John Dormand, Baron Dormand of Easington

John Donkin Dormand, Baron Dormand of Easington (born August 27, 1919 in Haswell , County Durham , † December 18, 2003 in Peterborough , Cambridgeshire ), known as Jack Dormand , was a British educator and politician of the Labor Party . He was from the Easington coal-mining area in County Durham in north east England and was a Member of Parliament for the Easington constituency from 1970 until he retired in 1987.

Dormand has been described as an "old school center-right socialist". A working-class child, he made it through high school to study at Oxford and Harvard and a career as a school principal before moving into Parliament at the age of 50 , where he stood out as an advocate for education and the mining grounds. Although he never reached a ministerial office, he played an important role as a skilful administrative officer in the 1970s as a whip (roughly the function of a parliamentary director) of the then ruling Labor Party and in the 1980s as group leader of his now in opposition party. He was an atheist and a staunch Republican. Reluctantly, he accepted his life peer elevation when he retired from the House of Commons , and then worked as a dedicated peer until his death 16 years later.

Early life

Dormand was born near Easington in the Haswell Village Workers' Club, where his father Bernard, a former miner, was an overseer. He attended Wellfield Grammar School in the area . Although he later played rugby , he was a very good footballer in his youth , so he was able to complete trial training at Manchester United and Charlton Athletic . Sport played an important role throughout his life. He remained a member of the Houghton-le-Spring Rugby Club and Burnmoor Cricket Club until his death and played both sports up to the age of 63.

After training as a teacher at Bede College, University of Durham , Dormand was not called up for military service during World War II because the teaching profession meant an indispensable position. After the war he improved his qualifications by obtaining the Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) at Loughborough College in 1947 . In the 1950s he studied at St Peter's College of the University of Oxford . He obtained a diploma in public and social administration with honors and won a Fulbright scholarship to Harvard University in his sophomore year (1954) , becoming a friend of the future US Senator Edward Kennedy .

From 1940 to 1948 Dormand worked as a teacher in the Easington Mining Community, teaching at the Hordern Modern School as well as at his old school, now called the Wellfield AJ Dawson Grammar School . In 1948 he gave up teaching and accepted a position as an educational advisor to the County Council of Durham and then in 1957 as an advisor to the National Coal Board (NCB). He held the latter post for only two years and then returned to Durham to serve as an adult education provider. 1963-70 he held the position of director of education for the Easington Rural District Council . He was also President of the Easington Area Branch of the English Teachers' Union .

Political career

Dormand joined the Labor Party at the age of 18. He was elected to the Haswell community council at the age of 26 and to the Easington Rural District Council at the age of 30 .

Emanuel Shinwell , the then 85-year-old Labor MP for the Easington constituency, announced in 1969 that he would not run in the next general election. Dormand, who served as secretary of the Easingtons Constituency Labor Party throughout the 1960s and was considered Shinwell's alleged successor, was put up as the new Labor candidate for the virtually completely safe seat in Parliament. (Shinwell was re-elected in 1966 with over 80% of the vote.) In the general election of June 1970 , which Harold Wilson's Labor government lost, Dormand was able to enter the House of Commons with a vote of 79.8% .

education

Dormand's inaugural address on July 8, 1970, focused on the topic of education, the needs of Durham as an "exceptional area" and especially the people classified as "slow learners". This speech was well received and then Education Minister Margaret Thatcher made her own notes. The newly elected MP advocated comprehensive education and in July 1973 he called for the abolition of private schools, particularly attacking those Labor MPs who gave their children private schooling.

Dormand rejected Great Britain's membership in the European Economic Community (EEC) and at the time of the referendum held in June 1975 on this membership for a withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the EEC and its re-entry into the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). His main work in the opposition was as a member of the special committee dealing with nationalized industry. His demonstrated knowledge and inquisitorial skills earned him the respect of the left-wing MP Ian Mikardo, who sits on the committee . In February 1972 he asked for jobs for laid-off miners. In 1973 he became secretary of the Northern Group of the Labor Group.

