MITCHELL, Austin

Member for Grimsby 1977-83 and Great Grimsby since 1983. Committees: Member, Public Accounts Commission; Chair, All-Party Fisheries Group; Chair, All-Party Transpennine Group; Member, Public Accounts Committee; Member, Select Committee on Agriculture since 1997; Member, Select Committee on Treasury and Civil Service 1983-87; Chair, All-Party Icelandic Group; Chair, All-Party Media Group; Chair, All-Party Photography Group. Political career: Opposition Spokesperson on Trade and Industry 1987-89; Opposition Whip 1980-85; Parliamentary Private Secretary to Ministers of State at the Department of Prices 1977-79. Special political interests: EU (anti-EU), accountancy, economics, fishing, industry, employment, media, legal reform, electoral and constitutional reform, consumer affairs. Profession/Trade: Journalist, broadcaster; Fellow of Nuffield College, Oxford 1967-69; worked on BBC-s Midweek and 24 Hours and Yorkshire Television-s Calendar programmes; Presenter, Target on Sky News 1989-98. Education: Bingley Grammar School; University of Manchester, MA History; Oxford University, DPhil. Languages spoken: French. Affiliations: Member, NUJ; GMB; Executive Committee Member, Fabian Society; Fellow of the Industry and Parliament Trust; Vice-Chair, Labour Campaign for Electoral Reform; Senior Associate Editor, House magazine; Chair, Labour Economic Policy Group; Chair, Labour Euro-Safeguard Campaign. Author of: Westminster Man; The Case for Labour; Competitive Socialism; Accounting for Change; Britain: Beyond the Blue Horizon; Election -45; Last Time: Labour-s Lessons from the Sixties; Fishermen: The Rise and Fall of Deep Water Trawling; Parliament in Pictures; Farewell My Lords. Hobbies: Cycling, photography. b. 19 September 1934. Married with two children.