England, formed from the Polytechnic of North London (PNL) in 1992 when that institution was granted university status. PNL, in turn, had been formed by the amalgamation of the No ...

from 1983–97. In 1986, he was elected to Harrow Council for Stanmore South ward.

Parliamentary career

McNulty was an unsuccessful Labour candidate for Harrow East in the 1992 general election, but was elected as the constituency's MP in the May 1997 general election. He served as a Whip from 1999 to 2002, following a period as Parliamentary Private Secretary to

David Blunkett David Blunkett, Baron Blunkett, (born 6 June 1947) is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Education and Employment from 1997 to 2001, Home Secretary from 2001 to 2004 and Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in 2005. ...

. McNulty was then appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister with responsibility for neighbourhood renewal, housing and planning. He was moved to the

Department for Transport The Department for Transport (DfT) is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for the English transport network and a limited number of transport ...

in June 2003 as Parliamentary Under Secretary with responsibility for aviation, local transport, and London, and was promoted to Minister of State with responsibility for Rail and London in September 2004. McNulty moved to the

Home Office The Home Office (HO), also known (especially in official papers and when referred to in Parliament) as the Home Department, is the United Kingdom's interior ministry. It is responsible for public safety and policing, border security, immigr ...

on 9 May 2005 as Minister of State for Immigration, following the

general election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...

reshuffle. In May 2006 his

portfolio changed to responsibility over the policing and crime, security and counter-terrorism. In July 2007, he became a Privy Councillor. In

Gordon Brown James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. Previously, he was Chancellor of the Ex ...

's reshuffle on 3 October 2008, McNulty moved to become

Minister of State Minister of state is a designation for a government minister, with varying meanings in different jurisdictions. In a number of European countries, the title is given as an honorific conferring a higher rank, often bestowed upon senior minister ...

for Employment and Welfare Reform at the

and Minister for London, and was permitted to attend cabinet meetings until his resignation on 5 June 2009. During his period as Minister, McNulty was concerned with benefit fraud suggesting that "we are absolutely determined to stop benefit thieves stealing from the British taxpayer. Our commitment extends beyond the borders of the UK. Even in sunny Spain, we're closing in on benefit fraud".

MPs' expenses controversy

In 2009, McNulty was one of many MPs who were involved in a political scandal following the disclosure of expenses of Members of the United Kingdom Parliament. In March 2009, he admitted claiming expenses on a second home, occupied by his parents, which was 8 miles away from his primary residence, after details appeared in ''

The Mail on Sunday ''The Mail on Sunday'' is a British conservative newspaper, published in a tabloid format. Founded in 1982 by Lord Rothermere, it is the biggest-selling Sunday newspaper in the UK. Its sister paper, the ''Daily Mail'', was first published i ...

''. McNulty said that the claim was appropriate, but he ceased claiming the allowances. He was asked to apologise to the House of Commons and repay £13,837, which he did. In an article headlined "Tony McNulty, Benefit Cheat", Alex Massie in a blog for ''

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British political and cultural news magazine. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving magazine in the world. ''The Spectator'' is politically conservative, and its principal subject a ...

'' contrasted the statements made by McNulty regarding benefit cheats with his own claims for expenses. On 18 May 2007, McNulty was one of the 98 MPs who voted in favour of exempting parliamentarians from the application of the

Freedom of Information Act 2000 The Freedom of Information Act 2000 (c. 36) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that creates a public right of access to information held by public authorities. It is the implementation of freedom of information legislation in t ...

. On 5 June 2009, after the revelations in the expenses scandal, McNulty resigned from the government. At the 2010 general election, McNulty lost to

Bob Blackman Robert John Blackman Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), MP (born 26 April 1956) is a British politician who has been the chairman of the 1922 Committee and chair of the Backbench Business Committee since 2024. A member of the Conservative ...

of the Conservative Party.

Personal life

In September 2002, McNulty married Christine Gilbert, Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools for Ofsted, in Hammersmith and Fulham. Gilbert was headmistress of Whitmore High School for eight years, starting when she was 32. It was the second marriage for both. McNulty had first married in 1994 to Gillian Travers, who later stood as a Labour candidate for Ruislip-Northwood in 2001. In the 1980s McNulty played rugby union for Watford RFC, as did his brother Richard (Dickie).

References

External links

Guardian Unlimited Politics – Ask Aristotle: Tony McNulty MP

TheyWorkForYou.com: Tony McNulty MP

BBC Politics
* , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:McNulty, Tony 1958 births Living people Alumni of the University of Liverpool Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies English people of Irish descent Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom People from Stanmore Virginia Tech alumni UK MPs 1997–2001 UK MPs 2001–2005 UK MPs 2005–2010