Chris Mullin | |
|---|---|
 Mullin in 2009 | |
| Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs | |
| In office 13 June 2003 – 10 May 2005 | |
| Prime Minister | Tony Blair |
| Preceded by | Mike O'Brien |
| Succeeded by | The Lord Triesman |
| Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development | |
| In office 26 January 2001 – 11 June 2001 | |
| Prime Minister | Tony Blair |
| Preceded by | George Foulkes |
| Succeeded by | Hilary Benn |
| Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions | |
| In office 29 July 1999 – 25 January 2001 | |
| Prime Minister | Tony Blair |
| Preceded by | Alan Meale |
| Succeeded by | Bob Ainsworth |
| Chairman of theHome Affairs Select Committee | |
| In office 18 July 2001 – 15 July 2003 | |
| Prime Minister | Tony Blair |
| Preceded by | Robin Corbett |
| Succeeded by | John Denham |
| In office 17 July 1997 – 18 October 1999 | |
| Preceded by | Ivan Lawrence |
| Succeeded by | Robin Corbett |
| Member of Parliament forSunderland South | |
| In office 12 June 1987 – 12 April 2010 | |
| Preceded by | Gordon Bagier |
| Succeeded by | Constituency abolished |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1947-12-12)12 December 1947 (age 78) Chelmsford, Essex, England |
| Party | Labour |
| Spouse | Ngoc Mullin |
| Children | 2 |
| Residence | Northumberland |
| Alma mater | University of Hull |
| Occupation | Politician and author |
| Profession | Journalist |
| Website | chrismullinexmp |
Christopher John Mullin (born 12 December 1947)[1] is a British journalist, author andLabour politician.
As a journalist in the 1980s, Chris Mullin led a campaign that resulted in the release of theBirmingham Six, victims of a miscarriage of justice. In March 2022, a court case settled that Mullin would not need to release any notes relating to who may have planted the two bombs. Mullin is the author of four novels, includingA Very British Coup (1982), which was later adapted for television, and its sequelThe Friends of Harry Perkins. Mullin is also a celebrated diarist.
Mullin was theMember of Parliament (MP) forSunderland South from1987 until2010. In Parliament, he served as Chairman of theHome Affairs Select Committee and as a Minister in the Department for Environment, Transport and the Regions, theForeign and Commonwealth Office and in theDepartment for International Development.
Mullin is the son of a Scottish Protestant father and an Irish Catholic mother, both of whom worked forMarconi. Mullin was educated atSt Joseph's College, aRoman Catholic boardingindependent school for boys (now co-educational) in the town ofIpswich inSuffolk, followed by theUniversity of Hull,[2] where he studied Law. He joined the Labour Party after his politics shifted leftward in response to theVietnam War.[3]
Before being elected as an MP, Mullin was a journalist, training with theDaily Mirror.[4] In this period Mullin travelled to Russia and China.[5] From there, his first main activity as a journalist came in theVietnam War. He has been highly critical of the American strategy in Vietnam and has stated that he believes that the war, intended to stop the advance of Communism, instead only delayed the coming of market forces in the country.[6] Mullin also reported fromCambodia in 1973 and 1980.
Mullin, working for theGranada current affairs programmeWorld in Action, was pivotal in securing the release of theBirmingham Six, a long-standingmiscarriage of justice. In 1985, the first of several World in Action programmes casting doubt on the men's convictions was broadcast. In 1986, Mullin's book,Error of Judgment: The Truth About the Birmingham Pub Bombings, set out a detailed case supporting the men's claims that they were innocent. It included his claim to have traced and interviewed those who were actually responsible for the bombings. It was described the writer Sebastian Faulks as, 'one of the greatest feats ever achieved by an investigative journalist'. In 2024 Mullin published an updated edition of Error of Judgement which included the names of three of the four men responsible for the bombings.
