Mark Nigel Thomas Vaughan Fisher (29 October 1944 – 16 November 2025) was a British Labour Party politician. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Stoke-on-Trent Central from 1983 to 2010 and Minister for the Arts between 1997 and 1998.

Early life

Mark Fisher was the son of Sir Nigel Fisher (1913–1996), the Conservative MP for first Hitchin and later Surbiton, and Lady Gloria Vaughan, daughter of the 7th Earl of Lisburne. He was the stepson of Ulster Unionist MP Patricia Ford, and the brother-in-law of Conservative MP Sir Michael Grylls and uncle of explorer Bear Grylls.

Following the retirement of Tam Dalyell in 2005, Fisher became the only Labour MP to have been educated at Eton College. He read English literature at Trinity College, Cambridge. After completing his education in 1966, he became a film producer and screenwriter, but in 1975 Fisher became the principal of the Tattenhall Centre of Education in Cheshire, where he remained until his election to Westminster.

Before leaving university, Fisher had numerous low-paying jobs, including: working in a Cyril Lord carpet factory in Northern Ireland, as a waiter, as a kitchen porter, as a caddie on a golf course, insulating roofs, on a travelling fairground and as a folk singer and guitarist.|align=right|width=50%

Following the Labour victory at the 1997 general Election, new prime minister Tony Blair appointed Fisher as the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. During his time as Minister of the Arts, he became the first UK Government minister to address a major outdoor rock music festival when he gave a brief speech before a set by the Smashing Pumpkins at the 1997 Glastonbury Festival. He rebelled against the government by voting against the party whip on the Competition Act 1998, and was later sacked in Blair's first cabinet reshuffle in 1998, after which Fisher returned to the backbenches.

He served as the Patron for the National Benevolent Fund for the Aged from 1986, and was a member of the BBC General Advisory Council from 1987 until 1997. He also served as a council member of the Institute for Policy Studies from 1985 until 1995, and was the deputy Pro-Chancellor of Keele University from 1989 until his entry to government in 1997. In 2000, he was a visiting fellow at St Antony's College, Oxford.

In June 2009, Fisher called on Prime Minister Gordon Brown to resign. In the expenses scandal, Fisher claimed more than £17,000, none of which he was required to pay back. The bulk of this sum was spent on mortgage and utility payments on his second home. Some of his more bizarre expenses claims include a 34-pence Kit Kat bar, a bottle of Toilet Duck and a pack of chunky crayons and face-painting kit.

On 10 March 2010, Fisher announced that he would stand down as an MP due to health concerns, citing hydrocephalus. He was succeeded as MP for Stoke-on-Trent Central by Tristram Hunt, who was also educated at Trinity College, Cambridge.

Political views

On 31 October 2006, Fisher was one of 12 Labour MPs to back Plaid Cymru and the Scottish National Party's call for an inquiry into the Iraq War.

He opposed foundation hospitals and the Trident system, voting against these issues in the House of Commons. He also opposed the 42-day detention without charge policy and the 10p tax.

Personal life and death

In 1971, Fisher married Ingrid Geech Hunt, with whom he had two children, Rhydian Fisher and the actress India Fisher, and he also became the stepfather of Hunt's two children by her previous marriage, the musician Crispin Hunt (whose time as frontman of Britpop band Longpigs coincided with Fisher's tenure as Minister of Arts)

Fisher lived in the Stoke-on-Trent district of Hartshill since first running for Parliament.

Fisher's 2004 book Britain's Best Museums and Galleries listed what were, in his opinion, the 350 best museums in the country.

In October 2009, it was revealed that Fisher received an annual fee of £67,000 from the Doha-based Qatar Museums Authority for providing "advice on the development of the museums authority's plans" and attending three board meetings a year. <!-- (not listed as trustee) It is unknown if he is still part of the Qatar Museums Authority's board of trustees, but the authority's website does not mention his name in the list of members.-->

Fisher died on 16 November 2025, at the age of 81.

Bibliography

  • 1974: Brave New Town (play)
  • 1988: City Centres, City Cultures
  • 1990: The Cutting Room (play)
  • 1991: Whose Cities? (with Ursula Owen), Penguin Books
  • 1992: A New London (with Richard Rogers), Penguin Books;
  • 2004: Britain's Best Museums and Galleries, Allen Lane;

References

  • Voting Record publicwhip.org.uk
  • Profile at theyworkforyou.com