UK Parliament, House of Commons, LONDON (UK).
The result of election was announced in the Chamber on 18th October following a ballot of the whole House. Also on the ballot paper were Dame Angela Eagle and Andy McDonald.
Mr Byrne takes up the position with immediate effect and will serve until the end of the current Parliament.
Following his election he said,
“I’m incredibly grateful to Andy, Angela and colleagues from across the House for such a friendly and good-natured election which has really helped to crystallise a shared agenda for action.
“It is now vital that we get straight down to work, sustaining the Committee’s forensic focus holding ministers to account, exposing corporate bad behaviour and advancing the fight against economic crime.
“Equally, there is a wide consensus that we need to provide serious long-term thinking on how the UK competes with Bidenomics, Brussels and Beijing, de-risks critical supply chains, backs our entrepreneurs and boosts exports, with a special focus on harnessing the net zero transition to re-industrialise Britain.
“Finally, we must develop the big thinking needed on how to best reconnect economic growth and social justice, to ensure the wealth we create is wealth that’s fairly shared.”
UK Member of Parliament; and Chair of the Parliamentary Network on the World Bank and IMF
Rt Hon Liam Byrne MP is a writer, reformer, and campaigner. A former Cabinet minister, in the Home Office, he rebuilt the UK’s immigration system; in No 10 Downing Street, he helped Gordon Brown coordinate government during the global financial crisis, and in Her Majesty’s Treasury, he was Chief Secretary, charged with creating the Labour government’s fiscal consolidation plan. Liam graduated at the top of his class at Manchester University, where he won the Robert McKenzie Prize for Political Science and was elected leader of the Students’ Union.
Before entering politics, he was an entrepreneur and a Fulbright Scholar at the Harvard Business School. Today, Liam is the founder and co-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Inclusive Growth and Chair of the Parliamentary Network on the World Bank & International Monetary Fund. The paperback version of his book, a history of British capitalism, Dragons, was published earlier this year. He is also the author of Robbins Rebooted (SMF, 2014), Reinventing Government Again (SMF, 2004), and Local Government Transformed (Baseline, 1996). His most recent book is Black Flag Down, Counter-extremism, Defeating ISIS and Winning the Battle of Ideas.