Liam Dominic Byrne (born October 2, 1970) British politician. He is the Labour Member of Parliament for Birmingham Hodge Hill. He is Minister of State for immigration at the Home Office.

Liam Byrne was born in Warrington and was educated at the University of Manchester and holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School where he was a Fulbright Scholar. He has acted as an advisor to Tony Blair. He is founder of the computer company e-Government Solutions Ltd ^*, a provider of e-commerce solutions to government, and is an associate research fellow at the Social Market Foundation.

He was selected to contest the Birmingham Hodge Hill by-election following the resignation of the veteran Labour MP Terry Davis to become the Secretary General of the Council of Europe. After very close contest, on July 15, 2004, the same day as Labour lost Leicester South in another by-election, Liam Byrne held on with a majority of just 460. He made his maiden speech on July 22, 2004 ^* Following his re-election with an increased majority on 5 May, 2005, he was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department of Health, an unusually fast promotion to ministerial rank. Just a year later, following the 2006 local elections, he was promoted to Minister of State for policing, security and community safety at the Home Office, replacing Hazel Blears, one of the highest-profile roles in the government outside the cabinet. However, just a fortnight later Home Secretary John Reid moved him to the immigration role, switching portfolios with Tony McNulty. McNulty had been connected with the foreign prisoners scandal that caused Tony Blair to sack Charles Clarke in May 2006. Byrne's move was seen as an attempt by Reid to establish an entirely new team to sort out the immigration system.

External links

• Liam Byrne official site
• Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Liam Byrne MP
• TheyWorkForYou.com - Liam Byrne MP
• The Public Whip - Liam Byrne MP voting record

Current British MPs | 1970 births | Living people | UK Labour Party politicians | Members of the United Kingdom Parliament from English constituencies | Labour MPs (UK) | Warringtonians