Preceded by Fred Blackburn Role Politician Nationality British Party Labour Party | Political party Labour Succeeded by James Purnell Name Tom Baron | |
Born 10 June 1934 (age 89)
Broadstairs, Kent, England ( 1934-06-10 ) | ||
Thomas Pendry, Baron Pendry, PC (born 10 June 1934) is a Labour politician and member of the House of Lords. He was previously the Labour member of parliament for Stalybridge and Hyde from 1970 to 2001. In 2000, prior to his retirement as an MP he was made a member of the Privy Council on the recommendation of Tony Blair. After the 2001 election he was elevated to the peerage on 4 July as Baron Pendry, of Stalybridge in the County of Greater Manchester under the Life Peerages Act 1958. President of the Football Foundation Ltd and Sports Advisor to Tameside District Council Sports Trust.
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Early life
In an article in Cheshire Life magazine in June 2004, Pendry revealed that he was born in relatively comfortable circumstances in Broadstairs, Kent, attending school at St Augustine's Abbey. He worked as a trade union officer NUPE and engineer before being elected to Parliament in 1970. He served as an opposition whip between 1971 and 1974.
Callaghan government
In Callaghan's administration between 1976 and 1979 Pendry served as a junior Lord Commissioner of the Treasury (assistant government whip) and subsequently as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.
Opposition
In 1979 he returned to the backbenches until he was appointed to the post of Shadow Minister for Sport and Tourism by Rt. Hon. John Smith, MP, a position he held until 1997. When the Labour government came to power in 1997, Pendry was the only member of the shadow team not to be appointed to a government post.
Honours
In 1995 the Labour controlled Tameside metropolitan borough council, the local authority which had administered the area covered by the Stalybridge and Hyde constituency since 1974, made Pendry an honorary Freeman of the borough. At the same time, the council granted him the Lordship of the Manor of Mottram in Longdendale. Tameside Council have named part of Trinity Street in front of the old Stalybridge market hall, Lord Pendry Square. Stalybridge Celtic have named one of their stands The Lord Tom Pendry Stand.
He was awarded the Freedom of the Borough of Tameside on 21 July 1995.
Sport
Lord Pendry has a love of sport that he developed during national service with the Royal Air Force. He was appointed the President of the Football Foundation in February 2003 and he continues to serve in this position. A young Pendry learnt boxing at the hands of a Benedictine monk and became an Oxford Blue and boxed for the RAF.