Jon Cruddas has been the Labour MP for Dagenham and Rainham (formerly Dagenham) since 2001.
Before entering Parliament, he was a policy advisor on employment issues for the Labour Party then Senior Assistant to the General Secretary. Following the 1997 election, he was employed as Deputy Political Secretary to the Prime Minister Tony Blair with responsibility for employment law, combatting low pay and liaison with the trade unions.
He contested the Party's deputy leadership in 2007 and in May 2012 accepted Ed Miliband's invitation to join the Shadow Cabinet as Labour's Policy Coordinator with responsibility for the drafting of the Party's general election manifesto.
Jon has an MA and PhD from the University of Warwick. He is married with a son. His new book The Dignity of Labour will be released early in 2021.