Joseph David Irvin is an ex-charity leader who until 2020 was the chief executive of

Living Streets A living street is a street designed with the interests of pedestrians and cyclists in mind by providing enriching and experiential spaces. Living streets also act as social spaces, allowing children to play and encouraging social interactions ...

, the UK charity that campaigns for pedestrians. He started his career as policy officer for the

Trades Union Congress The Trades Union Congress (TUC) is a national trade union centre A national trade union center (or national center or central) is a federation or confederation of trade unions in a country. Nearly every country in the world has a national tra ...

before moving onto various roles including Director of Education and Research at the

Transport and General Workers' Union The Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU or T&G) was one of the largest general trade unions in the United Kingdom and Ireland – where it was known as the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers' Union (ATGWU) to differentiate its ...

. He has in the past served as Director of Parliamentary Affairs for the RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) and Director of Public Affairs for BAA In 1997 he moved into the political arena as special advisor to Deputy Prime Minister

John Prescott John Leslie Prescott, Baron Prescott (born 31 May 1938) is a British politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and as First Secretary of State from 2001 to 2007. A member of the Labour Party, he w ...

and eventually went on to replace

John McTernan John McTernan (born 1959) is a British political strategist and commentator. He has been a political adviser to the Labour Party. McTernan was Prime Minister Tony Blair's Director of Political Operations from 2005 to 2007. He then worked on ...

as Political Secretary to

Gordon Brown James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. He previously served as Chance ...

during his term as

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet and selects its ministers. As modern pr ...

. After leaving politics in 2012 he became CEO of the

National Association for Voluntary and Community Action __NOTOC__ NAVCA (the National Association for Voluntary and Community Action) is the national membership body for local support and development organisations in England. It is a registered charity (1001635), based in Sheffield, and was previously ...

. Irvin was appointed

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(OBE) in the

2020 New Year Honours The 2020 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebration ...

for services to active travel and charities.

Personal life

He is married to

Diana Holland Diana Holland is a British trade unionist who is the Assistant General Secretary of Unite and the Treasurer of the Labour Party. Holland was awarded the OBE in the 2001 New Year Honours, for "services to Equal Opportunities in Employment". Tr ...

, Assistant General Secretary of

Unite trade union Unite the Union, commonly known as Unite, is a British and Irish trade union which was formed on 1 May 2007 by the merger of Amicus and the Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU). Unite is the second largest trade union in the UK (after ...

and Treasurer of the Labour Party.

References

Living people Labour Party (UK) politicians Labour Party (UK) officials Year of birth missing (living people) Officers of the Order of the British Empire {{UK-politician-stub