Civil Service Live
Profile: Liam Byrne
Liam Byrne is the Labour MP for Birmingham Hodge Hill and Minister of State for Borders and Immigration at the Home Office. January 2008 saw Gordon Brown ask Liam to also work as a Treasury minister to oversee the creation of Britain's new border force. Since June 2007 Liam has been fighting for the region as the first Minister for the West Midlands.
Elected in the Hodge Hill by-election in July 2004, Liam was made a minister in the Department of Health nine months later in May 2005 where he championed dignity in care and helped oversee the 2006 White Paper. He was nominated as Older Peoples' Champion of the Year by Help the Aged for his work.
In May 2006 Liam was promoted to Minister of State for Police and Counter-terrorism before the Home Secretary asked him to lead the re-organisation of the immigration service.
In November 2007, Liam received the 'Minister to Watch' honour at the Spectator Magazine's Parliamentarian of the Year awards.
Before entering Parliament, Liam worked for multi-national consulting firm, Accenture and merchant bankers, NM Rothschild, before co-founding a venture backed technology company, eGS Group, in 2000. Between 1996 and 1997 he advised the Labour Party on the re-organisation of Millbank and helped lead Labour’s business campaign.
Comprehensive school educated, Liam graduated at the top of his class at Manchester University with a First in Politics and Modern History and Harvard Business School where he was a Fulbright Scholar, taking his MBA with honours.
At Manchester, Liam won the Robert McKenzie Prize for the faculty's best research work and his first book contract. He was elected in the same year as sabbatical leader of the students' union and later served on Labour Students' National Committee and NUS National Council. At Harvard he co-chaired the summer ball committee, was co-president of the Leadership and Ethics Forum and wrote a column for Harbus.
Liam has written widely about public service reform, economic development and party reform. His publications include Local Government Transformed (1996), Information Age Government (1998), Reinventing Government Again (with Phil Collins) (2004), Cities of Enterprise (2002), Britain in 2020 (2003) and Why Labour Won (2005).
Liam is a member of Amicus, the Fabian Society and the Christian Socialist Movement. He is former Associate Fellow of the Social Market Foundation. Liam co-founded the Young Fabian magazine, Anticipations, was one of Progress' first editors and founding treasurer of the Centre for European Reform.
He joined the Labour Party when he was 15. He lives in Birmingham with his wife Sarah and three children, Alex (6), John (4) and Elizabeth (2).
Liam's interests include spending time with family, running half marathons for charity and English church architecture.