Derek Hatton: The militant lefty who made a million

Derek Hatton put aside his political battles and leapt at the chance to make a fortune from designing websites.

In June 1986, Derek Hatton, then an MP famous for his battles with Margaret Thatcher and even his own party leader, Neil Kinnock, was expelled from the Labour Party and decided to leave politics. His fame landed him some well-paid radio gigs on Talk Radio, some stints as a TV presenter and male model, and he also did some public relations work. "I was earning good money. In those days the radio shows were paying around £200,000 a year." But in 1999, Degsy' had his biggest career change.

"My son, Ben, had just come back from university in America and really wanted to set up a company designing corporate websites. Over there he'd seen how good websites could make money for companies, while over here a lot of people still hadn't cottoned on." The pair decided to go into business together.

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James McKeigue

James graduated from Keele University with a BA (Hons) in English literature and history, and has a certificate in journalism from the NCTJ. James has worked as a freelance journalist in various Latin American countries.He also had a spell at ITV, as welll as wring for Television Business International and covering the European equity markets for the Forbes.com London bureau. James has travelled extensively in emerging markets, reporting for international energy magazines such as Oil and Gas Investor, and institutional publications such as the Commonwealth Business Environment Report. He is currently the managing editor of LatAm INVESTOR, the UK's only Latin American finance magazine.