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(Peter) Neil Fletcher (born 5 May 1944) was a Labour politician and the last Leader of the Inner London Education Authority before its abolition.


Early life

Fletcher was born in
Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...
and attended Wyggeston Grammar School for Boys. He trained to be a teacher and taught in schools in Leeds for two years before becoming a Lecturer in further education in
Harrow Harrow may refer to: Places * Harrow, Victoria, Australia * Harrow, Ontario, Canada * The Harrow, County Wexford, a village in Ireland * London Borough of Harrow, England ** Harrow, London, a town in London ** Harrow (UK Parliament constituency) ...
and Merton in the early 1970s. He was active in his trade union and was appointed as Principal Administration Officer for NALGO in 1976.


London government

Fletcher was elected to Camden London Borough Council in 1978 for the Kilburn ward along with
Ken Livingstone Kenneth Robert Livingstone (born 17 June 1945) is an English politician who served as the Leader of the Greater London Council (GLC) from 1981 until the council was abolished in 1986, and as Mayor of London from the creation of the office i ...
who he became allied to in Labour politics. He served as Deputy Leader of the Council from 1982 to 1984. From 1979 he was chosen as Camden's delegate to the Inner London Education Authority. When the left took over in 1981 he became Chairman of the Further and Higher Education Sub-Committee of ILEA after failing to win the Deputy Leadership.


Leadership

When ILEA was turned into a directly elected body in 1986, Fletcher stood down from Camden and was elected as ILEA member for
Holborn and St. Pancras Holborn and St Pancras () is a List of United Kingdom Parliament constituencies, parliamentary constituency in Greater London that was created in 1983. It has been represented in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons of ...
. In 1987 Fletcher challenged
Frances Morrell Frances Morrell (''née'' Frances Maine Galleway; 28 December 1937 – 10 January 2010) was a British Labour politician who led the Inner London Education Authority from 1983 until 1987. Life Frances Morrell was brought up in York, and educa ...
who had become unpopular with the teaching unions over staffing issues, and defeated her for the leadership by 23 votes to 22. His leadership was seen as being to the left of Mrs Morrell's, but was dominated by the fight to stop ILEA's abolition. By 1987, abolition was being openly advocated by many leading Conservatives to the appreciative ears of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Eventually, backbench Conservative MPs forced the issue by putting down an amendment to get rid of ILEA, and the government announced that it would go before the next elections (scheduled for 1990). The defence of ILEA followed the same track as had been followed, unsuccessfully, in the defence of the GLC. A postal ballot of parents of ILEA school children in April 1988 found 95% opposed to abolition. The House of Lords were lobbied, but without success. With the government having little difficulty in seeing abolition of ILEA passed into law, it ceased to exist on 1 April 1990.


Later posts

In 1991 Fletcher accepted a promotion at NALGO to be Education Officer. Later in the 1990s he became Head of Education Policy for the
Local Government Association The Local Government Association (LGA) is the national membership body for local authorities. Its core membership is made up of 339 English councils and the 22 Welsh councils through the Welsh Local Government Association.   The LGA is p ...
.Whatever happened to ILEA's last leader?
TES article, 2 October 1998, accessed 13 December 2010


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fletcher, Neil 1944 births Trade unionists from Lancashire Councillors in the London Borough of Camden Labour Party (UK) councillors Living people People educated at Wyggeston Grammar School for Boys People from Blackpool