Ian McCartney

Sir Ian McCartney (born 25 April 1951) is a British Labour politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Makerfield from 1987 and 2010. McCartney served in Tony Blair’s Cabinet from 2003 until 2007, when Gordon Brown became Prime Minister. He was made a Knight Bachelor in the 2010 Dissolution Honours List.[1]

The Right Honourable Sir Ian McCartney
McCartney in 2006
Minister of State for Trade
In office 5 May 2006 – 27 June 2007
Prime Minister	Tony Blair
Preceded by	Ian Pearson
Succeeded by	The Lord Jones of Birmingham
Chairman of the Labour Party Minister without Portfolio
In office 4 April 2003 – 5 May 2006
Prime Minister	Tony Blair
Preceded by	John Reid
Succeeded by	Hazel Blears
Minister of State for Pensions
In office 8 June 2001 – 4 April 2003
Prime Minister	Tony Blair
Preceded by	Jeff Rooker
Succeeded by	Malcolm Wicks
Minister of State for the Cabinet Office
In office 28 July 1999 – 11 June 2001
Prime Minister	Tony Blair
Preceded by	Peter Kilfoyle
Succeeded by	Barbara Roche
Minister of State for Competitiveness
In office 5 May 1997 – 28 July 1999
Prime Minister	Tony Blair
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Douglas Alexander (2001)
Member of Parliament for Makerfield
In office 12 June 1987 – 12 April 2010
Preceded by	Michael McGuire
Succeeded by	Yvonne Fovargue
Personal details
Born	25 April 1951 Lennoxtown, Scotland
Political party	Labour
Website	Ianmccartney.com

Early life

He was born in Lennoxtown, Stirlingshire,[2] to Labour MP for East Dunbartonshire Hugh McCartney and his wife, Margaret, a trade unionist. McCartney had two sisters, Irene and Margaret.[3]

Educated at Lenzie Academy,[4] he left the school at the age of 15 "under a bit of a cloud" without any qualifications.[5] He led a paper-boys' strike at the age of fifteen,[6] and had a number of jobs after leaving school, including a seaman, a local government manual worker, and a kitchen worker.[7] He was a councillor for Abram ward in Wigan from 1982 to 1987.[8]

Parliamentary career

McCartney became the MP for Makerfield following the 1987 general election. He was one of the founders of the All-Party Parliamentary Rugby League Group the same year, and was its first chairman.[9] He held a number of positions during Labour's period in opposition, and was variously a spokesman on Health, Employment, Education and Social Services. In 1994, he ran John Prescott's successful campaign to become Labour's Deputy Leader. McCartney was one of the shortest MPs, standing five feet, one inch tall. He described himself on his parliamentary notepaper as the "Socialist MP for Makerfield".[10]

On 23 May 2009, McCartney announced he would not stand again at the 2010 general election due to poor health.[11][12][13]

Ministerial career

McCartney was made Minister of State for Competitiveness at the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) following the 1997 general election when Labour came to power.[7] While at the DTI, he steered the Competition Act 1998 through the House of Commons and introduced a major package of new employment rights which included whistleblowing protection, the National Minimum Wage and the first-ever right to paid holidays.[7] As a former low-paid worker who had been sacked upon asking for a pound pay rise after having a child, McCartney later described the minimum wage as very important to him, saying that he would have "died in the ditch" for it.[7] During this time he was also responsible for employment relations, the Post Office, Company Law and inward investment.

He was moved to be Minister of State at the Cabinet Office in 1999, where he was responsible for modernising Government and E-Government. During this year his drug addict son Hugh McCartney died of a heroin overdose in a Glasgow tenement block. In 2001, McCartney became Minister of State for Pensions at the Department for Work and Pensions, and he was promoted to the Cabinet as Minister Without Portfolio and Party Chair in April 2003.

Between October 2004 and October 2005, he was Chairman of the Labour Party in two capacities - as the Party Chair (appointed by the party's leader) with a seat in the Cabinet, and as the Chair of the National Executive Committee (elected by the members of the NEC). He was also chair of the party's National Policy Forum, which formulates Labour party policy.[14] The NPF also oversaw the 'Big Conversation' project, which saw the Labour Government try to consult the general public on the future direction of party and government policy. Trusted by both leadership and membership, he was seen as a key link between the Government and the wider Labour movement.

He worked to make the role of Party Chair a voice for Labour Party members within the Labour Government. As architect of the Warwick Agreement by Labour's National Policy Forum, he was a key figure in co-ordinating the election manifesto for Labour's third term general election campaign. In 2006 he took a three-month leave of absence following heart bypass surgery,[15] and publicly told of his fight to lose weight for the sake of his health. His return to frontline politics was marked by his speech to the Labour Party 2006 Spring Conference in Blackpool in which he shed a tear while celebrating 100 years of the Parliamentary Labour Party. He returned to government as Minister of State for Trade in May 2006, attending Cabinet but not voting there, but stepped down in 2007 when Gordon Brown became Prime Minister.

Beginning in October 2007, McCartney worked with the construction, engineering and nuclear energy company Fluor, providing them with advice in anti-corruption and business ethics policies; political, economic, environmental and regulatory issues; and outside relations including working with trade unions. After details of this position were published in The Independent, McCartney stated unequivocally that he personally received none of the remuneration for this role, instead using part of the fee to employ someone in the House of Commons from his Makerfield constituency. The remainder was used to support the Women's Interlink Foundation,[16][17][18] a charity based in India which rescues street children and disadvantaged women who are exposed to poverty and sometimes at the risk of rape and murder, providing them with clean drinking water, health treatments, housing and education.

