Anthony James "Tony" McNulty (born 3 November 1958) is a British politician who was the

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

Member of Parliament (MP) for

Harrow East Harrow East is a constituency in Greater London created in 1945 and represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Bob Blackman, a Conservative. Constituency profile The censuses of 2001 and 2011 show the overwhelming ...

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 t ...

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. During his ministerial career, which began in 2003, he was

Minister for London The Minister for London is a United Kingdom Government ministerial post in the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. The officeholder is responsible for policy relating to London including informing Members of Parliament in the ...

and later

Minister of State for Employment and Welfare Reform The Minister of State for Employment is a mid-level position in the Department for Work and Pensions in the British government. History The office was previously held by Julie Marson following the resignation of Mims Davies Miriam Jane Ali ...

at the

Department for Work and Pensions , type = Department , seal = , logo = Department for Work and Pensions logo.svg , logo_width = 166px , formed = , preceding1 = , jurisdiction = Government of the United Kingdom , headquarters = Caxton House7th Floor6–12 Tothill Stree ...

. He resigned his position on 5 June 2009 after allegations in the press regarding his expenses.

Background, education and early political career

His father migrated to England from

County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ga, Contae Dhún na nGall) is a county of Ireland in the province of Ulster and in the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town of Donegal in the south of the county. It has also been known as County Tyrconne ...

, Ireland. McNulty was educated at the Salvatorian College, Wealdstone and at Stanmore Sixth Form College. He graduated from the

University of Liverpool , mottoeng = These days of peace foster learning , established = 1881 – University College Liverpool1884 – affiliated to the federal Victoria Universityhttp://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/2004/4 University of Manchester Act 200 ...

with a BA in Political Theory and Institutions and an MA in Political Science from

Virginia Tech Virginia Tech (formally the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and informally VT, or VPI) is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. It also ...

in the United States. Before becoming an MP, he was leader of the Labour group on Harrow council and a senior lecturer in Organisational Behaviour, at the

University of North London The University of North London (UNL) was a university in London, England, formed from the Polytechnic of North London (PNL) in 1992 when that institution was granted university status. PNL, in turn, had been formed by the amalgamation of the No ...

from 1983–97. In 1986, he was elected to Harrow Council for Stanmore South ward.

Parliamentary career

McNulty was an unsuccessful Labour candidate for

in the 1992 general election, but was elected as the constituency's MP in the May 1997 general election. He served as a Whip from 1999 to 2002, following a period as Parliamentary Private Secretary to

David Blunkett David Blunkett, Baron Blunkett, (born 6 June 1947) is a British Labour Party politician who has been a Member of the House of Lords since 2015, and previously served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough ...

. McNulty was then appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister with responsibility for neighbourhood renewal, housing and planning. He was moved to the

Department for Transport The Department for Transport (DfT) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for the English transport network and a limited number of transport matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland that have not been devolved. The d ...

in June 2003 as Parliamentary Under Secretary with responsibility for aviation, local transport, and London, and was promoted to Minister of State with responsibility for Rail and London in September 2004. McNulty moved to the Home Office on 9 May 2005 as Minister of State for Immigration, following the

general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

reshuffle. In May 2006 his Home Office portfolio changed to responsibility over the policing and crime, security and counter-terrorism. In July 2007, he became a

Privy Councillor A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

. In

Gordon Brown James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. He previously served as Chance ...

's reshuffle on 3 October 2008, McNulty moved to become

Minister of State Minister of State is a title borne by politicians in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a Minister of State is a Junior Minister of government, who is assigned to assist a specific Cabinet Minister. In o ...

for Employment and Welfare Reform at the

and

, and was permitted to attend cabinet meetings until his resignation on 5 June 2009. During his period as Minister, McNulty was concerned with benefit fraud suggesting that "we are absolutely determined to stop benefit thieves stealing from the British taxpayer. Our commitment extends beyond the borders of the UK. Even in sunny Spain, we're closing in on benefit fraud".

MPs' expenses controversy

In 2009, McNulty was one of many MPs who were involved in a political scandal following the disclosure of expenses of Members of the United Kingdom Parliament. In March 2009, he admitted claiming expenses on a second home, occupied by his parents, which was 8 miles away from his primary residence, after details appeared in ''

The Mail on Sunday ''The Mail on Sunday'' is a British conservative newspaper, published in a tabloid format. It is the biggest-selling Sunday newspaper in the UK and was launched in 1982 by Lord Rothermere. Its sister paper, the '' Daily Mail'', was first pu ...

''. McNulty said that the claim was appropriate, but he ceased claiming the allowances. He was asked to apologise to the House of Commons and repay £13,837, which he did. In an article headlined "Tony McNulty, Benefit Cheat", Alex Massie in a blog for ''

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world. It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''The ...

'' contrasted the statements made by McNulty regarding benefit cheats with his own claims for expenses. On 18 May 2007, McNulty was one of the 98 MPs who voted in favour of exempting parliamentarians from the application of the

Freedom of Information Act 2000 The Freedom of Information Act 2000 (c. 36) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that creates a public "right of access" to information held by public authorities. It is the implementation of freedom of information legislation ...

. On 5 June 2009, after the revelations in the expenses scandal, McNulty resigned from the government. At the 2010 general election, McNulty lost to

Bob Blackman Robert John Blackman (born 26 April 1956) is a British politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Harrow East since 2010. A member of the Conservative Party, he has served as the Joint Executive Secretary of the backbench 1922 C ...

of the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

Personal life

In September 2002, McNulty married

Christine Gilbert Dame Christine Gilbert McNulty ( McGinty) was the Head of Ofsted (HMCI) also known as Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills between October 2006 and 30 June 2011. Early life and education Gilbert was born C ...

, Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools for Ofsted, in Hammersmith and Fulham. Gilbert was headmistress of

Whitmore High School Whitmore High School is a state secondary school in the London Borough of Harrow. The school's students are mostly drawn from the wider Harrow area. In March 2015, the school was judged "Outstanding" by Ofsted for the second time. History Wh ...

for eight years, starting when she was 32. It was the second marriage for both. McNulty had first married in 1994 to Gillian Travers, who later stood as a Labour candidate for Ruislip-Northwood in 2001.

References

External links

Guardian Unlimited Politics – Ask Aristotle: Tony McNulty MP

TheyWorkForYou.com: Tony McNulty MP

BBC Politics
* , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:McNulty, Tony 1958 births Living people Alumni of the University of Liverpool Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies English people of Irish descent English Roman Catholics Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom People from Stanmore Virginia Tech alumni UK MPs 1997–2001 UK MPs 2001–2005 UK MPs 2005–2010