Latest:

From Mess to Success

I agonised over how I was going to vote on Same Sex Marriage (which lead a lot of people to wrongly assume I was voting against) but that process, which has been going on for some weeks and was particularly intense on Tuesday, ended with a decision to vote for the bill.
Read More...

Same Sex Mess

I’m in an agony of indecision over same sex marriage. On the one hand I’m not illiberal or homophobic. On the other I am not particularly bothered about this, think civil partnership is enough, and have concerns about the legal repercussions.
Read More...

Blog from the Dead

Cameron’s revival of the Conservative’s poll ratings through his EU con has encouraged me to revive my blog. Firstly let me apologise for neglecting it so much. The truth is it had become too easy to criticise the shambolic Government and was becoming repetitive.
Read More...

Olympic Mess

I’ve had my doubts about the organisation of the Olympic game staffing ever since two young friends told me what had happened to them.
Read More...

Saving Private Clegg

Charles Kennedy the only Lib-Dem who deserves respect wants Labour to save Clegg from his own folly by voting for Lords reform. Sorry Charles. The second Chamber shouldn’t have an elected majority.
Read More...

Knights of the order of St Emma

The Tory Party is rallying to defend Emma Harrison of A4E and Working Links by turning its boot boys loose on Margaret Hodge, Chair of the Public Accounts Committee.
Read More...

Corporation BridgeThe CenotaphPeoples ParkSt James ChurchWeelsby Woods LionPoppies
 
Share

About Austin

Austin Mitchell has been the Labour MP for Grimsby since 1977.

Austin started out on the right of the Labour Party, but in recent years it has moved so far right behind him that he is now the extreme left. Considered a dangerous revolutionary because of his belief in equality, public spending and state intervention in the economy and in markets and in full employment, which is basic to socialism. Not Old Labour- positively geriatric! He lives in Grimsby, though most of his time is spent driving between Grimsby- London - Halifax.

A former Parliamentary Private Secretary, Opposition Whip, Member of the Treasury, Civil Service Select Committee and Front Bench Spokesperson on Trade and Industry, he currently sits on the Public Accounts Committee. His interests include housing; the economy; fisheries policy and New Zealand. Austin is also a keen photographer and, as Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Photography, organises the annual Jessops Parliamentary Photography Exhibition.

Austin is a member of many All-Party Parliamentary Groups, as well as being the chair of the Council Housing Group of MPs. Previously he was an academic (Nuffield College Oxford and New Zealand Universities) and a television journalist (BBC and Yorkshire Television). He presented 'Target' with Norman Tebbit on SKY from 1989 to 1998. He writes for The House Magazine, Accountancy Age and is the author of various books, some of which are collaborations with the late, great Richard Whiteley.