Joel Barnett, Baron Barnett, (14 October 1923 – 1 November 2014) was a Labour Party politician. As

Chief Secretary to the Treasury The Chief Secretary to the Treasury is a senior ministerial office in the government of the United Kingdom and is the second most senior ministerial office in HM Treasury, after the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The office holder is always a full ...

in the late 1970s, he devised the Barnett Formula that allocates public spending in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.Lord Barnett, creator of formula for UK spending allocations, dies
BBC News, 3 November 2014

Career

Barnett was born in

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

, the son of Jewish tailor Louis and wife Ettie, and was educated at Badkindt Hebrew School and Manchester Central High School."Lord Barnett – obituary"
''The Telegraph'', 3 November 2014 He worked as an accountant. He was elected a councillor on Prestwich Borough Council 1956-1959 and was treasurer of

Fabian Society The Fabian Society () is a History of the socialist movement in the United Kingdom, British socialist organisation whose purpose is to advance the principles of social democracy and democratic socialism via gradualist and reformist effort in ...

. Barnett stood in

Runcorn Runcorn is an industrial town and Runcorn Docks, cargo port in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England. Runcorn is on the south bank of the River Mersey, where the estuary narrows to form the Runcorn Gap. It is upstream from the port of Live ...

1959 Events January * January 1 – Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 – Soviet lunar probe Luna 1 is the first human-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reaches the ...

without success. He was elected member of parliament for Heywood and Royton in

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 – In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patria ...

. He was a member of the

Public Accounts Committee A public accounts committee (PAC) is a committee within a legislature whose role is to study public audits, invite ministers, permanent secretaries or other ministry officials to the committee for questioning, and report on their findings subseque ...

from January 1966. Barnett served as

from 1974 to 1979, gaining a seat in the cabinet from 1977 onwards, and was

Denis Healey Denis Winston Healey, Baron Healey (30 August 1917 – 3 October 2015) was a British Labour Party politician who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1974 to 1979 and as Secretary of State for Defence from 1964 to 1970; he remains the lo ...

's right-hand man in the Callaghan Government. During this time he oversaw the devising of what is known as the Barnett Formula by which public spending is apportioned between England,

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

, and

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

. He subsequently joked about the strange and unexpected form of immortality that was accorded to him by "having his own formula". Following the

Scotland Act 1998 The Scotland Act 1998 (c. 46) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which legislated for the establishment of the devolved Scottish Parliament with tax varying powers and the Scottish Government (then Scottish Executive). It was o ...

and devolution, he argued that the Formula was unfair to England and should be abandoned or revised. He reiterated this view in 2014 shortly before the Scottish independence referendum, calling the Formula unsustainable and saying it had become an embarrassment. Barnett held the Chairmanship of the

from 1979 to 1983. He published a memoir ''Inside the Treasury'' in 1982, describing his experience as chief secretary.Lord Barnett obituary
''The Guardian'', 3 November 2014 Barnett's Commons seat having been abolished by boundary changes, he was created 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 ...

as Baron Barnett, ''of Heywood and

Royton Royton is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, with a population of 21,284 in 2011. Close to the source of the River Irk, near undulating land at the foothills of the South Pennines, it is northwest of Ol ...

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Derbyshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Cheshire to the south, and Merseyside to the west. Its largest settlement is the city of Manchester. ...

'' on 30 September 1983. He served on select committees in the House of Lords including the European Union Committee, the Economic Affairs Committee and the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England. He was appointed vice-chairman of the Board of Governors of the BBC by Conservative Prime Minister

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...

in 1986 and held the post until 1993, during which period he partook in the private meeting when Chairman Marmaduke Hussey told Director-General

Alasdair Milne Alasdair David Gordon Milne (8 October 19308 January 2013) was a British television producer and executive. He had a long career at the BBC, where he was eventually promoted to Director-General, and was described by ''The Independent'' as "one ...

he would have to leave the BBC.DG: The Memoirs of a British Broadcaster. p. 201. He died on 1 November 2014, aged 91.

References

External links

* * , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Barnett, Joel 1923 births 2014 deaths BBC governors Councillors in Greater Manchester Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Labour Party (UK) life peers Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom People educated at the Central Grammar School for Boys Politics of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham Politics of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale UK MPs 1964–1966 UK MPs 1966–1970 UK MPs 1970–1974 UK MPs 1974 UK MPs 1974–1979 UK MPs 1979–1983 Jewish English politicians Chief Secretaries to the Treasury Life peers created by Elizabeth II