Liam is MP for Birmingham Hodge Hill, Labour's Shadow Secretary
of State for Work and Pensions, and Coordinator of Labour's policy
review. A passionate advocate of community organising, he founded
Local Action Network to spread the community approach pioneered in
Hodge Hill which helped Liam double his majority in the 2010
general election.
Educated at an Essex comprehensive school - Burnt Mill in Harlow -
Liam graduated at the top of his class with a prize-winning First
at Manchester University, and was a Fulbright scholar at the
Harvard Business School where he took his MBA with honours. Before
entering politics, Liam co-founded the successful eCommerce
business egsgroup.com, now a Top 100 European private technology
company. Previously he worked as a banker with NM Rothschilds, and
a strategy advisor with Accenture.
Liam was elected in a tight by-election in 2004 and was made a
health minister 9 months later. He introduced the pioneering
individual budgets, and was nominated as Older Peoples' Champion of
the Year by Help the Aged for his work.
Liam is a passionate campaigner for stronger policing. He was
promoted to Minister of State for Police and Counter-Terrorism in
May 2006 before the Home Secretary asked him to lead the
re-organisation of the immigration system and the Home Office. As
immigration minister, he created the UK Border Agency and led the
biggest overhaul of Britain's border controls since the second
world war. His work earned him the Spectator magazine's Minister to
Watch award in 2007 and a place on the House magazine's shortlist
for Minister of the Year in 2008.
On becoming Prime Minister, Gordon Brown asked Liam to take on the
additional role of Minister for the West Midlands, where he sealed
the deal for a new £400 million New Street station. He was then
asked to join the Cabinet as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
and Minister for the Cabinet Office, responsible for the
co-ordination of policy across Government, based at No 10 Downing
Street. He oversaw the development of the Government's Real Help
Now campaign to combat the recession, the New Opportunities White
Paper designed to boost social mobility and created the Council of
Regional Ministers, which he chaired.
In 2009, Liam was promoted again to become Chief Secretary to the
Treasury, where he negotiated Labour's deficit reduction plan
across Whitehall, set out in the 2009 Pre-Budget Report 09 and
Budget 2010. He led the renewal of Labour's strategy for public
service reform set out in Putting the Frontline First: Smarter
Government, Power in People's Hands: World Class Public Services,
and Working Together: Public Services On Your Side.
After Labour lost the 2010 election, Liam was elected to the
shadow cabinet, and asked by Ed Miliband to coordinate Labour's
policy review. In addition to these duties, he was appointed Shadow
Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in January 2011.
He is a strong advocate of closer relations with China. He is a
member of the UK-China Leadership Forum and was delegation leader
in 2009, and helped found the UK-China Young Leaders Roundtable in
2010.
Liam has written widely about the squeezed middle, public service
reform, economic development, and shared values. His publications
include the textbook, Local Government Transformed (1996),
Information Age Government (1998), Cities of Enterprise (2002),
Britain in 2020 (2003), Reinventing Government Again (with Phil
Collins) (2004), Why Labour Won (2005), A Common Place (2007) and A
More United Kingdom (Demos, 2008).
Although born in Warrington, Liam's family has been in Birmingham
for around 200 years (family history here). He joined the Labour
Party when he was 15 and today lives in Birmingham with his wife
Sarah and three children, Alex (10), John (8) and Elizabeth (6),
and the family puppy, Soda.
He is a member of Unite, and the Fabian Society. He co-founded the
Young Fabian magazine, Anticipations, was one of Progress' first
editors, was founding treasurer of the Centre for European Reform,
and is a former Associate Fellow of the Social Market Foundation.
His interests include China, Kashmir and Pakistan.
Outside politics, Liam's is a keen runner - he has run six
half-marathons (best time 1:54.50 minutes), and his interests
include surfing, English church architecture, and astronomy. He is
a founder member of the King's Heath Running Club and is slowly
writing a history of great British entrepreneurs.
