George Lennox ("Len") Fyfe, Baron Fyfe of Fairfield (10 April 1941 – 1 February 2011) was a British politician and

life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. In modern times, life peerages, always created at the rank of baron, are created under the Life Peerages ...

who sat as a

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

member of the House of Lords. Fyfe was born at

Sauchie Sauchie is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. It lies north of the River Forth and south of the Ochil Hills, within the council area of Clackmannanshire. Sauchie has a population of around 6000 and is located northeast of Alloa and e ...

Clackmannanshire Clackmannanshire (; sco, Clackmannanshire; gd, Siorrachd Chlach Mhannainn) is a historic county, council area, registration county and Lieutenancy area in Scotland, bordering the council areas of Stirling, Fife, and Perth & Kinross and the hi ...

, the son of George Lennox Fyfe and Elizabeth Struthers Fyfe. He was educated at Alloa Academy and

Co-operative College Co-operative College is a British educational charity dedicated to the promotion of co-operative values, ideas and principles within co-operatives, communities and society. Origins and development The Co-operative College was established in 1919 ...

, Loughborough. Fyfe made his career in the

Co-operative movement The history of the cooperative movement concerns the origins and history of cooperatives across the world. Although cooperative arrangements, such as mutual insurance, and principles of cooperation existed long before, the cooperative movement bega ...

, initially in Scotland; he was general manager of the Kirriemuir Co-operative Society from 1966 to 1968, and regional manager of the Scottish Co-operative Society from 1968 to 1972. He was group general manager of the

Co-operative Wholesale Society A co-operative wholesale society, or CWS, is a form of co-operative federation (that is, a co-operative in which all the members are co-operatives), in this case, the members are usually consumer cooperatives. According to co-operative economi ...

from 1972 to 1975. He served as Chief Executive of the Leicestershire Co-operative Society from 1975 to 1995, and, following a merger, held the same position at the

Midlands Co-operative Society Midlands Co-operative Society Limited was the second largest consumer co-operative in the United Kingdom. It was a registered Industrial and Provident Society, a member of the Co-operative Union, the Co-operative Retail Trading Group and a corpo ...

until 2000. He was a member of the East Midlands Economic Planning Council from 1976 to 1979. Fyfe served variously as director, deputy chairman or chairman of many co-operative businesses from the early 1980s onwards, including Shoefayre, Co-operative Wholesale Society,

Co-operative Insurance Society Co-op Insurance is the trading name of CIS General Insurance, a general insurance company, which is part of the Co-operative Group, based in Manchester, United Kingdom. Co-op Insurance Services, an insurance intermediary incorporated in 2017, is ...

The Co-operative Bank The Co-operative Bank plc is a retail and commercial bank in the United Kingdom, with its headquarters in Balloon Street, Manchester. The Co-operative Bank is the only UK high street bank with a customer-led Ethical Policy which is incorporat ...

and

Unity Trust Bank Unity Trust Bank plc provides specialist banking services to trade unions, charities and other organisations that operate in the not-for-profit sector in the United Kingdom and, since December 2015, its remit has expanded to include profit-with-pu ...

. He was also a member of the central committee of the

International Co-operative Alliance The International Co-operative Alliance (ICA) is a non-governmental co-operative federation or, more precisely, a co-operative union representing co-operatives and the co-operative movement worldwide. It was founded in 1895 to unite, represent an ...

and served as president of the Co-operative Congress in 2001. He was created a

on 16 May 2000 as Baron Fyfe of Fairfield, of

. In the House of Lords he was a member of the

European Union Committee The European Union Committee is a select committee of the House of Lords in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Its terms of reference are "To consider European Union documents and other matters relating to the European Union", as well as "to ...

, sitting on sub-committees on Environment, Agriculture, Public Health and Consumer Protection until 2003, and on the Internal Market from 2005 until his death. Fyfe served as a

Justice of the Peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

for

Perthshire Perthshire (locally: ; gd, Siorrachd Pheairt), officially the County of Perth, is a historic county and registration county in central Scotland. Geographically it extends from Strathmore in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the north, ...

from 1972 to 1975. He was also director of Central Television from 1983 to 1992, and a member of the court of

Leicester University , mottoeng = So that they may have life , established = , type = public research university , endowment = £20.0 million , budget = £326 million , chancellor = David Willetts , vice_chancellor = Nishan Canagarajah , head_labe ...

. Lennox Fyfe married Ann Clark in 1965; she died in 1999. The couple had a son (deceased) and a daughter.

References

Sources

parliament.uk
* http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/people/mr-george-fyfe * * https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200506/ldjournal/239/074.htm *Who's Who 2011 {{DEFAULTSORT:Fyfe of Fairfield, Lennox Fyfe, Baron Labour Party (UK) life peers 1941 births 2011 deaths Scottish Labour politicians People from Clackmannanshire People educated at Alloa Academy 20th-century Scottish businesspeople Life peers created by Elizabeth II