A journalist by profession, Cryer was educated at Oakbank School, Keighley, Hatfield Polytechnic, and the London College of Printing.

[2] He has worked for Tribune, the Morning Star, the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (ASLEF), and the Transport and General Workers' Union (now Unite).

[3][4] Cryer describes himself as a Eurosceptic, and was one of only a small number of Labour MPs who campaigned and voted for the UK to leave the European Union in the 2016 referendum.

[7] Cryer was one of 16 signatories of an open letter to Ed Miliband in January 2015 calling on the party to commit to oppose further austerity, take rail franchises back into public ownership and strengthen collective bargaining arrangements.

[11] After being nominated in the 2024 Dissolution Honours, he was created Baron Cryer, of Leyton in the London Borough of Waltham Forest, on 15 August 2024.