The Lord Cryer | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2019 | |
| Lord-in-Waiting Government Whip | |
| In office 8 October 2024 – 14 February 2025 | |
| Prime Minister | Keir Starmer |
| Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal | |
| Assumed office 15 August 2024 Life peerage | |
| Chair of the Parliamentary Labour Party | |
| In office 9 February 2015 – 30 May 2024 | |
| Leader | |
| Preceded by | David Watts |
| Succeeded by | Jessica Morden |
| Member of Parliament | |
| In office 6 May 2010 – 30 May 2024 | |
| Preceded by | Harry Cohen |
| Succeeded by | Calvin Bailey |
| Constituency | Leyton and Wanstead |
| In office 1 May 1997 – 11 April 2005 | |
| Preceded by | Robin Squire |
| Succeeded by | James Brokenshire |
| Constituency | Hornchurch |
| Personal details | |
| Born | John Robert Cryer (1964-04-11)11 April 1964 (age 61) Darwen, Lancashire, England |
| Political party | Labour |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
| Parents | |
| Alma mater | |
| Website | www |
John Robert Cryer, Baron Cryer (born 11 April 1964), is a British politician. A member of theLabour Party, he was previously theMember of Parliament (MP) forHornchurch from 1997 to 2005 and the MP forLeyton and Wanstead from 2010 to 2024. Cryer wasChair of the Parliamentary Labour Party from 2015 to 2024, and was alord-in-waiting in theHouse of Lords from 2024 until 2025.
John Robert Cryer was born on 11 April 1964 toBob Cryer andAnn Cryer (née Place). Both of his parents wereLabour Party members of Parliament,[1] and Cryer served alongside his mother in the Commons from 1997 to 2005. As a child, he appeared in the 1970 filmThe Railway Children.
A journalist by profession, Cryer was educated atOakbank School, Keighley,Hatfield Polytechnic, and theLondon College of Printing.[2] He has worked forTribune, theMorning Star, theAssociated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (ASLEF), and theTransport and General Workers' Union (nowUnite).
Cryer was on the left wing of theLabour Party and was a member of theSocialist Campaign Group until he resigned from the group in 2015. He has subsequently moved to the right of the party, supportingKeir Starmer'scentrist leadership.[3][4]
Cryer describes himself as aEurosceptic, and was one of only a small number of Labour MPs who campaigned and voted for the UK toleave theEuropean Union in the2016 referendum.[5] He consistently opposed holding asecond referendum on EU membership.[6]
As Member of Parliament forHornchurch, Cryer had a record as a rebel. He voted against tuition fees and top-up fees for higher education, against cuts in lone parent benefits (the first major rebellion under theBlair government) and against theIraq War.[citation needed] He lost thismarginal seat in 2005, before being selected to succeedHarry Cohen in Leyton and Wanstead, asafe Labour seat; he comfortably retained it for the party at the2010 general election.[7]
Cryer was one of 16 signatories of an open letter toEd Miliband in January 2015 calling on the party to commit to oppose further austerity, take rail franchises back into public ownership and strengthen collective bargaining arrangements.[8]
On 9 February 2015, Cryer was elected, unopposed, to succeedDave Watts as theChair of the Parliamentary Labour Party.[3]
On8 May 2015, Cryer was re-elected as MP for the Leyton and Wanstead constituency with 58.6% of the vote. On8 June 2017, he was re-elected as MP for the Leyton and Wanstead constituency with 69.8% of the vote.[9]
In July 2019, following the BBCPanorama programme"Is Labour Antisemitic?", Cryer condemned his party's attack on former staff whistleblowers who had appeared in the programme as "a gross misjudgment".[10]
Cryer did not seek re-election as an MP at the2024 general election held in July.[11] After being nominated in the2024 Dissolution Honours, he was createdBaron Cryer,of Leyton in the London Borough of Waltham Forest, on 15 August 2024.[12][13][14][15]
Cryer's second wife isEllie Reeves, the Labour MP forLewisham West and Penge – whose sister isRachel Reeves, also a Labour MP andChancellor of the Exchequer since 2024.[16] They have two sons, born in 2015 and 2019.
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forHornchurch 1997–2005 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forLeyton and Wanstead 2010–2024 | Succeeded by |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Chair of theParliamentary Labour Party 2015–2024 | Succeeded by |
| Orders of precedence in the United Kingdom | ||
| Preceded by | Gentlemen Baron Cryer | Followed by |