Derek Wyatt
Encyclopedia
Derek Murray Wyatt FRSA (born 4 December 1949) is a British
Labour Party
politician who was the Member of Parliament
(MP) for Sittingbourne and Sheppey from 1997
to 2010, having previously been a councillor
in the London Borough of Haringey
.
, Colchester Royal Grammar School
, St Luke's College, Exeter
(Certificate of Education
1971), the Open University
(BA. Hons 2:1
in Art and Architecture 1978), and St Catherine's College, Oxford
, where he was a research student from 1981 to 1982. From 1986 to 1988, he was a Director of William Heinemann
. He was Head of Programmes at Wire TV from 1994 to 1995, and Director of the Computer Channel on BSkyB
from 1995 to 1997.
s (ISPs) through licensing to take steps to block spam
before it arrives in inboxes. The MP wanted Ofcom
, the communications
regulator, to take responsibility for licensing internet service providers - and fine those who fail to meet agreed standards.
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 and unofficially to Gerry Sutcliffe MP, Minister for Sport in July 2007. 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 critical 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. Back in 2004, he was voted, in an online poll, as one of the top 100 Internet Visionaries. He founded the Oxford Internet Institute
in 2000. In 2007, his web site won the British Computer Award for "best engagement" and in 2008 for the best over all site. He launched a second web site: www.derekwyatt.tv in October, 2007. His web site was updated 4 or 5 times a day and received upwards of 70,000 hits a week with about 15,000 unique visitors. It was one of the first MPs' web sites to be legally deposited with the British Library and can still be accessed at www.derekwyattexmp.co.uk .
He spent time at Berkeley and Stanford in 2003 undertaking a course in Brand & Change Management and in 2006 attended, as an Observer, the induction course for new Congressmen and women at the John Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. He visited Paris in 2007 to follow the French Presidential elections examining online campaigning and repeated this exercise in Washington, DC and Chicago as part of the US Presidential election in 2008 and was fortunate enough to meet Barack Obama.
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.
player. He won one full cap for as a wing, coming on as a replacement for David Duckham
against at Murrayfield
in February 1976. At the time, Wyatt was playing club rugby for Bedford
; he would later be a regular for Bath
. He also played for England against the at Twickenham
in October 1977 in a match for which England
did not award full caps and scored four tries in the match. He subsequently played for Oxford
in the 1981 Varsity Match
in which Rothmans Rugby Yearbook described him as the player of the day. He also represented the Barbarians
. At school he was rated No.1 long jumper as a Youth and Junior and as a senior represented Essex AAA in the British Games jumping against the great Lyn Davies. He has written or edited
seven books on rugby and his latest will be published in June, 2011(co-authored with Colin Herridge)entitled Rugby 2011: A Preview of the World Cup 2011.
Since standing down as an MP, he has formed his own company - Amber Digital Consultancy Ltd - and has helped set up joint ventures in Egypt and India and advised on the Wikileaks story. He chairs Trinity Hospice in Clapham the oldest English hospice which celebrated its 120th year in 2011; he advises a number of shadow Labour ministers and sits on the board of CAABU, the Egypt British Business Council and Editorial Intelligence as well as still being on the Advisory Board at the Oxford University Internet Institute (which he founded). Wyatt is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts
, the Hon. Worshipful Company of Information Technologists, and the Industry & Parliamentary Trust; he is also a Freeman of the City of London. He is a trustee of Major Stanley's at Oxford University RFC and he is a very small shareholder of Charlton Athletic F.C.
.
He is divorced and has a daughter and a son.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
politician who was the Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
(MP) for Sittingbourne and Sheppey from 1997
United Kingdom general election, 1997
The United Kingdom general election, 1997 was held on 1 May 1997, more than five years after the previous election on 9 April 1992, to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party ended its 18 years in opposition under the leadership of Tony Blair, and won the general...
to 2010, having previously been a councillor
Councillor
A councillor or councilor is a member of a local government council, such as a city council.Often in the United States, the title is councilman or councilwoman.-United Kingdom:...
in the London Borough of Haringey
London Borough of Haringey
The London Borough of Haringey is a London borough, in North London, classified by some definitions as part of Inner London, and by others as part of Outer London. It was created in 1965 by the amalgamation of three former boroughs. It shares borders with six other London boroughs...
.
Early life
Wyatt was educated at Westcliff County High SchoolWestcliff-on-Sea
Westcliff-on-Sea is a suburb of Southend-on-Sea, a seaside resort in the East of England and unitary authority in Essex. It is situated on the northern bank of the Thames Estuary and about 34 miles east of London.-Geography:...
, Colchester Royal Grammar School
Colchester Royal Grammar School
Colchester Royal Grammar School is a grammar school in Colchester, Essex, founded in AD 1206 and granted two Royal Charters by Henry VIII and by Elizabeth I .-Admissions:...
