35 Facts About Tony Lloyd

Tony Lloyd was MP for Stretford from 1983 to 1997 and Manchester Central from 1997 to 2012.

Tony Lloyd then became Greater Manchester Police and Crime Commissioner between 2012 and 2017, and interim Mayor of Greater Manchester between 2015 and 2017.

Tony Lloyd served as Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland between 2018 and 2020, resigning to recover from his illness of COVID-19.

Tony Lloyd was Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland between 2019 and 2020.

Tony Lloyd continued as a constituency MP until October 2012, when he stepped down to contest the 2012 Police and Crime Commissioner elections for Greater Manchester Police area.

Tony Lloyd was elected and assumed the position in November 2012.

Tony Lloyd, appointed Interim Mayor of Greater Manchester on 29 May 2015, announced on 11 February 2016 that he would be seeking to become the Labour Party candidate in the Greater Manchester mayoral election, but lost the nomination to Andy Burnham before being elected as MP for Rochdale in 2017.

Tony Lloyd was born in Stretford, on 25 February 1950, the fourth of five children of Sydney Tony Lloyd and his wife Ciceley.

Tony Lloyd's father died when he was 13, leaving his mother Ciceley, a staunch supporter of the Labour Party, to shape his values.

Tony Lloyd was first elected to public office when he stood as a Labour Party candidate in the 1979 Trafford Council election, winning a seat on Trafford Metropolitan Borough Council representing the Clifford ward on 4May 1979.

Tony Lloyd remained a Trafford councillor until 1984, rising to the rank of Deputy Labour Council Leader.

Tony Lloyd entered the House of Commons as Member of Parliament for Stretford on 9June 1983, after the 1983 general election.

Tony Lloyd was an opposition whip between 1986 and 1987, and became the opposition spokesman for transport, employment, the environment, and foreign affairs.

Constituency boundaries were reformed for the 1997 general election, and Tony Lloyd was selected for the Manchester Central constituency, where he was returned at each subsequent general election up to and including 2010.

In 1998, an inquiry by the Foreign Affairs Select Committee into the supply of arms from Sandline International to Africa during the Sierra Leone Civil War led to accusations that Tony Lloyd had been dishonest and lacked depth over the trade of illicit weaponry.

Tony Lloyd was a Member of the North West Regional Select Committee from 4March 2009 to 11 May 2010.

Tony Lloyd voted for Bryan Gould and John Prescott respectively in the Labour Party leadership elections of 1992 and 1994.

Tony Lloyd joined rebel Labour MPs by voting against government policy regarding the Iraq War, and rebelled against government policy to detain terror suspects for 90 days without trial.

Tony Lloyd voted against government policy to introduce student tuition fees, and as an "anti-nuclear and anti-war campaigner", voted against the renewal or replacement of the UK Trident programme in 2007.

Tony Lloyd was strongly in favour of and voted for the reform of the House of Lords, the Identity Cards Act 2006, and the expansion of London Heathrow Airport.

Tony Lloyd supported the bid for a proposed supercasino for East Manchester, and was furious with the House of Lords and Gordon Brown for axing the scheme, adding it was "grossly unfair and outrageous" and that "those who kicked it into touch deprived a community with one of the highest levels of unemployment the opportunity to access well paid jobs and proper training".

Tony Lloyd supported the proposed Greater Manchester congestion charge, and campaigned in its favour in the 2008 referendum on the Greater Manchester Transport Innovation Fund, which was "overwhelmingly rejected" by voters.

Tony Lloyd was the leader of the British delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and one of its vice-presidents, a leader of the British delegation to the Western European Union, and leader of the British delegation to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.

Tony Lloyd was head of the OSCE at a time when it was monitoring the 2010 Belarusian presidential election, which it denounced as fraudulent; Lloyd said the "election failed to give Belarus the new start it needed", adding "the people of Belarus deserved better".

Tony Lloyd was Chair of the Trade Union Group of Labour MPs from 2002 to 2012.

Tony Lloyd was described by Andrew Roth of The Guardian as a "realistic regionalist"; he supported the creation of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority in 2011, but disagreed that there should be an elected Mayor of Greater Manchester.

On 15 February 2012, Tony Lloyd announced his intention to resign as a member of parliament to stand as a candidate for the directly elected Police and Crime Commissioner for Greater Manchester.

Tony Lloyd was based at Salford Civic Centre and was required to devise a five-year strategic plan for Greater Manchester Police and hold Sir Peter Fahy, the force's chief constable, to account.

Tony Lloyd was appointed as Interim Mayor for Greater Manchester on 29 May 2015.

Tony Lloyd subsequently announced that he would be running to become the Labour Party's candidate for the 2017 Greater Manchester Mayoral Elections on 11 February 2016.

In May 2017, Tony Lloyd was selected to stand as the Labour Party's parliamentary candidate for Rochdale at the 2017 general election.

Tony Lloyd was selected after the incumbent MP, Simon Danczuk, was disallowed from standing again as the Labour candidate, owing to an ongoing internal party investigation into Danczuk's personal conduct.

On 23 March 2018, Tony Lloyd became Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, replacing the sacked Owen Smith.

Tony Lloyd was knighted in the 2021 Birthday Honours for public service.

In January 2023, Tony Lloyd revealed he is undergoing chemotherapy after a recent cancer diagnosis.