In August 2008, after admitting that some of his claims for furnishing his second home were "inappropriate", McCartney repaid £15,000 of expenses claimed for among other items, a dining table, 18-piece dinner set and champagne glasses. McCartney had asked for the review; although only a portion of the amount was deemed excessive, he said he felt strongly that the full amount should be returned. He commented that as a senior minister he held meetings at home and "had to feed guests".[12][19]

In May 2009, after stepping down citing health issues, McCartney said his family had urged him to step down following a further bout of illness after his 2005 heart surgery, and that he was also being treated for disc injury and was possibly facing further surgery.[20][21][22]

After Parliament

McCartney was chair of Healthwatch Wigan, resigning from the post in 2016.[23]

Personal life

He was married firstly to Jean (née Murray), with whom he had son Hugh and daughters Yvonne and Karen, later divorcing.[24] Hugh died aged 23 of a drugs overdose in 1999 in his flat in Parkhead.[25]

Hugh, known as "Shug",[26] had battled drug addiction since his teenage years. Only recently released from prison, he had been trying to break his habit.[27] In 2002, McCartney gave an interview to the Sunday Herald discussing his son's experiences in the justice system and how McCartney believed "the way we deal with addicts sentenced his son to death".[28] In 2003, McCartney stated in an interview he was still having break downs over the death of his only son.[29]

McCartney's second and current wife is Ann Kevan Parkes, whom he married in 1988.[24][27][30]

References

1. "Peerages, honours and appointments". Number 10. 28 May 2010. Retrieved 25 November 2011.
2. "Ian McCartney". Nndb.com. Retrieved 5 October 2015.
3. "Legacy". Archived from the original on 18 August 2016. Retrieved 17 August 2016.
4. "Ian is Labour's top man". Kirkintilloch Herald. 8 April 2003. Retrieved 25 November 2011.
5. "The rise of little big man". HighBeam Research. Archived from the original on 11 June 2014. Retrieved 5 October 2015.
6. "Ian McCartney will be missed as an MP". Daily Mirror. 26 May 2009. Retrieved 25 November 2011.
7. "Minimum wage: Ex-MP Ian McCartney recalls its introduction". BBC News Online. 13 May 2011. Archived from the original on 13 May 2011. Retrieved 25 November 2011.
8. "Learning from Scotland". The Glasgow Herald.
9. Andy Wilson (5 March 2010). "Royal Navy ready to break new ground against Blackpool in Challenge Cup". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 8 March 2010. Retrieved 25 November 2011.
10. Sylvester, Rachel (17 May 2003). "How the fast-food failure is now a quickfire success". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 31 March 2014. Retrieved 25 November 2011.
11. "Senior Labour MP is to stand down". BBC News. 23 May 2009. Archived from the original on 27 May 2009. Retrieved 25 November 2011.
12. "Labour MP Ian McCartney to stand down". The Daily Telegraph. London. 23 May 2009. Archived from the original on 29 May 2009. Retrieved 25 November 2011.
13. "Sky News: MPs' Expenses: Andrew Mackay and Ian McCartney to Quit at Next Election after Telegraph Revelations". Sky News. 23 May 2009. Archived from the original on 25 May 2009. Retrieved 25 November 2011.
14. "National Policy Forum Consultation Document : Improving health and social care" (PDF). Image.guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 5 October 2015.
15. Landberg, Reed V. (5 October 2005). "U.K. Labour Party Chairman to Undergo Heart Bypass Operation". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on 5 November 2012. Retrieved 25 November 2011.
16. "Welcome to womensinterlinkfoundation". Womensinterlinkfoundation.org. Retrieved 25 November 2011.
17. "Mr Ian McCartney MP v The Independent". Complaints.pccwatch.co.uk. 31 March 2009. Archived from the original on 13 August 2011. Retrieved 25 November 2011.
18. "Ian McCartney MP - Corrections". The Independent. London. 17 October 2008. Archived from the original on 11 November 2012. Retrieved 25 November 2011.
19. Allen, Nick (17 May 2009). "Ian McCartney claimed for champagne flutes and £700 table and chairs: MPs expenses". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 20 May 2009. Retrieved 25 November 2011.
20. Castle, Tim (23 May 2009). "Former Labour party chairman stepping down as MP". Reuters. Archived from the original on 18 October 2012. Retrieved 25 November 2011.
21. "McCartney to quit". Manchester Evening News. Archived from the original on 31 March 2014.
22. "Police and policing,Labour,MPs' expenses". The Guardian. London. 23 May 2009. Archived from the original on 29 May 2009.
23. "Child deaths "outrage"". Wigan Today. 10 December 2014. Retrieved 5 October 2015.
24. Jack O'Sullivan (23 September 1999). "Addicted son of minister 'could have been saved'". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 11 November 2012. Retrieved 25 November 2011.
25. "McCartney's son felt 'suicidal'". BBC News. 22 September 1999. Archived from the original on 25 January 2009. Retrieved 22 September 2012.
26. "Drugs steal your dreams, says minister who lost son - This Britain, UK - The Independent". Archived from the original on 4 April 2010. Retrieved 5 October 2015.
27. "Minister's emotional farewell to son". BBC News. 30 September 1999. Archived from the original on 30 May 2009. Retrieved 25 November 2011.
28. "Sunday Herald". 19 June 2002. Archived from the original on 7 December 2005. Retrieved 28 July 2010.
29. "I still break down over the death of my only son Ian McCartney gives his first interview as chairman of the Labour Party to Colin Brown". HighBeam Research. Retrieved 5 October 2015.
30. "Ian McCartney". NNDB. Archived from the original on 27 April 2009. Retrieved 25 November 2011.

External links

• The Guardian article on McCartney
• Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Ian McCartney MP
• TheyWorkForYou.com - Ian McCartney MP
• The Public Whip - Ian McCartney voting record