Liam Byrne
Liam Dominic Byrne (born 2 October 1970), is a British Labour politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Birmingham Hodge Hill since 2004. He served in Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s Cabinet from 2008 to 2010.
For other people with the same name, see Liam Byrne (disambiguation).
Liam Byrne
Gordon Brown
28,655 (63.7%)
Byrne served in the Home Office under Prime Minister Tony Blair as Minister for Police and Counter-terrorism (2006) and Minister for Borders and Immigration (2006–08). He served in Gordon Brown’s Cabinet as Minister for the Cabinet Office and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster from 2008 to 2009. He deputised for Chancellor Alistair Darling at HM Treasury as Chief Secretary to the Treasury from 2009 to 2010. Upon his departure as Chief Secretary to the Treasury, he notoriously left a note for his successor which read "I'm afraid there is no money".[1][2][3]
In Opposition, he attended Ed Miliband's Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury (2010), then Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office (2010–11) and Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (2011–13). Following his demotion in 2013, Byrne continued to serve in junior Shadow Ministerial roles under Miliband and later Jeremy Corbyn.
Byrne was the Labour candidate for Mayor of the West Midlands in 2021, losing to the Conservative incumbent Andy Street. He is now the chair of the House of Commons Business and Trade Select Committee.
Early life and career[edit]
Liam Byrne was born on 2 October 1970 in Warrington. His father was a science teacher while his mother was a district council officer.[4] He was state-educated at Burnt Mill School in Harlow, before completing his A-levels at the Hertfordshire and Essex High School in Bishop's Stortford. He studied History and Politics at the University of Manchester, graduating with a first, and whilst at university was elected Communications Officer of the University of Manchester Students' Union. Byrne was then a Fulbright Scholar at Harvard Business School, taking an MBA with honours from Harvard University.[5]
Prior to his election to Parliament, he worked for Accenture and Rothschild & Co, before co-founding a venture-backed technology company, e-Government Solutions Group, in 2000. In 1996/97, he advised the Labour Party on the re-organisation of its Millbank headquarters, and helped lead Labour's business campaign.
Parliamentary career[edit]
1st term (2004-2005)[edit]
Byrne was selected to contest the Birmingham Hodge Hill by-election following the resignation of the veteran Labour MP Terry Davis to become the Secretary-General of the Council of Europe. At the by-election, Byrne was elected to Parliament as MP for Birmingham Hodge Hill with 36.5% of the vote and a majority of 460.[6] The campaign, led by MP Tom Watson, drew criticism from antiracists for its tactics, particularly a Labour leaflet proclaiming "Labour is on your side – the Lib Dems are on the side of failed asylum seekers".[7] Byrne himself said, "I know that people here are worried about fraudulent asylum claims and illegal immigration. Yet the Lib Dems ignore what people say. They ignore what local people really want. The Lib Dems want to keep giving welfare benefits to failed asylum seekers. They voted for this in Parliament on 1 March 2004. They want your money – and mine – to go to failed asylum seekers."[8]
Upon election, Byrne made his maiden speech on 22 July 2004 in which he condemned racial hatred.[9]