Michael Whitley (born 17 November 1951) is a British politician who has served as 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

Birkenhead Birkenhead (; cy, Penbedw) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England; historically, it was part of Cheshire until 1974. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the south bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liver ...

since 2019. He is a member of the Labour Party.

Early life and career

Whitley was born in St Catherine's Hospital, Birkenhead and grew up in Woodchurch. His father and some of his brothers were in the ship building industry. After time in the Merchant Navy, Whitley worked for Vauxhall Motors becoming a trade union organiser and later regional secretary for

Unite Unite may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Albums * ''Unite'' (A Friend in London album), 2013 album by Danish band A Friend in London * ''Unite'' (Kool & the Gang album), 1993 * ''Unite'' (The O.C. Supertones album), 2005 Songs ...

Parliamentary career

Whitley was elected as the Labour MP for Birkenhead in the 2019 general election, defeating Frank Field, a former Labour politician. Field resigned the Labour whip after 40 years as Birkenhead's MP and ran as an independent candidate under the banner of the

Birkenhead Social Justice Party Frank Ernest Field, Baron Field of Birkenhead, (born 16 July 1942) is a British politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Birkenhead for 40 years, from 1979 to 2019, serving as a Labour MP until August 2018 and thereafter as an In ...

. Whitley won the seat with a vote share of 59%, down 17.8% on the result that Field achieved in 2017. Aged 68, he was the oldest MP to be elected for the first time in 2019. Whitley's candidacy was endorsed by

Momentum In Newtonian mechanics, momentum (more specifically linear momentum or translational momentum) is the product of the mass and velocity of an object. It is a vector quantity, possessing a magnitude and a direction. If is an object's mass an ...

and several trade unions. During the 2021 Israel-Palestine Crisis, Whitley signed a letter along with 19 other MPs calling for sanctions on Israel "for its repeated violations of international law." On 14 December 2021, Whitley resigned from his role as

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 ...

Ed Miliband Edward Samuel "Ed" Miliband (born 24 December 1969) is a British politician serving as Shadow Secretary of State for Climate Change and Net Zero since 2021. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Doncaster North since 2005. Miliband ...

in order to defy the whip by voting against mandatory

COVID-19 vaccination A COVID19 vaccine is a vaccine intended to provide acquired immunity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2), the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID19). Prior to the COVID19 pandemic, an est ...

for

NHS The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

staff. He also voted in line with the party whip by voting in favour of

COVID-19 vaccine passports A vaccine passport or proof of vaccination is an immunity passport employed as a credential in countries and jurisdictions as part of efforts to control the COVID-19 pandemic via vaccination. A vaccine passport is typically issued by a governm ...

and an expansion of mask mandates. On 24 February 2022, following the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...

, Whitley was one of 11 Labour MPs threatened with losing the party whip after they signed a statement by the

Stop the War Coalition The Stop the War Coalition (StWC), informally known simply as Stop the War, is a British group established on 21 September 2001, shortly after the September 11 attacks, to campaign against what it believes are unjust wars. The Coalition has c ...

which questioned the legitimacy of

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

and accused the military alliance of "eastward expansion". All 11 MPs subsequently removed their signatures.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Whitley, Mick 1951 births Living people English trade unionists Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies People from Birkenhead UK MPs 2019–present