John Cryer

John Cryer is one of a handful of MPs to have lost their seat and return to parliament in another one. The son of not one but two Labour MPs, he is also married to Ellie Reeves, another Labour MP. A journalist by profession, Cryer has held jobs on the Morning Star and Tribune. He has always been on the left of the party and has been a persistent rebel. Cryer was one of 16 MPs who signed a letter to Ed Miliband in the months leading up to the 2015 general election calling on the leader to be more outspoken in opposing austerity, renationalising the railways and strengthening union rights. Cryere has gone against the leadership on a number of recent issues, arguing that it was “pretty embarrassing” for the party to have allowed anti-Semitism to become so prevalent, and warned against the spectre of mandatory reselections for Labour MPs as threatening to break party unity. He currently sits on the Administration Committee. From 2015, he has been chair of the Parliamentary Labour Party.