Republicanism

Dormand later described himself as a "Republican for as long as I can remember having been interested in politics," and he was a veteran secretary of the bipartisan republican parliamentary group. As an opponent of the monarchy , he stated in 1971 that “the entire royal establishment from the queen down could completely disappear tomorrow”. In February 1973 he extended his criticism to the hereditary barony . In 1974, Dormand and Labor MP Willie Hamilton took the mandatory oath of allegiance to the Queen, but then admitted they hadn't meant it. In the same year Dormand reprimanded the number of court servants who were listed on the semi-annual lists of proposals for medals; instead he demanded that miners should also be honored because they were also sufficiently worthy of it.

Whip the Labor Party as the ruling party

The Labor Party came back to government in the February 1974 general election and Dormand was appointed Deputy Whip under Bob Mellish . After a reshuffle in the wake of the October 1974 elections , he rose to Lord of the Treasury (full Whip).

The whip's office normally required the keeping of secrecy in the House of Commons , but Dormand faced a difficult situation in February 1976 that required him to make a statement. The conservative opposition had set a reproach against Economy Secretary Eric Varley, calling for his salary to be reduced to £ 1,000. Dormand was nominated as one of the tellers, but both he and his conservative opponent miscounted. When Mellish reported this mishap to the President of the House of Commons, the latter approved the holding of a new vote. To Dormand's dismay, many Labor MPs did not stay until the election results were announced and were therefore no longer present for the second vote, which was won by the Conservatives with a majority of five votes. However, the government decided that the result did not reflect the true opinion of the House of Commons and overturned the vote a few days later.

When James Callaghan succeeded Wilson as Prime Minister in 1976, Mellish resigned and was replaced by Michael Cocks . Within the functions of the whip, Dormand was given the office of pairing whip . In this role, he had to agree with members of opposing parties that they would not vote together in the event of the necessary absence of individual members of parliament in order not to distort the majority. Home Secretary Merlyn Rees would have preferred Dormand to be appointed Chief Whip to Cocks .

Since the small government majority was finally lost due to defeat in by-elections, Dormand played a key role in his capacity as a pairing whip and made a significant contribution to the fact that the government was still able to stay in power. He told Wilson that he was "too dead tired at the end of the day" to note the scenes that played out in the late-night votes. According to a report by the Sergeant-at-Arms of January 1978 helped Dormand in thwarting the implementation of the votes in Hammelsprung with to the vote on one introduced by the government bill, which provided for a transfer of powers to Scotland to avoid.

Dormand was not always on the side of the government when it came to free votes without being compulsory for a party. In July 1977, for example, he voted against the draft law providing for direct elections to the European Parliament .

Opposition role

When the Labor Party lost the 1979 general election , Dormand served as the whip of his now in opposition party for two years. He was a very dynamic opposition leader who was particularly vocal in criticizing the effects of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's economic policy on the manufacturing industry in the northern part of the country: in June 1980 he said that Thatcher's policies were "torturing" this region, which was becoming a "scene of desolation" would. He expressly appealed to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir Geoffrey Howe , not to pursue monetarism any further.

Group leader of the Labor Party as an opposition party

In the 1970s, Dormand had opposed the intrusion of politically left-oriented content into the Doctrine of the Labor Party and had been pro-American and pro- NATO in foreign policy , while the left wing of the party at that time was increasingly hostile to the USA and NATO. In October 1981, Dormand applied for the vacant post of Labor leader, supported by the center-right Manifesto Group of Labor MPs. Due to the strength of the left wing of the Constituency Labor Parties (organizations of Labor members who represent the party in the respective constituencies), the Manifesto Group had sought to improve its apparatus, and Dormand (who was nominated by former Prime Minister James Callaghan ) beat his main challenger, left MP Ian Mikardo, with 102 votes to 65, whereupon Mikardo retired. The other three candidates, Harry Ewing (22 votes), Willie Hamilton (11 votes) and Frank Hooley (11 votes) also withdrew from the race, so no second ballot was required. Dormand remained group chairman until he left the House of Commons in 1987.

Dormand had the difficult task of unifying his unruly faction at a time when the Labor Party was becoming less popular. In November 1982, when rumors were growing that the majority of Labor MPs wanted their party leader Michael Foot to be replaced, Dormand insisted in a radio interview that he had no doubt that the vast majority of Michael Foot was currently the right man for this Hold office and that Foot will lead the party in the next general election. In response, Foot's critics highlighted Dormand's use of the term "currently".

