Matthew John Carter is Chief Executive Officer, Burson-Marsteller UK(B-M UK) and Chairman, Penn Schoen Berland, Europe Middle East and Africa. He is a former General Secretary of the British Labour Party

General Secretary of the Labour Party

The General Secretary is the most senior employee of the British Labour Party, and acts as the non-voting secretary to the National Executive Committee...

.

Born near Grimsby

Grimsby

Grimsby is a seaport on the Humber Estuary in Lincolnshire, England. It has been the administrative centre of the unitary authority area of North East Lincolnshire since 1996...

, Carter studied at Sheffield University and the University of York

University of York

The University of York , is an academic institution located in the city of York, England. Established in 1963, the campus university has expanded to more than thirty departments and centres, covering a wide range of subjects...

, and has a DPhil

Doctor of Philosophy

Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...

 in Political History.

Carter was tutor in the Department of Politics at the University of York

University of York

The University of York , is an academic institution located in the city of York, England. Established in 1963, the campus university has expanded to more than thirty departments and centres, covering a wide range of subjects...

 from 1994. He subsequently held a number of jobs in the 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...

, including head of policy, local organiser for Teesside

Teesside

Teesside is the name given to the conurbation in the north east of England made up of the towns of Middlesbrough, Stockton-on-Tees, Redcar, Billingham and surrounding settlements near the River Tees. It was also the name of a local government district between 1968 and 1974—the County Borough of...

 and Durham

Durham

Durham is a city in north east England. It is within the County Durham local government district, and is the county town of the larger ceremonial county...

 and regional organiser in South West England

South West England

South West England is one of the regions of England defined by the Government of the United Kingdom for statistical and other purposes. It is the largest such region in area, covering and comprising Bristol, Gloucestershire, Somerset, Dorset, Wiltshire, Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. ...

 during the 2001 general election

United Kingdom general election, 2001

The United Kingdom general election, 2001 was held on Thursday 7 June 2001 to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. It was dubbed "the quiet landslide" by the media, as the Labour Party was re-elected with another landslide result and only suffered a net loss of 6 seats...

. As Assistant General Secretary, he set up Forethought, a policy think tank

Think tank

A think tank is an organization that conducts research and engages in advocacy in areas such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, and technology issues. Most think tanks are non-profit organizations, which some countries such as the United States and Canada provide with tax...

 within the Party.

In 1997, Carter was a member of Labour's National Policy Forum

National Policy Forum

The National Policy Forum of the British Labour Party is part of the policy-making system of the Party, set up by Leader Tony Blair as part of the Partnership in Power process....

 and parliamentary candidate for the Vale of York

Vale of York (UK Parliament constituency)

Vale of York was a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.-History:...

. Matt Carter is Labour’s youngest General Secretary, appointed to the job aged 31 in December 2003. He took up office on 1 January 2004 succeeding David Triesman, and announced his resignation on 6 September 2005, following 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....

 victory.

While General Secretary Carter organised the legal aspects of loans from individuals to the Labour Party that were central to the Cash for Honours political scandal.

He has written The People's Party: the History of the Labour Party with Tony Wright (1997) and T.H. Green and the Development of Ethical Socialism (2003).

In January 2010 Carter became CEO of B-M UK, the leading public relations and communications consultancy, a part of Young & Rubicam Brands, a subsidiary of WPP. B-M UK clients include Sony Ericsson, Bacardi Limited, Danone, Kimberly Clark, Ricoh International, Vestas Wind Energy, SAP and Hewlett Packard.

Matt Carter married Erica Moffitt in 1997 and has three children, and now lives near Bath.

External links

• Matt Carter, 2005 Who's Who
  Who's Who (UK)
  Who's Who is an annual British publication of biographies which vary in length of about 30,000 living notable Britons.-History:...
  
  entry profiled in The Times
  The Times
  The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...