Mark Fisher (politician) - Political Career

Political Career

Fisher unsuccessfully contested Leek at the 1979 general election but was defeated by David Knox by 10,571 votes. He was elected as a councillor to the Staffordshire County Council in 1981 and remained a councillor until he stood down in 1985.

He was elected as an MP for Stoke-on-Trent Central at the 1983 general election following the retirement of the sitting Labour MP Robert Cant. Fisher held the seat with a majority of 8,250.

In parliament, Fisher served on the Treasury Select Committee for three years from 1983. In 1985 he was appointed as an Opposition Whip by Neil Kinnock for a year in 1985. Following the 1987 General Election he became the opposition spokesman on arts and media and following the 1992 general election he became the spokesman on the Citizen's Charter, a year later in 1993, however, he was back as a spokesman at the newly named Department for National Heritage. In 1992 he introduced the 'Right to Know Bill', a Private member's bill, which, though unsuccessful, became the fore runner of the Freedom of Information Bill.

After the Labour victory at the 1997 general Election, he was appointed as the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport as the Arts Minister by new prime minister Tony Blair. He rebelled against the government by voting against the party whip on the Competition Act 1998, later he was sacked by Blair in his first reshuffle in 1998, and Fisher returned to the backbenches.

He has served as the Patron for the National Benevolent Fund for the Aged since 1986, and was a member of the BBC General Advisory Council for ten years from 1987. He also served as a council member of the Institute for Policy Studies 1985-1995, and was the deputy Pro Chancellor of Keele University from 1989 until his entry to government in 1997. In 2000 he was a visiting fellow at St Antony's College, Oxford.

In June 2009, Fisher called on Prime Minister Gordon Brown to resign. In the expenses scandal he claimed over £17,000, none of which he was required to pay back. The bulk of this sum was spent mortgage and utility payments on his second home. Some of his more bizarre expenses claims include a 34 pence Kit Kat bar, a bottle of Toilet Duck and a pack of chunky crayons and face painting kit.

On 10 March 2010, Fisher announced that, due to health reasons, he would stand down as an MP at the 2010 General Election. He suffers from hydrocephalus, commonly known as water on the brain.