In March 1990,ITV broadcast theGranada Televisiondocumentary drama,Who Bombed Birmingham?, which re-enacted the bombings and subsequent key events in Mullin's campaign. Written by Rob Ritchie and directed by Mike Beckham, it featuredJohn Hurt as Mullin, withMartin Shaw asWorld in Action producer Ian McBride,Ciaran Hinds as Richard McIlkenny, one of the Six, andPatrick Malahide asMichael Mansfield (QC).[7][8] It was repackaged for export asThe Investigation – Inside a Terrorist Bombing, and first shown on American television on 22 April 1990.[9][10] Granada'sBAFTA-nominated follow-up documentary after the release of the six men,World in Action Special: The Birmingham Six – Their Own Story, was telecast on 18 March 1991.[11]
In 2019, Mullin was criticised by the relatives of some of the victims of the attack for not naming IRA bombing suspects whom he met whilst investigating the case in the 1980s. Mullin was called "scum" and a "disgrace". Mullin has defended this decision on the grounds of journalistic ethics. He was quoted inThe Guardian as having said: "In order to track down the bombers, I had to give assurances not only to guilty but to innocent intermediaries that I would not, during their lifetime, disclose the names of those who cooperated. Had I not done so, no-one would have cooperated".[12]
Mullin edited two collections of Tony Benn's speeches and writings,Arguments for Socialism (1979) andArguments for Democracy (1981), and, as editor of theleft-wing weeklyTribune from 1982 to 1984, provided effective support for Benn and his ideas. Mullin also sought to turnTribune into a readers' cooperative, to its shareholders' chagrin.[citation needed]
Mullin has published a total of four novels. His first novel wasA Very British Coup, published in 1982, which portrays the destabilisation of a left-wing British government by the forces ofthe Establishment. He wrote it having discussed the idea of a left-wing Prime Minister being undermined by the Establishment following the 1981 Labour Party Conference withPeter Hain,Stuart Holland andTony Banks. Holland revealed in this discussion that he had written a number of chapters in a potential novel containing this story and that Hain had contacted publishers regarding the possibility of a similar novel. Subsequently, Mullin was told by the formerBBC correspondentPeter Hardiman Scott that he had been writing a book on this topic at the time.[13]
The novel was adapted for television byAlan Plater, with substantial alterations to the plot, and screened in 1988. The screenwriter wasAlan Plater and it was directed byMick Jackson. StarringRay McAnally, the series was first screened onChannel 4 and wonBafta andEmmy awards, and was syndicated to more than 30 countries. The book was also the basis for the 2012 four-part Channel 4 series,Secret State.[14] StarringGabriel Byrne, this version was written by Robert Jones.[15] Mullin later wrote a sequel toA Very British Coup calledThe Friends of Harry Perkins which was published in 2019. The book explores Brexit and American–Chinese relations amongst other topics.[13]
Mullin also publishedThe Last Man Out of Saigon in 1986 featuring a plot in which a CIA agent sent into Vietnam in the last week of the war to set up a network of agents and alsoThe Year of the Fire Monkey, a thriller about a CIA attempt to assassinate Chairman Mao using a Tibetan agent, in 1991.
Mullin stood unsuccessfully in the1970 general election againstLiberal LeaderJeremy Thorpe inNorth Devon.[16] Mullin also foughtKingston-upon-Thames inFebruary 1974.
By 1980, he was an executive member of theLabour Co-ordinating Committee.[17] Mullin was also on the executive of the influential Campaign for Labour Party Democracy. As such he was an active supporter ofTony Benn when, in 1981, disregarding an appeal from party leaderMichael Foot to abstain from inflaming the party's divisions, Benn stood against the incumbent Deputy Leader of the Labour Party,Denis Healey. In addition Mullin edited two collections of Benn's speeches and writingsArguments for Socialism (1979) andArguments for Democracy (1981). He was widely regarded as a leading 'Bennite', a highly influential movement within the Labour Party in the early 1980s.
Mullin was first elected MP for Sunderland South in1987, and was returned at every subsequent election up to and including2005. His constituency was the first to declare in every general election between 1992 and his standing down in 2010 (1992,1997,2001 and2005).[18] Mullin joked about being the UK's sole MP for half an hour and muses about forming a government.[19] He did not seek re-election in2010. Mullin was on the left of the party and his selection for Sunderland South (occasioned by the retirement ofGordon Bagier MP) met with the disapproval ofNeil Kinnock, at the time theLeader of the Labour Party. In the late 1980s, the right-wing, tabloid press targeted Mullin for his left-wing views frequently. Headlines included: 'Kinnock's Top Ten Loony Tunes (Mullin was no. 8),'Loony MP back Bomb Gang' (Sun, Jan 29, 1988) '20 things you didn't know about crackpot Chris" (The Sun) and "Mr Odious" {@ {Sun, January 1989)}
Having reported fromCambodia in 1973 and 1980, in 1990 he was outspoken on the British Government's record in Cambodia, being a leading voice in some of the first protracted debates on Britain's provision of clandestine military support to Khmer terrorists, allied to the Khmer Rouge. and attributing increasing public interest in the issue to the documentary films ofJohn Pilger.[20]
He was a member of theSocialist Campaign Group, Secretary of theAll-Party Parliamentary Group forVietnam, a member of the All-Party Group onTibet and Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group forCambodia, Member of theHome Affairs Select committee (1992–97), and Chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee from 1997 to 1999 and again from 2001 to 2003. In 2009-10 he was a member of the Parliamentary Reform Committee which among other things recommended that the appointment of select committee chairs should be by election rather than appointment. A reform that was subsequently implemented.
