Date of Birth: May 3rd, 1933 (Age 68)
Gender: Male
Ethnicity: White (British and Irish ancestry)
Sexuality: Straight
Avatar: Henning Hyllested
Discord Username: chainsbroken
Education: ended schooling at 15
Career: Docker, Salford Docks (1948-1974), Union Representative, T&G (1957-February 1974) MP (February 1974-Present)
Party: Labour
Constituency: Salford (1997-Present) [Previously Salford East 1983-1997), Salford West (1974-1983)].
Faction: Socialist Campaign Group (1981-Present), Tribune (1974-1981)
Parliamentary Career: Shadow Secretary of State for Industry (10 November 1980-27 September 1981), Treasurer Socialist Campaign Group (1983-1987), Chair Socialist Campaign Group (1992-1997).
Points System: Gender (0), Sexuality (0), 40 years old when first elected (10), Religion: Atheist (5), Education (20), Working Class Family History (0), Entry Level Labourer (5) + Entry-Level Union Official (5), Elected MP 8 times (14), One Year on Front Bench (2), Rebelled Against New Labour Legislation Repeatedly (20). Total: 81.
Short Bio: Jack Wright was born into a working class family in Salford in the midst of the global economic crisis of the 30’s. His father, a docker, and his mother, a domestic servant, were both quite active in the socialist movement, consequently many of Jack’s earliest memories involve red flags waving at rallies and picket line chants. Jack’s education ended abruptly at 15 after his father secured him a spot on the Salford Docks, where he felt grateful to be able to assist his family and became even more cognizant of the power wielded by workers like him, when organized and militant. He soon became active in his union, the T&G, eventually becoming one of the dock’s union reps at age 24. Beyond activity in the T&G’s internal politics, Jack was proudly involved in the union’s broader Left politics under the leadership of Jack Jones. For example, he was involved in early campaigns of the Anti-Apartheid Movement and was part of a T&G delegation to Chile to meet President Allende - one of his personal heroes - in 1971. He stood for Parliament for his home constituency - Salford West - in the first 1974 election, securing selection with the backing of the T&G and the grassroots Labour Left.
Jack has been considered a stalwart of the Labour Hard-Left for all of his 27 years in Parliament, bringing the same lessons of class struggle he learned on the dockyards to Westminster, advocating for common ownership and worker control of industry, unilateral nuclear disarmament (as a proud member of the CND!), and withdrawal from the “imperialist alliance known as NATO” - which he tabled an Early Day Motion for in the weeks following the Soviet Union’s collapse.
A proud friend and ally of Tony Benn, Wright dramatically resigned his position in Michael Foot’s shadow cabinet, believing the soft-left had betrayed the workers’ movement and that it was crucial for the hard-left to build power within the PLP, becoming a founding member of the Campaign Group. A fierce critic of the direction of the party during the Kinnock years, Wright was reportedly “dismayed and appalled” by the election of Tony Blair as Leader, becoming one of his most vocal critics - especially after Labour ascended to Government.
Jack has bucked the Labour whip the second most times since 1997, only trailing Jeremy Corbyn for the rank of biggest rebel. Notably, he voted against Blair’s “cruel, Thatcherite-to-its-core child-benefit policy” and every aspect of Blair’s “further integration into the viciously anti-worker bosses’ Europe”. He has also been extremely critical of New Labour’s handling of the Liverpool Dockers Strike, saying that that the Government’s refusal to act in solidarity with the dockers, and inaction on trade-union policy constituted a “shameful betrayal of the movement that Blair and his ilk owe their careers to”. Notably, he was the first Labour MP to call for Blair’s resignation amidst the party tension months before the election. Despite his vocal displeasure regarding the state of the Labour Party, he’s still proud of his membership in it, stating at one public event “Labour, despite all its faults, still has the potential to live up to its original aim to serve as the political vehicle of the trade union movement, and to advance the interests of the working class in the political sphere.” On another occasion he was far more concise, telling a reporter “Do I like this incarnation of Labour? No. Are they better than the Tories? Yes.”
