Lawrence Sawyer, Baron Sawyer (born 12 May 1943), known as Tom Sawyer, is a British trade unionist and Labour Party politician. He was General Secretary of the Labour Party from 1994 to 1998.

Early life

Sawyer was educated at Dodmire School, Eastbourne Comprehensive School and Darlington Technical College.

Career

Trade unions

Aged fifteen, Sawyer went to work on the factory floor of a Durham engineering works. He became a National Union of Public Employees (NUPE) Officer in 1971, becoming their Northern Regional Officer in 1975. In 1981, he was made Deputy General Secretary of NUPE and served through its merger to become

UNISON Unison (stylised as UNISON) is a Great Britain, British trade union. Along with Unite the Union, Unite, Unison is one of the two largest trade unions in the United Kingdom, with over 1.2 million members who work predominantly in public servic ...

until 1994.

The Labour Party

In his NUPE role he served as a National Executive Committee Member of the Labour Party between 1981 and 1994 and was elected to serve as its Chair from 1990 to 1991. In 1994, Sawyer became General Secretary of the Labour Party and led the Party successfully into the 1997 General Election. He was a moderniser who helped bring about the

New Labour New Labour is the political philosophy that dominated the history of the British Labour Party from the mid-late 1990s to 2010 under the leadership of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. The term originated in a conference slogan first used by the ...

era. He stood down at the 1998 Party Conference and 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 Sawyer, of

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. It lies on the River Skerne, west of Middlesbrough and south of Durham. Darlington had a population of 107,800 at the 2021 Census, making it a "large town" ...

in the

County of Durham County Durham, officially simply Durham, is a ceremonial county in North East England.UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. The county borders Northumberland and Tyne an ...

on 4 August 1998. He is now a director of several companies and public sector bodies. The Labour History Archive and Study Centre at the

People's History Museum The People's History Museum (the National Museum of Labour History until 2001) in Manchester, England, is the United Kingdom's national centre for the collection, conservation, interpretation and study of material relating to the history of wor ...

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 ...

holds the papers of Sawyer, which range from 1985 to 1998.

Other Positions

In 2005, Lord Sawyer became the

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 Teesside, replacing former

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

MP and member of the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

, Leon Brittan. Sawyer served in this role until 2017. Sawyer has been a life-long admire of William Morris, the socialist writer and craftsman and in 2018 Sawyer began a five year term of office as President of the William Morris Society.

References

External links

Announcement of his introduction at the House of Lords
House of Lords minutes of proceedings, 14 October 1998 {{DEFAULTSORT:Sawyer, Tom Baron Sawyer Sawyer, Tom Sawyer, Tom Sawyer Baron Sawyer, Tom Sawyer, Tom Sawyer, Tom Chairs of the Labour Party (UK) Life peers created by Elizabeth II