George Edward Mudie (born 6 February 1945) is a Labour Party politician in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

who was the

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

(MP) for

Leeds East Leeds East is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by Richard Burgon of the Labour Party. The constituency is notable for having been represented by Denis Healey who was the MP from 1955 to 1992. ...

from 1992 to 2015.

Early life

Born in Dundee,

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

's fourth-largest city, George Mudie was educated at the

Waid Academy The Waid Academy is a public secondary school in Anstruther, Fife. The school's catchment area extends to as far as Elie and Colinsburgh to the west and Crail to the east (the East Neuk boundaries) but accepts pupils from towns such as Leven, Up ...

in Anstruther and later studied Social Studies at

Newbattle Abbey Newbattle Abbey ( gd, Abaid a' Bhatail Nuaidh) was a Cistercian monastery near the village of Newbattle in Midlothian, Scotland, which subsequently become a stately home and then an educational institution. Monastery It was founded in 1140 by ...

College in Dalkeith. He worked initially as an engineer and then joined the merchant navy. In 1968 he became a trade union official with the

National Union of Public Employees The National Union of Public Employees (NUPE) was a British trade union which existed between 1908 and 1993. It represented public sector workers in local government, the Health Service, universities, and water authorities. History The union w ...

, a position he held until his election to the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

in 1992.

Parliamentary career

Mudie was elected as a

Leeds City Council Leeds City Council is the local authority of the City of Leeds in West Yorkshire, England. It is a metropolitan district council, one of five in West Yorkshire and one of 36 in the metropolitan counties of England, and provides the majority of l ...

or in 1971 at the age of 26 and became the Council Leader from 1980 to 1989, elected as the authority's youngest leader to date at the age of 35 following the 1980 council election. He was then elected as the Labour MP for Leeds East at the 1992 General Election following the retirement of the former Chancellor of the Exchequer, Denis Healey. He held the seat comfortably until his retirement in 2015. In Parliament he was appointed as an Opposition Whip in 1994, a position he held until the Labour landslide at the 1997 election when he was elevated to become the Treasurer of HM Household and Deputy Chief Whip. In 1998 he was appointed as a

Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (or just Parliamentary Secretary, particularly in departments not led by a Secretary of State) is the lowest of three tiers of government minister in the UK government, immediately junior to a Minister ...

at the

Department for Education and Employment The Department for Education and Skills (DfES) was a United Kingdom government department between 2001 and 2007, responsible for the education system (including higher education and adult learning) as well as children's services in England. Th ...

. He was dropped from the government in 1999. He has served on a number of

select committees Select or SELECT may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Select'' (album), an album by Kim Wilde * ''Select'' (magazine), a British music magazine * ''MTV Select'', a television program * ''Select Live'', New Zealand's C4 music program ...

, and has been a member of the

Treasury Select Committee The House of Commons Treasury Committee (often referred to as the Treasury Select Committee) is a select committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The remit of the committee is to examine the expenditure, administr ...

since 2001. He voted in opposition to changes to Marriage legislation, rebelling against his party in a series of "Same Sex Marriages" votes in 2013–14.

Personal life

He is married with three children, one from a former marriage. He named his eldest son Keir after

Keir Hardie James Keir Hardie (15 August 185626 September 1915) was a Scottish trade unionist and politician. He was a founder of the Labour Party, and served as its first parliamentary leader from 1906 to 1908. Hardie was born in Newhouse, Lanarkshire. ...

. His wife is a primary school headmistress.

References

External links

Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: George Mudie MP

TheyWorkForYou.com - George Mudie MP
*
BBC Politics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mudie, George 1945 births Living people Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Politicians from Dundee People associated with Fife UK MPs 1992–1997 UK MPs 1997–2001 UK MPs 2001–2005 UK MPs 2005–2010 UK MPs 2010–2015 Treasurers of the Household Councillors in Leeds People educated at Waid Academy People from Dundee