Ian Austin
Ian Christopher Austin (born 8 March 1965) is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Dudley North since 2005. He was Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Communities and Local Government from 2009 to 2010.
Political Career
Austin was selected as the Labour candidate for Dudley North at the 2005 general election. Following the election of Gordon Brown as Prime Minister he was appointed a Parliamentary Private Secretary to Gordon Brown with a special provision to attend cabinet. He was moved to a new position in the 2008 reshuffle, becoming an Assistant Whip for the Government. In the June 2009 reshuffle he entered Government as a minister for the first time, becoming Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Communities and Local Government and Minister for the West Midlands.
Education
Austin was born on 8 March 1965 and brought up in Dudley. Having failed the eleven-plus to attend King Edward's School, Birmingham, he was educated at The Dudley School from 1977 to 1983. He went on to study at the University of Essex at Colchester from 1983 to 1986.
