Stephen John Byers (born 13 April 1953) is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Wallsend between 1992 and 1997, and North Tyneside from 1997 to 2010.

[1] In the 1983 general election, he contested the Conservative stronghold seat of Hexham, finishing in third place and some 14,000 votes behind the former Cabinet minister Geoffrey Rippon.

He became a spokesman for the Department for Education and Employment in 1995, and he identified himself as an "outrider" for the New Labour project,[1] regularly floating radical ideas on Blair's behalf to test reaction.

While in this post, Byers drew attention to himself in a BBC interview promoting a Government numeracy drive, when he mistakenly said 8 times 7 was 54.

Byers, as Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, advocated the 2000 deal with the Phoenix Consortium instead of the bid from Alchemy Partners, a successful turnaround private equity investor that would have slimmed down the business.

[3] Although this deal prolonged the existence of the group by five years, it ultimately collapsed at extensive cost to the British tax payers while giving large profits from a dowry given by the seller BMW to the Phoenix Consortium.

[6] Byers' decision angered those private investors who had lost money, and under pressure from The City, the government eventually had to offer compensation.

Later on, however, Sixsmith stated that he had not agreed to go, but rather that Byers had insisted on the head of news' departure as his price to pay for losing Moore.

This suggestion was widely criticised by many MPs, who claimed that the publicity surrounding Byers' plan would "frighten constituents in the high-priced south into believing they would have to pay death duties, when most won't".

He was shown describing himself as a "cab for hire" and offering to lobby his parliamentary contacts in support of the fictitious company for a financial payment of between £3,000 and £5,000 per day.

He later withdrew his name for consideration by the fictitious lobbying company via email, claiming he had over-stated his role, writing, "I have not spoken to Andrew Adonis or Peter Mandelson about the matters I mentioned".

On 22 March 2010, Byers' administrative suspension from the membership of the Parliamentary Labour Party was announced alongside those of Patricia Hewitt, Geoff Hoon and Margaret Moran.