Derek Murray Wyatt (born 4 December 1949) is a British politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Sittingbourne and Sheppey from

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

to 2010, having previously been a

councillor A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries. Canada Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...

in the

London Borough of Haringey The London Borough of Haringey (pronounced , same as Harringay) is a London borough in North London, classified by some definitions as part of Inner London, and by others as part of Outer London. It was created in 1965 by the amalgamation o ...

(1994–95) where he was Chairman of Alexandra Palace. He played rugby for England.

Early life

Derek was educated at Westcliff County High School (1961–66) &

Colchester Royal Grammar School Colchester Royal Grammar School (CRGS) is a state-funded grammar school in Colchester, Essex. It was founded in 1128 and was later granted two royal charters - by Henry VIII in 1539 and by Elizabeth I in 1584.Trevor J. Hearn, ''Vitae Corona Fide ...

(1966-68). He attended

St Luke's College, Exeter St Luke's Campus is a small university campus which is part of the University of Exeter. The School of Sport and Health Sciences, the Graduate School of Education, and the Medical School are all based at St Luke's. St Luke's is also home to the ...

(

Certificate of Education A school leaving qualification is an academic qualification awarded for the completion of high school. Depending on the country or region, it may alternatively be known as a high school diploma, senior secondary leaving certificate, high school g ...

, 1968–71), the

Open University The Open University (OU) is a British public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate students are based in the United Kingdom and principally study off- ...

( BA. Hons 2:1 Modern Art and Architecture, 1973–78), he was a mature student at

St Catherine's College, Oxford St Catherine's College (colloquially called St Catz or Catz) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford and is the newest college admitting both undergraduate and graduate students. Tracing its roots back to 1868 (although t ...

, (Education,1981–82) and King's College, London (MA, International Studies, 2016–18).

Political career

Wyatt was Member of Parliament (MP) for the new constituency of Sittingbourne and Sheppey (1997-2010) having previously been a

in the

(1994–95) where he was also Chairman of Alexandra Palace. He was on the

Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee The Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, formerly the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, is one of the select committees of the British House of Commons, established in 1997. It oversees the operations of the Department for ...

from 1997 to 2005 and the Public Accounts Committee in 2007 before becoming the Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Rt Hon Margaret Hodge MP, Minister for the Arts. In February 2009 he became PPS to Lord Mark Mallock-Brown at the Foreign Office. He chaired six all party committees in the House of Commons. In the votes on Iraq, he voted against intervention. He won an ISPA Hero's Award (2006) for his work on seeing the Computer Misuse Act onto the statute book. In the 2005 general election, he won the 3rd smallest majority of any MP, at just 79 votes, after two recounts. On 1 July 2009, Wyatt announced he would stand down at the 2010 general election.

Sporting career

Wyatt played rugby for the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

, the

Barbarians A barbarian (or savage) is someone who is perceived to be either uncivilized or primitive. The designation is usually applied as a generalization based on a popular stereotype; barbarians can be members of any nation judged by some to be les ...

and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and stopped a British and Irish Lions Tour to South Africa in 1986 with the help of Archbishop

Trevor Huddleston Ernest Urban Trevor Huddleston (15 June 191320 April 1998) was an English Anglican bishop. He was the Bishop of Stepney in London before becoming the second Archbishop of the Church of the Province of the Indian Ocean. He was best known for ...

. He was subsequently awarded a Special Commendation by the UNO. Wyatt played his club rugby for

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst ...

where his record of 145 tries in 152 games was higher than anyone else in the clubs' history as of 2016. He was later a regular for Bath where he equalled the club try scoring record (29 tries) in his first two seasons. Whilst at Oxford he won a

Blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when ...

at Rugby, representing Oxford in the

varsity match A varsity match is a fixture (especially of a sporting event or team) between two university teams, particularly Oxford and Cambridge. The Scottish Varsity rugby match between the University of St Andrews and the University of Edinburgh at Murrayf ...

. He was Chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Rugby Union group for 13 years and introduced an annual lecture and an awards dinner. He has recently been made Life President of the club.

Awards

Whilst the Chair of the

Royal Trinity Hospice Royal Trinity Hospice is the oldest hospice in the United Kingdom, founded in 1891 by a member of the Hoare banking family. It is located in Clapham Common, London, England, and provides specialist palliative care. In 2019 Royal Trinity Hos ...

, Wyatt was Runner Up in the Third Sector Awards 2015 Best Charity Chair UK.

References

External links

Official Website

Second Website

* ttps://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/derek_wyatt/sittingbourne_and_sheppey TheyWorkForYou.com – Derek Wyatt MP
Open Rights Group – Derek Wyatt MP

* ttp://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/mpdb/html/519.stm BBC Politics page

News items

Winning ''New Statesman'' award in July 2006

Praising Conservative election campaign in March 2005

Criticising South East Development Agency in November 2002

Dealing with internet spam in September 2002

Calling for free internet access in March 1998

Video clips

YouTube Channel
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wyatt, Derek 1949 births Living people Alumni of St Catherine's College, Oxford Alumni of the Open University Alumni of the University of Exeter Barbarian F.C. players Bath Rugby players Bedford Blues players British sportsperson-politicians Councillors in the London Borough of Haringey England international rugby union players English rugby union players Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Oxford University RFC players People educated at Colchester Royal Grammar School Rugby union players from Woolwich Rugby union wings UK MPs 1997–2001 UK MPs 2001–2005 UK MPs 2005–2010