Keighley's campaigning MP reflects on 2008

Ann, who turned 69 earlier this month, has the unusual distinction with her first husband, the late Bob Cryer MP, of winning the seat on three occasions.

He won it twice in 1974 and 1979; Ann won it in 1997, 2001 and 2005. Bob Cryer later became MP for Bradford South.

He was killed in a car accident in April, 1994. Three years later, Ann took his place in the House of Commons, although for a different seat.

In 1999, Ann – who appeared in the film The Railway Children in the summer of 1970, along with Bob – was the first MP to raise the issue of forced marriages in the House of Commons.

Since then, in spite of much criticism, denial and outright opposition, she has worked with single-minded determination to persuade Parliament to outlaw forced marriages.

Although the House of Commons shied away from taking such an uncompromising step, the Forced Marriages Act 2007, which passed into law this autumn, introduces extra protection for young women facing such marriages.

British courts now have powers to issue a Forced Marriage Protection Order and to pre-empt a forced marriage.

Where violence is threatened or has been used, culprits may be arrested and, if convicted, face a prison sentence.

Whitehall’s Forced Marriage Unit deals with more than 300 cases a year.

Ann and Bob Cryer had a son and a daughter. Ann has two step-children by her second husband, the late Rev John Hammersley (who died in 2004), six grandchildren and two step-grandchildren.

So it’s not difficult to imagine how a good deal of her future retirement time will be spent.

TEN QUESTIONS

1. Describe your best moments of the year.

“Being elected by my backbench colleagues to represent them on the Parliamentary Committee and, due to coming top in the poll, becoming vice-chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party. Not bad for a 69-year-old.”

2. What were your worst moments?

“Having to announce to Keighley Labour Party Executive Committee that I didn’t feel I had the energy to fight a fourth election which, should I have won, would have meant possibly working right up until I reached 74.”

3. Who has helped you most in 2008, and how?

“My constituency staff, all new and doing very well, and my very patient and long-suffering family.”

4. Did the year have any surprises for you?

“I never thought I would see the day when Parliament would pass legislation so helpful to young people from ethnic communities that would help them so much in resisting unwanted marriages.”

5. What was your funniest memory?

“Seeing my youngest grand-daughter Ellen, aged two-and-a-half, compete in my lounge with the Strictly Come Dancing professionals and celebrities.”

6. Do you have any regrets about the year?

“’Regrets, I have a few, but then again, too few to mention’.”

7. Has 2008 taught you anything?

“To expect the unexpected.”

8. What would you like to see happen in 2009 on a personal or professional level and in a wider sense?

“To ‘Give peace a chance’ worldwide, especially in Iraq and Afghanistan, hopefully under the new leadership of President Barack Obama; and in those parts of the world – the Sudan and the Congo – where there’s tribal conflict.

“It’s so sad to see what’s happened to Zimbabwe due to Robert Mugabe’s indifference to democracy and his people. Let’s hope in the new year he will be removed from power peacefully.

“A year after Bob was killed, my first holiday was in Zimbabwe and I was so impressed by the country. We stayed in a cheap hotel near Victoria Falls and it was so efficiently run by the black people. All that changed.”

9. Who would be your person of the year?

“Strictly John Sergeant, and Barack Obama.”

10. Any New Year resolutions?

“To say ‘no’ to more of the things I don’t enjoy and leave time for a ‘yes’ to the pleasures of life.”