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 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 ...

. He was first elected in

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

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 Kettering is a market town, market and industrial town, industrial town in the North Northamptonshire district of Northamptonshire, England, west of Cambridge, England, Cambridge, southwest of Peterborough, southeast of Leicester and north- ...

. Wright was educated at the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

(gaining a First class honours BSc in government in 1970),

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

(where he was a Kennedy Scholar from 1970 to 1971), and

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1263 by nobleman John I de Balliol, it has a claim to be the oldest college in Oxford and the English-speaking world. With a governing body of a master and aro ...

, gaining a DPhil in 1973. He was a lecturer in politics at the University College of North Wales, Bangor from 1973 to 1975. He was a lecturer in politics from 1975 to 1992 at the

University of Birmingham The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university in Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingham (founded in 1825 as ...

(School of Continuing Studies), where he is now an honorary professor.

Parliamentary career

He contested the

Kidderminster Kidderminster is a market town and civil parish in Worcestershire, England, south-west of Birmingham and north of Worcester, England, Worcester. Located north of the River Stour, Worcestershire, River Stour and east of the River Severn, in th ...

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.

Return to academia

On 10 May 2010,

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

announced that Wright had been appointed Professor of Government and Public Policy. He joined the Department of Politics at Birkbeck College as a professorial fellow on 1 September 2010.Tony Wright joins Department of Politics
(Birkbeck press release)

Personal life

He married Moira Phillips in 1973 in Oxford, and they have three sons, one of whom is

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

political correspondent Ben Wright. He has had

leukaemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia; pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and produce high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or '' ...

Works

*''Restating the State? '' (Blackwell, 2004) *''British Politics: A Very Short Introduction'' (Oxford Paperbacks, 2002) *''The British Political Process: An Introduction'' edited by Tony Wright (Routledge, 1999) *''The New Social Democracy'' edited by Tony Wright and Andrew Gamble (Blackwell, 1999) *''The People's Party: the History of the Labour Party'' with Matt Carter (Thames and Hudson, 1997) *''Why Vote Labour?'' (Penguin, 1997) *
Who Wins Dares: New Labour – New Politics
' (Fabian Society, 1997) *''Socialisms: Old and New'' (Routledge, 1996) *''Power to the Back Benches? Restoring the Balance Between Government and Parliament'' by Stuart Weir, Tony Wright (Charter 88, 1996) *''Values, Visions and Voices'' edited with

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 ...

(Mainstream, 1995) *
Beyond the Patronage State
' (Fabian Society, 1995) *''Contemporary Political Ideologies'' edited by Roger Eatwell, Anthony Wright (Pinter, 1993) *''Citizens and Subjects'' (Routledge, 1993) *''Political Thought Since 1945: Philosophy, Science, Ideology'' edited by Leonard Tivey, Anthony Wright (Edward Elgar, 1992) *''Consuming Public Services'' by Nicholas Deakin, Anthony Wright (Routledge, 1990) *''Matters of Death and Life: a Study of Bereavement Support in NHS Hospitals in England'' (King's Fund, 1988) *''R.H. Tawney'' (Manchester University, 1987) *''Socialisms: Theories and Practices'' (Oxford University Press, 1986) *
Socialism and Decentralisation
' (Fabian Society, 1984) *''Worlds of Labour: Essays in Birmingham Labour History'' edited by Anthony Wright, Richard Shackleton (University of Birmingham, 1983) *''G.D.H.Cole and Socialist Democracy'' (Oxford University, 1979)

References

News items

Announcing his leukaemia in October 2004
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, Tony Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1992–1997 UK MPs 1997–2001 UK MPs 2001–2005 UK MPs 2005–2010 1948 births Living people Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford Harvard College alumni Academics of the University of Birmingham Academics of University College London Academics of Birkbeck, University of London Alumni of the London School of Economics Chairs of the Fabian Society