Kingmaker for the Speaker of the House of Commons

After the general election of 1983 Dormand played in choosing Bernard Weatherills spokesman ( Speaker ) of the House as its supporters a key role. Weatherill had been an opposition whip in the late 1970s, when Dormand was also whip for the then ruling Labor Party, but Weatherill had not been appointed to the Thatcher government. Amid Labour's applause, Dormand stressed that Weatherill was his man and would guarantee the rights of the backbenchers . In July 1983 he worked with his conservative counterpart Edward du Cann (chairman of the 1922 Committee ) to obtain approval for a larger increase in MPs than the government proposed.

Like most Labor MPs, Dormand opposed the decision by Arthur Scargill , President of the UK Mining Union of Mineworkers , to call the 1984/85 miners' strike , but he backed the Durham coalfield miners as workers at home Easington Mine and others joined the strike. He accused Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher of washing her hands in innocence like " Pontius Pilate " in this dispute .

Despite his age, Dormand remained physically active. In the 1970s he had successfully advocated the establishment of a gym in Parliament, continued to play cricket and rugby until he was 63, and rode his bike from the House of Commons to his nearby Millbank apartment. The then leader of the conservative majority faction in the House of Commons ( Leader of the House of Commons ), John Biffen , said that Dormand always "put on a light jersey" before he left. Although Dormand stopped cycling in 1987 because he was concerned about the heavy traffic in London, he now walked instead.

Role in the House of Lords and Death

Labor leader Neil Kinnock was expected to offer Dormand the post of Chief Whip if his party won the 1987 general election , but Dormand , at 67 years of age, considered it appropriate to retire. His successor, John Cummings, was the first miner to move into the House of Commons for the Easington constituency.

A staunch Republican who rejected all social privileges, including hereditary titles, was reluctant to accept Kinnock's offer of a seat in the House of Lords ; he was raised to Life Peer on October 13, 1987 with the title Baron Dormand of Easington, of Easington in the County of Durham .

After joining the House of Lords, however, Dormand took up his new role and worked on numerous special committees, such as the education, trade and economic as well as the liaison and procedure committee. He was also named vice chairman of the Teesside Development Corporation , whose 49 km² of de-industrialized land was partially in his former constituency. This company was later condemned by Labor MP Ashok Kumar for doing limited, often inadequate and flimsy development work.

Dormand's areas of expertise included the film industry and tourism. In the latter area, he continued the work he had begun in the House of Commons as chair of the bipartisan parliamentary tourism committee, seeking to promote tourism in previously overlooked parts of the UK. In addition, he was a member of the special committee responsible for the committee structure of the House of Lords and at the end of 1991 its chairman. He later became the representative of the Labor Peers in the Shadow Cabinet .

Dormand had been brought up in the Christian faith and had initially retained this religious conviction into adulthood, when he sat on the parish council. He declared that he later developed into an atheist as the result of "years of mature reflection". In the House of Lords he no longer had to fear hurting the feelings of pious voters and now defended his atheism more frankly; so in July 2000 he demanded the denationalization of the Church of England . He helped found a bipartisan humanist association and became vice president of the British Humanist Association . As a former teacher he tried to enforce equality between religion and humanism in schools. After his death, Michael Turnbull , the former Bishop of Durham, wrote in the Times how Dormand had pursued this and other concerns "impartially" and with "warm affection for others."

After leaving the House of Commons, Dormand continued to live in Easington, but moved to Clipsham in Rutland in 1991 to be closer to the House of Lords. He described this move as "traumatic", but remained active in the House of Lords until his death, pursuing his interest in educational issues and still showing his rejection of the monarchy. Of a total of around 20 anti-monarchy Labor peers, Dormand was the most resolute in opposition to this form of government and asked the government in November 2001 "whether it would hold a referendum to abolish the monarchy" (the Lord Chancellor replied: "No, my lords") ). In addition, in March 2003, Dormand called for a special committee to be set up to discuss the future of the monarchy.

In 2001 Dormand recovered from double cardiac bypass surgery. In July 2003 he received an honorary doctorate in literature from Loughborough University . For the last time he took part in the debates of the House of Lords on November 19, 2003, criticizing the fact that he was a very deterrent for poor families to have to borrow money from the state to finance a degree. The following week, the University of Sunderland awarded him an honorary doctorate in law. He took this opportunity to reiterate his criticism of student funding and stated that “it is very important that young people should not be discouraged from going to university”.