, St Luke's College, Exeter
University of Exeter
The University of Exeter is a public university in South West England. It belongs to the 1994 Group, an association of 19 of the United Kingdom's smaller research-intensive universities....
(Certificate of Education
Certificate in Education
The Certificate in Education is a professional qualification for teachers in the United Kingdom. There have been two incarnations of the Cert Ed over the years.-New Cert Ed:...
1971), the Open University
Open University
The Open University is a distance learning and research university founded by Royal Charter in the United Kingdom...
(BA. Hons 2:1
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in Art and Architecture 1978), and St Catherine's College, Oxford
St Catherine's College, Oxford
St Catherine's College, often called Catz, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its motto is Nova et Vetera...
, where he was a research student from 1981 to 1982. From 1986 to 1988, he was a Director of William Heinemann
Heinemann (book publisher)
Heinemann is a UK publishing house founded by William Heinemann in Covent Garden, London in 1890. On William Heinemann's death in 1920 a majority stake was purchased by U.S. publisher Doubleday. It was later acquired by commemorate Thomas Tilling in 1961...
. He was Head of Programmes at Wire TV from 1994 to 1995, and Director of the Computer Channel on BSkyB
British Sky Broadcasting
British Sky Broadcasting Group plc is a satellite broadcasting, broadband and telephony services company headquartered in London, United Kingdom, with operations in the United Kingdom and the Ireland....
from 1995 to 1997.
Parliamentary career
Derek Wyatt founded and was chairman of the British House of Commons all party internet group from 1997 to 2007 when he led the merger of it to two other groups - mobile and communications. The new name is the All party communications Group and he is now co-Chairman with John Robertson MP. He advocates forcing internet service providerInternet service provider
An Internet service provider is a company that provides access to the Internet. Access ISPs directly connect customers to the Internet using copper wires, wireless or fiber-optic connections. Hosting ISPs lease server space for smaller businesses and host other people servers...
s (ISPs) through licensing to take steps to block spam
E-mail spam
Email spam, also known as junk email or unsolicited bulk email , is a subset of spam that involves nearly identical messages sent to numerous recipients by email. Definitions of spam usually include the aspects that email is unsolicited and sent in bulk. One subset of UBE is UCE...
before it arrives in inboxes. The MP wanted Ofcom
Ofcom
Ofcom is the government-approved regulatory authority for the broadcasting and telecommunications industries in the United Kingdom. Ofcom was initially established by the Office of Communications Act 2002. It received its full authority from the Communications Act 2003...
, the communications
Telecommunication
Telecommunication is the transmission of information over significant distances to communicate. In earlier times, telecommunications involved the use of visual signals, such as beacons, smoke signals, semaphore telegraphs, signal flags, and optical heliographs, or audio messages via coded...
regulator, to take responsibility for licensing internet service providers - and fine those who fail to meet agreed standards.
He was on the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee
Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee
The Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee is one of the Select Committees of the British House of Commons, established in 1997. It oversees the operations of the Department of Culture, Media and Sport which replaced the Department for National Heritage....
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 and unofficially to Gerry Sutcliffe MP, Minister for Sport in July 2007. 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 critical votes on Iraq, he voted against intervention.
He won an ISPA
Internet Service Providers Association
The Internet Service Providers Association, or ISPA, is a British body representing providers of Internet Services.-History:ISPA was established in 1995 as the first trade association for ISPs, promoting competition, self-regulation and progress within the Internet industry...
Hero's Award (2006) for his work on seeing the Computer Misuse Act
Computer Misuse Act 1990
The Computer Misuse Act 1990 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, introduced partly in response to the decision in R v Gold & Schifreen 1 AC 1063 . Critics of the bill complained that it was introduced hastily and was poorly thought out...
onto the statute book and the New Statesman
New Statesman
New Statesman is a British centre-left political and cultural magazine published weekly in London. Founded in 1913, and connected with leading members of the Fabian Society, the magazine reached a circulation peak in the late 1960s....
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. Back in 2004, he was voted, in an online poll, as one of the top 100 Internet Visionaries. He founded the Oxford Internet Institute
Oxford Internet Institute
The Oxford Internet Institute is a multi-disciplinary institute based at the University of Oxford, England, and housed in buildings owned by Balliol College, Oxford. It is devoted to the study of the societal implications of the Internet, with the aim of shaping research, policy and practice in...
in 2000. In 2007, his web site won the British Computer Award for "best engagement" and in 2008 for the best over all site. He launched a second web site: www.derekwyatt.tv in October, 2007. His web site was updated 4 or 5 times a day and received upwards of 70,000 hits a week with about 15,000 unique visitors. It was one of the first MPs' web sites to be legally deposited with the British Library and can still be accessed at www.derekwyattexmp.co.uk .
