Ann Cryer

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(Constance) Ann Cryer JP (born December 14, 1939) is a British politician and the Labour Member of Parliament for Keighley.

Born Constance Ann Place in Lytham St Annes, she was educated at the St John's Primary School in Darwen and the Spring Bank Secondary Modern School, Darwen, before attending the Bolton Technical College and the Keighley Technical College. She began her career working as a clerk with the Imperial Chemical Industries plc in 1955, moving to the General Post Office 1960-1964. She became a researcher in social history at the University of Essex in 1969 before becoming a full time personal assistant for twenty years to her MP husband Bob Cryer from 1974 until his death in a car accident on April 12, 1994. She became a justice of the peace in 1996.

She was elected to the House of Commons for one of her husband's former constituencies, Keighley, at the 1997 General Election, defeating the sitting Conservative MP Gary Waller by 7,132 votes and has remained the MP there since. She made her moving maiden speech on May 16, 1997.[1]

Since the 2005 General Election she has been a member of the Home Affairs Select Committee. She has been a member of the Bradford Cathedral Council since 2000. She married her husband Bob Cryer in 1963 and they had a son and a daughter. When she entered parliament in 1997 she was joined by her son, John Cryer who had been elected for Hornchurch from 1997 until 2005, they formed the only mother son partnership in the Commons at that time. Ann Cryer has voted against the government on many issues, is seen as a Eurosceptic, and is in favour of nuclear disarmament. She is a member of the left-wing Socialist Campaign Group. She is a grandmother. She has faced much criticism from some of her Asian constituents, she has called on immigrants to learn to speak English before entering the country [2], she has also spoken out against arranged marriages. She comes from a political dynasty, her father, Allen Place, was an activist in the Independent Labour Party, her grandmother was a leading suffragette and she cites Annie Besant as one of her heroines. Cryer plans to retire prior to the next general election in 2009/2010.