Derek Wyatt

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Derek Wyatt
Derek Wyatt.jpg
Wyatt in 2016
Member of Parliament
for Sittingbourne and Sheppey
In office
1 May 1997 – 12 April 2010
Preceded byConstituency created
Succeeded byGordon Henderson
Personal details
Born (1949-12-04) 4 December 1949 (age 72)
Woolwich, London, UK
NationalityBritish
Political partyLabour
Spouse(s)Divorced
Children2 (1 daughter, 1 son)
Alma materUniversity of Exeter; The Open University; University of Oxford; King's College, London;
Websitewww.derekwyatt.co.uk

Derek Murray Wyatt (born 4 December 1949) is a British politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Sittingbourne and Sheppey from 1997 to 2010, having previously been a councillor in the London Borough of Haringey (1994–95) where he was Chairman of Alexandra Palace. He played rugby for England and later helped stop the British and Irish Lions Tour to South Africa in 1986.

Early life[]

Derek was educated at Westcliff County High School (1961–66) & Colchester Royal Grammar School (1966-68). He attended St Luke's College, Exeter (Certificate of Education, 1968–71), the Open University (BA. Hons 2:1 Modern Art and Architecture, 1973–78), he was a mature student at St Catherine's College, Oxford, (Education,1981–82) and King's College, London (MA, International Studies, 2016–18).

Political career[]

Wyatt was Member of Parliament (MP) for the new constituency of Sittingbourne and Sheppey (1997-2010) having previously been a councillor in the London Borough of Haringey (1994–95) where he was also Chairman of Alexandra Palace.

He was on the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee from 1997 to 2005 and the Public Accounts Committee in 2007 before becoming the Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Rt Hon Margaret Hodge MP, Minister for the Arts. In February 2009 he became PPS to Lord Mark Mallock-Brown at the Foreign Office. He chaired six all party committees in the House of Commons. In the votes on Iraq, he voted against intervention.

He won an ISPA Hero's Award (2006) for his work on seeing the Computer Misuse Act onto the statute book and the New Statesman Award (2006) for the best web site of an Elected Representative. Politicsonline nominated him as one of the top ten visionaries in the internet space also in 2006. In 2007, his web site won the British Computer Award for "best engagement" and in 2008 for the best overall site. In 2010 Wyatt became the world's first elected representative to launch an app.

In the 2005 general election, he won the 3rd smallest majority of any MP, at just 79 votes, after 2 recounts.

On 1 July 2009, Wyatt announced he would stand down at the 2010 general election.[1]

Sporting career[]

Wyatt played rugby for the University of Oxford, the Barbarians and England and later stopped the British and Irish Lions Tour to South Africa in 1986 with the help of Archbishop Trevor Huddleston. He was subsequently awarded a Special Commendation by the UNO.

Wyatt played his club rugby for Bedford where his record of 145 tries in 152 games was higher than anyone else in the clubs' history as of 2016.[2][3] He would later be a regular for Bath where he equalled the club try scoring record (29 tries) in his first two seasons.[4] Whilst at Oxford he won a Blue at Rugby, representing Oxford in the varsity match. He was Chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Rugby Union group for 13 years and introduced an annual lecture and an awards dinner. He has recently been made Life President of the club.

Initiatives[]

He has started a number of organisations including Women's Sport, UK (1984), The Computer Channel (later dot.tv) on BSkyB (1995), the Oxford Internet Institute (1999), the Parliamentary Sport and Industry Group (2004), A Digital Day for the Nation - which is now a week (2007) and The Brain Campaign (2016). He is currently on The Digital Policy Alliance board and chairs the new Alde & Blyth Community Radio station. He also sits on the CITI board at Columbia University. He chaired Royal Trinity Hospice, Clapham (2011-2017) and helped put together the London Hospices Choir in 2016 which had a Christmas Number 1 hit with The Living Years recorded at Abbey Road studios.

Awards[]

Whilst the Chair of the Royal Trinity Hospice, Wyatt was Runner Up in the Third Sector Awards 2015 Best Charity Chair UK.[5]

References[]

  1. ^ "Labour MP not seeking re-election". BBC News Online. 1 July 2009.
  2. ^ Roy, Neil (2011). 125 years of the Blues : the history of the Bedford Blues, 1886-2011. Phil Beard. [Bedford]: Bedford Blues. ISBN 978-0-9570345-0-1. OCLC 812682427.
  3. ^ "My Life in Rugby: Derek Wyatt – former England, Bedford, Bath and Oxford University winger". The Rugby Paper. 10 May 2016.
  4. ^ Griffiths, John (26 April 2010). "The first official multi-race team in SA, MPs with international honours and Varsity Blues". Scrum.com. Retrieved 28 April 2010.
  5. ^ September 2015, 24. "Third Sector Awards 2015: Charity Chair of the Year - Winner: Caitlin Dean, Pregnancy Sickness Support". www.thirdsector.co.uk. Retrieved 12 April 2021.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)

External links[]

News items[]

Video clips[]

Parliament of the United Kingdom
New constituency Member of Parliament for Sittingbourne and Sheppey
1997–2010 		Succeeded by
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