He spent time at Berkeley and Stanford in 2003 undertaking a course in Brand & Change Management and in 2006 attended, as an Observer, the induction course for new Congressmen and women at the John Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. He visited Paris in 2007 to follow the French Presidential elections examining online campaigning and repeated this exercise in Washington, DC and Chicago as part of the US Presidential election in 2008 and was fortunate enough to meet Barack Obama.
In the 2005 general election
United Kingdom general election, 2005
The United Kingdom general election of 2005 was held on Thursday, 5 May 2005 to elect 646 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party under Tony Blair won its third consecutive victory, but with a majority of 66, reduced from 160....
, 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.
Personal life
Derek was a top-class rugby unionRugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
player. He won one full cap for as a wing, coming on as a replacement for David Duckham
David Duckham
David John Duckham MBE is a retired English rugby union player. He played 36 games for England from 1969 to 1976 and scored 10 tries. Duckham made his debut at centre, partnering John Spencer against Ireland in 1969...
against at Murrayfield
Murrayfield Stadium
Murrayfield Stadium is a sports stadium located in the west end of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Its all-seater capacity was recently reduced from 67,800 to 67,130 to incorporate the largest permanent "big screen" in the country though it still remains the largest stadium in Scotland and one...
in February 1976. At the time, Wyatt was playing club rugby for Bedford
Bedford Blues
Bedford Blues is a rugby union club in the town of Bedford, England, currently playing in The RFU Championship. Bedford is one of the largest towns in England without a league football club, and one of the few towns in England where the rugby club is better supported than the football team. The...
; he would later be a regular for Bath
Bath Rugby
Bath Rugby is an English professional rugby union club that is based in the city of Bath. They play in the Aviva Premiership league...
. He also played for England against the at Twickenham
Twickenham Stadium
Twickenham Stadium is a stadium located in Twickenham, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. It is the largest rugby union stadium in the United Kingdom and has recently been enlarged to seat 82,000...
in October 1977 in a match for which England
Rugby Football Union
The Rugby Football Union was founded in 1871 as the governing body for the sport of rugby union, and performed as the international governing body prior to the formation of the International Rugby Board in 1886...
did not award full caps and scored four tries in the match. He subsequently played for Oxford
Oxford University RFC
The Oxford University Rugby Football Club is the rugby union club of the University of Oxford. The club contests The Varsity Match every year against Cambridge University at Twickenham.-History:...
in the 1981 Varsity Match
The Varsity Match
The Varsity Match is an annual rugby union fixture played between the universities of Oxford and Cambridge in England. By tradition, the match is held on the second Tuesday of December. In 2005, however, this changed, and the match was on Tuesday 6 December. In 2007, it was held on a Thursday for...
in which Rothmans Rugby Yearbook described him as the player of the day. He also represented the Barbarians
Barbarian F.C.
The Barbarian Football Club, usually referred to as the Barbarians and nicknamed the "Baa-Baas", is an invitational rugby union team based in Britain...
. At school he was rated No.1 long jumper as a Youth and Junior and as a senior represented Essex AAA in the British Games jumping against the great Lyn Davies. He has written or edited
seven books on rugby and his latest will be published in June, 2011(co-authored with Colin Herridge)entitled Rugby 2011: A Preview of the World Cup 2011.
Since standing down as an MP, he has formed his own company - Amber Digital Consultancy Ltd - and has helped set up joint ventures in Egypt and India and advised on the Wikileaks story. He chairs Trinity Hospice in Clapham the oldest English hospice which celebrated its 120th year in 2011; he advises a number of shadow Labour ministers and sits on the board of CAABU, the Egypt British Business Council and Editorial Intelligence as well as still being on the Advisory Board at the Oxford University Internet Institute (which he founded). Wyatt is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts
Royal Society of Arts
The Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufacturers and Commerce is a British multi-disciplinary institution, based in London. The name Royal Society of Arts is frequently used for brevity...
, the Hon. Worshipful Company of Information Technologists, and the Industry & Parliamentary Trust; he is also a Freeman of the City of London. He is a trustee of Major Stanley's at Oxford University RFC and he is a very small shareholder of Charlton Athletic F.C.
Charlton Athletic F.C.
Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, in the London Borough of Greenwich. They compete in Football League One, the third tier of English football. The club was founded on 9 June 1905, when a number of youth clubs in the southeast London area,...
.
He is divorced and has a daughter and a son.
External links
- Official Website
- Second Website
- Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Derek Wyatt MP
- TheyWorkForYou.com - Derek Wyatt MP
- Open Rights Group - Derek Wyatt MP
- Culture, Media and Sport Committee Press Notice No 1 of Session 2001-02 (23 July 2001)
- BBC Politics page
News items
- Winning New Statesman award in July 2006
- Praising Conservative election campaign in March 2005
- Criticising South East Development Agency in November 2002
- Dealing with internet spam in September 2002
- Calling for free internet access in March 1998