My Story

Whilst international development is an abiding passion for Tony Cunningham, his political forte has proved to be organisational - with a role in the Labour Whips' Office tapping into the qualities that brought him sporting success.

My father worked on the docks in Workington. Relatively pleasant cargoes are unloaded at some docks, but my father was either shovelling iron ore out of the bottom of a boat or putting huge, 90ft railway lines in. It was very, very hard physical work. Like many men of his generation. he retired at 64 or 65, and then died, on account of the physical work that he had done, at 66. He died in January 1987, and I became a councillor in May. It would have been so nice if he had seen me as a councillor, mayor, MEP, and then MP. That's the saddest thing. He did vote Labour, and he was a shop steward, but he wasn't a member of the party.

I was one of six children, so my mother had a full-time job bringing us up. My mother is 81, and she still drives - she had to learn after my father died - and swims, and she has been on computer courses and plays bridge.

My primary school was very basic. The first job of the day, even for the five or sixyear-olds, was to gather sticks and get the stoves going in the classrooms. I can also remember getting a stick and using it to break the ice in the outside toilets.

I loved grammar school, because I excelled in sport. I represented the school at rugby, cricket, soccer, and cross-country. I was a county runner, and played at district level at all the others. I got six O-Ievels and three A-levels, so I wasn't a great high-flyer, but I was the first ever in my family to go to university.

After that I taught in a comprehensive school for four years. before moving to do VSO in East Africa. I spent two years in Zanzibar. When I was there I played two seasons of first division football for Malindi FC.

We finished second in our league in one season, and I played in front of crowds of 5,000 or 6,000.

My time in Africa politicised me. Seeing poverty at first hand changed the way I looked at things. I joined the Labour Party soon after I got back. I then became a councillor. and from 1992 to 1994 I was the leader of my local authority in Allerdale. I was also the mayor of Workington from 1990 to 1991. I wasn't into dressing up in fancy robes, but it was a great honour.

From 1994 to 1999 I was the MEP for Cumbria and North Lancashire, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I was on the development committee, with Glenys Kinnock and we visited places like Ethiopia, Eritrea. Gabon and Togo.

In 1995 I wrote a report on landmines - the Cunningham Report was the very first to call for an outright ban on landmines - and in 1999 I wrote the development committee budget. It was a £2.8bn budget, and it included increased funding for Aids projects in Africa. Because you are given reports to write, I would say that a back bench MEP can still achieve more than an MP - and that doesn't get the recognition it deserves. My local paper wasn't interested in the budget, but if I put down an EDM it would make the front page.

I was extremely disappointed to lose my seat, and in the manner in which I lost it. I had a 23,000 majority. but we suddenly had a list system: I was number five on the list, and we won four.

When Dale Campbell-Savours announced that he was standing down as an MP through ill-health, it seemed the obvious move to try and succeed him. Dale told me that if you are in awe of this place, then you won't be able to do your job. Of course this is a special place, but you are here to represent the people who sent you. That's what you have to concentrate on.

Given my experience, I asked to be on the development committee - but I was put on catering. I went there and insisted on fairly-traded coffee and tea, so I was still able to achieve something.

I was a PPS at Defra when Margaret Beckett was secretary of state. It was a great experience. Margaret made sure that everyone felt part of the ministerial team, and I can't speak highly enough of her.

I've been in the Whips' Office for nearly five years now. Everyone has a role to play - it's like when 1 played sport - and I have felt very much at home. I've been a whip under Hilary Armstrong, Jacqui Smith. Geoff Hoon, Nick brown and, now Rt Hon Rosie Winterton MP. They're all very good, but all very different.

It was a bit scary to start with. There were some big issues like tuition fees and foundation hospitals, and there was a real sense of anticipation and trepidation: you didn't know which way it would go.

I am the pairing whip, and my opposition pairing whip in the government is Michael Fabrican, we have a good working relationship, I have good relations with the Lib Dems too, and on occasions I will go and see the DUP office. Sometimes, in tense votes, you have to be aware of what all the parties are doing.

When there's a big vote about to happen you can feel the atmosphere changing over the day, as you try to persuade colleagues to support a government which they were elected to be a part of. It's especially tense during that last hour, when you're trying to persuade people to abstain rather than vote against or vote for rather than abstain. Threatening people is counterproductive: you have to help, cajole, appeal to, convince and persuade, and I've not seen any strong-arm lactics.

Someone once asked me if I had a black book full of secrets. I said I didn't, because it's all in my head. But I tell people what's happening, I let people away when I can, and I take into consideration Members who have young families. As a pairing whip, people ask for time off because a family member has just died or their wife is ill. That's one of the really difficult sides of the job. You have to be there for people.

When there is a vote, I stand on the door that Labour MPs are expected to go through, and I am the last person to leave the lobby. The last thing I do is check the toilets, and then I call: "All out." I can't say that unless I've checked everywhere, and once I have, that's it. You can't make mistakes.

If you think of Parliament as a factory with lots of people working here, then the whips are the factory managers. We make sure that everything works. If you didn't have a whipping system where you could rely on votes, then there could be a different government every week. You have to have a structure to deal with our unwritten constitution: the prime minister is only the prime minister when he has a majority in the House of Commons. There is a very strong role for the whips; there has to be. That's the way it has been for a very long time. and I hope it continues to be that way.

As a pairing whip you're always busy, and the constituency's issues take up a great deal of my time. I've been so engrossed in the floods in my constituency, and the aftermath of this. During that time along with the Cumbria Community Foundation, I launched an emergency appeal. In two days we raised close to £2m - so I would like to thank again and pay tribute to everyone who contributed. This money made a huge difference to everyone in the area. We're recovering phase now, but we have to make sure that the money continues to come in to Cumbria, and the support continues to be there. To mark the anniversary of the floods I organised an adjournment debate to discuss the impact of the floods, and to pay tribute to the emergency services and volunteers. I began the debate by reflecting on those lost over the year. We lost a very brave police officer who undoubtedly saved many lives; he left a wife and four children. We then had a terrible bus crash, in which two young people and driver lost their lives. On top of that, we had the terrible horrors of the shootings that took place not long ago in the constituency of Copeland. I along with other Members stood in silence for a few moments to commemorate those losses.

We're into the recovery phase in Cumbria now, and we have to make sure that the money continues to come in and the support continues to be there. Along with the Cumbria Community Foundation. I launched an emergency appeal. In two days we raised close to £2m - I expect that to rise to £2.5m - so I would like to thank and pay tribute to everyone who contributed. The money will make a huge difference to everyone in the area.

I watch sport regularly, and I run when I can. I have a beautiful part of the country to run in. I played my last game of football at Old Trafford, playing for the House of Commons against the Irish Dail. Paddy Crerand , who played in the 1968 European Cup Final, refereed the game. We beat the Irish. and after the game, the Irish centre forward said to me: "You bastard. If you hadn't been playing, then we would probably have won."

It was one of the nicest compliments that anyone has said to me. I was organ ising the defence that day. and it was lovely being able to shout at government ministers and opposition shadows and tell them what to do.