Ivan John Henderson (born 7 June 1958) 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 continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. He 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 of ...

(MP) for

Harwich Harwich is a town in Essex, England, and one of the Haven ports on the North Sea coast. It is in the Tendring district. Nearby places include Felixstowe to the north-east, Ipswich to the north-west, Colchester to the south-west and Clacton-on- ...

from 1997 to 2005. He is currently a member of

Essex County Council Essex County Council is the county council that governs the non-metropolitan county of Essex in England. It has 75 councillors, elected from 70 divisions, and is currently controlled by the Conservative Party. The council meets at County Hall ...

for

Early life

Henderson attended the Sir Anthony Deane Comprehensive, now known as the Harwich and Dovercourt High School. Henderson was previously a

Town Council A town council, city council or municipal council is a form of local government for small municipalities. Usage of the term varies under different jurisdictions. Republic of Ireland Town Councils in the Republic of Ireland were the second ti ...

lor and

Tendring Tendring is a village and civil parish in Essex. It gives its name to the Tendring District and before that the Tendring Hundred. Its name was given to the larger groupings because it was at the centre, not because it was larger than the other ...

District Councillor. He was a

stevedore A stevedore (), also called a longshoreman, a docker or a dockworker, is a waterfront manual laborer who is involved in loading and unloading ships, trucks, trains or airplanes. After the shipping container revolution of the 1960s, the number o ...

for

Harwich International Port Harwich International Port is a North Sea seaport in Essex, England, and one of the Haven ports. It lies on the south bank of the River Stour one mile upstream from the town of Harwich, opposite the Port of Felixstowe. The port was formerly kn ...

. He became a trade union official.

Parliamentary career

When elected in 1997, he was Harwich's first Labour MP. In Parliament he was a

Parliamentary Private Secretary A Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) is a Member of Parliament (MP) in the United Kingdom who acts as an unpaid assistant to a minister or shadow minister. They are selected from backbench MPs as the 'eyes and ears' of the minister in the H ...

at the Home Office, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, Department for Work and Pensions and the Treasury. He worked closely with Gordon Brown until he lost his seat to the

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

Douglas Carswell John Douglas Wilson Carswell (born 3 May 1971) is a British former politician who served as a Member of Parliament from 2005 to 2017, co-founded Vote Leave and currently serves as president and CEO of the Mississippi Center for Public Policy. ...

in the 2005 general election. In the 2010 general election Henderson contested the Clacton constituency, aside from the town of Harwich itself, which contained much of the former constituency of Harwich, however he was unsuccessful. Ivan Henderson continues to play an active role in local politics, acting as the Labour Party's spokesman for Harwich and Clacton. Recent work includes the Kirby Cross Sports Pavilion, where funding that was obtained by Tendring District Council came about through Henderson's discussions with the Football Association. When it came to be opened, Ivan managed to secure a visit from

Richard Caborn Richard George Caborn (born 6 October 1943) is a British politician who served as Minister of Sport from 2001 to 2007 and later as the prime minister's ambassador for England's 2018 FIFA World Cup bid. He previously served as a junior minister ...

MP. He also successfully campaigned for Trinity House HQ to remain in Harwich, he was later reelected to his former East Ward on the Town and District council.

Post-parliamentary career

Boundary changes saw the old Harwich constituency reconstituted into the new

Harwich and North Essex Harwich and North Essex is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament by Bernard Jenkin of the Conservative Party since its creation in 2010. History The seat was created for the 2010 general election follow ...

and Clacton constituencies. Henderson was selected to contest the Clacton seat for the

2010 UK General Election The 2010 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 6 May 2010, with 45,597,461 registered voters entitled to vote to elect members to the House of Commons. The election took place in 650 constituencies across the United Kingdom unde ...

. In the election Henderson polled 25% of the vote, putting him more than 12,000 votes behind the incumbent

. After this parliamentary setback, Henderson was elected to

Tendring District Council Tendring is a village and civil parish in Essex. It gives its name to the Tendring District and before that the Tendring Hundred. Its name was given to the larger groupings because it was at the centre, not because it was larger than the other ...

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

, winning Harwich East ward in his hometown. In

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

he was elected as an Essex County Councillor for Harwich unseating the incumbent Conservative Ricky Callender. He was later reelected in

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

. He has since become the leader of the Labour Group on both councils. In 2021 Henderson became Mayor of Harwich, and said he was extremely "proud" to have done so, saying that now he has been a representative at all levels, he feels that "he has completed the set".

Personal life

From his first marriage, he has one son and a daughter; from his second marriage he has one son. He married Jo'Anne Atkinson on 13 June 1992. His children are Joseph Henderson, Stuart Henderson and Melissa Henderson. His wife is also a member of

References

External links

* Ivan Henderson'
Official website
* Clacton

Constituency Labour Party __NOTOC__ A constituency Labour Party (CLP) is an organisation of members of the British Labour Party who live in a particular parliamentary constituency. In England and Wales, CLP boundaries coincide with those for UK parliamentary constituenc ...

'
Website

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Henderson, Ivan 1958 births Living people Members of Essex County Council Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1997–2001 UK MPs 2001–2005 Councillors in Essex