Bruce Joseph Grocott, Baron Grocott (born 1 November 1940) is a British politician who has been a Member of the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

since 2001. A member of the Labour Party, he served as a Member of Parliament for four terms between 1974 and 2001, representing constituencies in

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...

and

Shropshire Shropshire (; abbreviated SalopAlso used officially as the name of the county from 1974–1980. The demonym for inhabitants of the county "Salopian" derives from this name.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West M ...

Early life

Grocott was born in Kings Langley near

Watford Watford () is a town and non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of Central London, on the banks of the River Colne, Hertfordshire, River Colne. Initially a smal ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

. He received a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

in Politics from the

University of Leicester The University of Leicester ( ) is a public university, public research university based in Leicester, England. The main campus is south of the city centre, adjacent to Victoria Park, Leicester, Victoria Park. The university's predecessor, Univ ...

in 1962. Grocott later obtained a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

from the

University of Manchester The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...

for research into Local Government. He was appointed to the post of lecturer, and later a senior lecturer, at the City of Birmingham College of Commerce (later Birmingham Polytechnic, now

Birmingham City University Birmingham City University (abbrev. BCU) is a university in Birmingham, England. Initially established as the Birmingham College of Art with roots dating back to 1843, it was designated as a polytechnic (United Kingdom), polytechnic in 1971 an ...

). During this time he was elected to Bromsgrove Urban District Council. From 1972 to 1974 he was a principal lecturer at North Staffordshire Polytechnic.

House of Commons

His first attempt to become a member of Parliament was in the 1970 election when he stood unsuccessfully for South West Hertfordshire. He was then selected as a candidate and elected as Member of Parliament for Lichfield and Tamworth in October 1974, in which position he became Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Minister for Local Government and Planning, and later the Minister of Agriculture. He lost his seat at the 1979 general election and joined Central Television as a presenter and producer, working on programmes such as ''Left, Right and Centre'', ''Central Lobby'' and ''Central Weekend''. He was re-elected for The Wrekin in 1987 and he was very shortly thereafter appointed Deputy Shadow Leader of the House to Jack Cunningham before becoming advisor to the Leader of the Opposition,

Neil Kinnock Neil Gordon Kinnock, Baron Kinnock (born 28 March 1942) is a Welsh politician who was Leader of the Opposition (United Kingdom), Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1983 Labour Party le ...

and, later, a Foreign Affairs Spokesman under John Smith. He served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He was Leader ...

, first as

Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the Opposition (parliamentary), largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the ...

and then

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

, from 1994 until 2001. He transferred to

Telford Telford () is a town in the Telford and Wrekin borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in Shropshire, England. The wider borough covers the town, its suburbs and surrounding towns and villages. The town is close to the county's eastern b ...

in 1997 when The Wrekin was divided. He served this seat until the 2001 general election, when he stepped down from the Commons.

House of Lords

He was made a

life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. Life peers are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister. With the exception of the D ...

under the title of Baron Grocott, of Telford, in the County of

, on 2 July 2001, quickly being promoted to a government whip in the

. From 2002 to 2008 he was the Government

Chief Whip The Chief Whip is a political leader whose task is to enforce the whipping system, which aims to ensure that legislators who are members of a political party attend and vote on legislation as the party leadership prescribes. United Kingdom I ...

in the House of Lords as well as Captain of the Gentlemen-at-Arms, the honorary post usually held by the Chief Whip. As the Chief Whip, he was sworn of the Privy Council in 2002. He has promoted further reform of the Lords, including attempts to abolish by-elections for hereditary peers. In October 2012 it was announced that Lord Grocott had been elected as the next

chancellor Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...

of the University of Leicester, the first time in the university's history that a former student had been appointed to the post. He was installed as chancellor at the degree ceremony in DeMontfort Hall on 24 January 2013. His term finished in July 2018 and he was replaced by Lord Willetts.

Personal life

Grocott is married with two sons and lives in

Notes

References

External links

Short interview
giving his views on House of Lords reform * * * , - , - , - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Grocott, Bruce Grocott, Baron 1940 births Living people Academics of Birmingham City University Academics of Staffordshire University Alumni of the University of Leicester Alumni of the University of Manchester British television presenters Honourable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms Labour Party (UK) life peers Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for constituencies in Shropshire Parliamentary private secretaries to the prime minister UK MPs 1974–1979 UK MPs 1987–1992 UK MPs 1992–1997 UK MPs 1997–2001 Life peers created by Elizabeth II New Labour