Tony was born in Stretford in 1950 and attended local schools in Stretford and Old Trafford before studying Mathematics at the University of Nottingham and Business Administration at Manchester Business School. He taught at Salford University in the Department of Business and in 1979 Tony was elected to Trafford Council where he served until 1984, and was sometime Deputy Leader of the Labour Group.
Tony was elected to Parliament in 1983 for the Stretford constituency and following significant boundary changes in 1997, represented Manchester Central until he stood down on 22 October 2012 to contest the Police and Crime Commissioner election.
In June 2015, Tony was appointed interim Mayor of Greater Manchester.
