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| Affiliation | Liberal Democrats |
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| Name | Ian Wrigglesworth |
| Address |
Stockton-on-Tees, England , United Kingdom |
| Email | None |
| Website | None |
| Born |
December 08, 1939 |
| Died |
Still Living
(85 years) |
| Contributor | Old LW |
| Last Modifed | Old LW
Feb 28, 2012 09:59am |
| Tags |
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| Info | Between 1974 and 1981 Wrigglesworth was Labour Member of Parliament for Thornaby. He was then SDP Member for Stockton South until 1987 when he lost his seat. In 1988 he became the first President of the Liberal Democrats and remains Chairman of the Liberal Democrat Trustees. Prior to becoming a Member of Parliament he worked in the City at National Giro Bank and began his working life in Middlesbrough at the Midland Bank. He is a former Chairman of the Northern Region CBI and was founder Chairman of the Northern Business Forum.
Shortly after he was elected to Parliament, Wrigglesworth was a founder member of the Manifesto Group and with John Cartwright helped found the Campaign for Labour Victory under the leadership of Bill Rodgers. From 1974 to 1979 he was Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Home Secretary, the Rt Hon Roy Jenkins, and when Labour returned to Opposition in 1979 he was appointed Shadow Minister for the Civil Service by the Rt Hon James Callaghan. However, Wrigglesworth became increasingly disillusioned by the Leftward direction the Labour Party was taking and became part of the nucleus of Labour MPs who contemplated leaving the party in 1979 and 1980. In 1981, Wrigglesworth became one of the founding members of the SDP and with Mike Thomas organised the launch of the new party in March, 1981.
Wrigglesworth was one of only six SDP Members of Parliament to be returned to the House of Commons in the 1983 general election when he narrowly won the newly created constituency of Stockton South by 102 votes after it was revealed that his Conservative opponent had twice stood as a candidate for the National Front. In the 1987 general election he was narrowly defeated by the Conservative candidate, Tim Devlin, by 774 votes.
After the merger of SDP and the Liberals, Wrigglesworth was elected the first President of the new Social and Liberal Democrats in 1988 and served a tumultuous two year term as President where he helped to guide the new party through a financial crisis, its disastrous showing in the 1989 European Parliamentary election and its change in name to the Liberal Democrats. Wrigglesworth was knighted in 1991 and although he has been active in the business community in the North East since that time he has retained his involvement with the Liberal Democrats.
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