About the Author

Jack Straw was born in Buckhurst Hill in 1946. Brought up in Loughton, he studied law at Leeds University and practised at the bar before becoming an MP in 1979. He served as Home Secretary, Foreign Secretary and Leader of the House of Commons during Tony Blair’s premiership and Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor under Gordon Brown. Married with two children, he lives in London and his Blackburn constituency.