Despite occasional criticism of the government, he replacedAlan Meale asParliamentary Under-Secretary of State at theDepartment of the Environment, Transport, and the Regions in July 1999 before taking over fromGeorge Foulkes as Parliamentary Under-Secretary,Department for International Development in 2001.
Despite having voted against the Iraq war, he returned to government in June 2003, as a Parliamentary Under-Secretary at theForeign and Commonwealth Office in charge of Africa, but after the2005 election again returned to the backbenches. Before the Labour victory of1997, Mullin had attained a reputation for campaigning on behalf of victims of injustice and opposition to the curtailing ofcivil rights. His campaigning stance had to change while a minister because ofthe collective responsibility of government. His vote against the government's proposal for 90 days' detention without trial for persons suspected of terrorism, as one of 49 Labour rebels,[21] seemed to indicate a re-emergence of his civil libertarian instincts. Mullin criticised the Labour government's rotation of Ministers expressing his belief that the Blair Government changed Ministers too often and noted this in his final speech to theHouse of Commons.[22]
After leaving government, Mullin also voted against the United Kingdom maintaining a nuclear deterrent.[23]
During theUK Parliamentary expenses scandal, Mullin, one of the lowest claimers,[24] provided some comic relief when it was revealed that the television at his second home is a very old black-and-white model with a £45 TV licence.[25]
On 10 May 2008, theSunderland Echo site reported that Mullin had decided to stand down at the2010 general election.[26] 'Better to go while people are still asking why, rather than when'. Soon after retiring he moved to a cottage in a walled garden in Northumberland which he restored. It featured on Gardener's World in August 2016. In 2011 he was a judge of the Man Booker Prize. From 2011 to 2017 he was chair of the Heritage Lottery Fund in the North East. In 2017 he was appointed to the Northumberland National Park Authority. In 2023 he was appointed to chair the board of the Tyne and Wear Museums. He is also a trustee of the Chillingham Wild Cattle Association.
Mullin published four volumes of widely praised diaries.[27] The first three documented the rise and fall of New Labour from the death of the party leaderJohn Smith in 1994 to the2010 general election:A View from the Foothills (2009) (recounting Mullin's ministerial career from 1999–2005),Decline & Fall: Diaries 2005–2010 (2010) andA Walk-On Part: Diaries 1994–1999 (2011). Among other things, Mullin recorded his gradual disillusion with the Labour Party's left wing and his rather reluctant support, after Smith's death, for fellow North-Eastern MPTony Blair (whom he dubbed "The Man") as the person most likely to lead the party back to power. He admired Blair as a leader and for his capacity to create a broad-based Labour Party. In spite of Iraq, Mullin remains an admirer of Blair, viewing him as a leader of exceptional ability.[28]Peter Riddell of theTimes suggested thatA View From the Foothills deserved to become "the central text for understanding the Blair years",[29] whileDecline & Fall, in which Mullin (by then abackbencher again) expressed wry consternation at the way the government operated under Blair's successorGordon Brown, were commended for their independence of outlook, revealing, asJenni Russell put it in theSunday Times, Mullin's "readiness to like people who don't echo his politics".[30]
The first three volumes were adapted for the stage byMichael Chaplin asA Walk on Part. It premiered at theLive Theatre in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in May 2011, before moving to theSoho Theatre in London.[31][32] Mullin regularly gives talks on his diaries, politics and the rise and fall of New Labour.
The fourth volume,Didn’t You Use to Be Chris Mullin? Diaries 2010–2022, chronicling the post-parliamentary period of his life, from the fallout of the 2010 general election to the death ofQueen Elizabeth II, was released in May 2023.[33]
Mullin and his wife, Nguyen Thi Ngoc, who he met while inVietnam,[34] married in April 1987,[35] inHo Chi Minh City,[36] had two daughters, and live inCallaly,Northumberland.[37] His hobbies include gardening.[4]
In football he supportsSunderland A.F.C., and mentioned it in the May 1997State Opening of Parliament speech.[38][39]
On 28 January 2011, hisalma mater, Hull University, awarded him an honorary Doctorate in Law, in recognition of his achievements.[2] In December 2011,Newcastle University awarded Chris Mullin an honorary degree. Mullin also taught a module at Newcastle University called 'The Rise and Fall of New Labour'. He was also awarded an honorary degree by theUniversity of Essex in 2011.[40] Mullin has also received honorary degrees from theUniversity of Sunderland (2010) andCity University London (1992).
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forSunderland South 1987–2010 | Succeeded by seat abolished |
| Media offices | ||
| Preceded by | Editor ofTribune 1982–1984 | Succeeded by |
| Non-profit organization positions | ||
| Preceded by | Board Chair,International Alert 2016–2018 | Succeeded by |
