Tony Cunningham
Thomas Anthony 'Tony' Cunningham (born
September 16,
1952)
British politician He is the
Labour Member of Parliament for
Workington and is an
Assistant Government Whip.
Tony Cunningham was born in
Workington and educated at the Workington Grammar School before attending the
University of Liverpool where he received a
Bachelor of Arts degree in
History in
1975, and the
Didsbury College,
Manchester where he qualified as a tacher with a
Postgraduate Certificate in Education in
1976. He began his
teaching career at the
Alsager Comprehensive School in
1976 until
1980 when he taught at the Mikunguni Trade School in
Zanzibar. He returned to Britain in
1983 to teach history at the Netherhall School in
Maryport and he remained in post until his election to the
European Parliament. For the duration of his teaching career he was a member of the
National Union of Teachers, serving as a local secretary
1985-
1994, and has been a member of the
Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union since
1993. He was elected a councillor to the
Allerdale District Council in
1987, and became the leader of the council in
1992, he stepped down from both the leadership and the council in
1994. He was the Mayor of Workington in
1990.
In
1994 he was elected as a
Member of the European Parliament for
Cumbria and North
Lancashire. On leaving
Strasbourg and
Brussels in
1999 he became the Chief Executive of Human Rights
NGO where he remained until his election to
Westminster. Tony Cunningham was elected at the
2001 General Election for the safe Labour seat of Workington on the retirement with a
peerage Dale Campbell-Savours. He was elected with a majority of 10,850 and has remained the MP there since. He made his
maiden speech on
July 13,
2001.[
1]
In parliament, he was a member of the European Scrutiny Select Committee from
2001 until he was appointed as the
Parliamentary Private Secretary to the
Minister of State at the
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Elliot Morley. He was promoted to serve in the
Tony Blair government after the
2005 General Election and is an Assistant Whip.
He has been married to Anne Margaret Gilmore since
1984 and they have a son and two daughters. Since
1994 he has been a patron of both
Voluntary Service Overseas and the
Mines Advisory Group. The constituency of Workington contains some of the
Lake District and includes
Keswick and the lakes of
Buttermere and
Crummock Water as well as the
steelworks of Workington and the old
docks of Maryport. It also houses
Cockermouth, the birth place of the
romantic poet William Wordsworth. Tony Cunningham is very sport minded, he is a qualified
rugby union coach and referee, and has played
cricket and
football, as well as rugby (both
league and union) competitively. He plays for the parliamentary football team, and he speaks some
Swahili.
*
Tony Cunningham official site
*
The Labour Party - Tony Cunningham MP official profile
*
Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Tony Cunningham MP*
TheyWorkForYou.com - Tony Cunningham MP