This was Dormand's last visit to his native north east England. Four days later he went to a hospital in Peterborough and died on December 18, 2003 at the age of 84. Tony Blair described him as "a lifelong servant of the Labor Party". When asked by a journalist which epitaph should be on his grave, Dormand replied: "He was a clever fellow". A nursing home in Peterlee is named after him.

family

In 1963, Dormand married Doris Robinson (nee Pearson), a former teacher who survived him. He had a stepson and a stepdaughter from Doris' previous marriage.

Remarks

1. ^ Leigh Rayment: House Of Commons Constituencies Beginning With "E" . In: Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages . Archived from the original on October 29, 2013. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved November 25, 2007. 
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i} Lord Dormand . In: The Daily Telegraph , December 19, 2003. Retrieved November 25, 2007. 
3. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o} Tam Dalyell : Obituary: Lord Dormand of Easington . In: The Independent , December 20, 2003. Retrieved November 25, 2007.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.   
4. ↑ ^{a b} Lord Dormand of Easington (1919-2003) , British Humanist Association . Archived from the original on October 15, 2007. Retrieved December 24, 2007. 
5. ↑ ^{a b c d} A rebel without applause . In: Northern Echo , February 14, 2002. Archived from the original on February 7, 2012. Retrieved November 24, 2007. 
6. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h} Politician who never stopped fighting for his home ground . In: Northern Echo , December 20, 2003. Archived from the original on February 7, 2012. Retrieved November 24, 2007. 
7. ↑ ^{a b c d} Lord Dormand of Easington: Chairman of the Parliamentary Labor Party who found his loyalties divided over the 1984 miners' strike . In: The Times , December 23, 2003. Retrieved December 24, 2007. 
8. ↑ ^{a b} Labor politician Dormand dies . In: BBC News online , December 19, 2003. Retrieved December 24, 2007. 
9. ^ ^{A b} University of Sunderland: Distinguished North-East politician honored . November 26, 2003. Archived from the original on March 25, 2005 Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved December 25, 2007.  
10. ↑ ^{a b c d} Harry Thomason: Degree Speeches, Summer 2003: The Rt Hon the Lord Dormand of Easington , Loughborough University. July 15, 2003. Retrieved November 25, 2007. 
11. ^ ^{A b c d e f} Andrew Roth , "Parliamentary Profiles AD" (Parliamentary Profile Services Ltd, 1984), pp. 169-170.
12. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Andrew Roth: Lord Dormand of Easington, genial chairman during Labor's hard times . In: The Guardian , December 20, 2003. Retrieved December 25, 2007. 
13. ↑ UK general election results March 1966, D-E . In: Richard Kimber's Political Science Resources . Retrieved November 25, 2007. 
14. ↑ UK general election results in 1970, D-E . In: Richard Kimber's Political Science Resources . Retrieved November 25, 2007. 
15. ↑ Patriot games, by invitation only . In: Northern Echo , February 7, 2002. Archived from the original on February 11, 2012. Retrieved on December 27, 2007. 
16. ^ "Labor MP wants miners in the honors list," The Times , January 30, 1974, p. 7.
17. ↑ David Butler and Gareth Butler, Twentieth Century British Political Facts , Palgrave Macmillan, 2000, p. 37.
18. ↑ 'Not a true vote'-Government Chief Whip , The Times , February 12, 1976, p. 6
19. ^ Paul Routledge: Whips' tricks kill the House's trusty system . In: The Independent , December 22, 1996. Retrieved December 25, 2007. 
20. ↑ Michael Hatfield, Ministers plan moves to salvage Scotland Bill as Tories prepare for battle in the Lords , The Times , Jan. 28, 1978, p. 2.
21. ^ Michael Hatfield, Six Cabinet ministers among vote rebels , The Times , July 8, 1977, p. 1.
22. ↑ PM refuses to tax more, borrow more or print more money , The Times , June 27, 1980, p. 14.
23. ↑ Chancellor says he is following same monetary policy as his predecessor , The Times , Nov. 7, 1980, p. 9.
24. ↑ Philip Webster, Foot asserts control over Labor NEC , The Times , 29 October 1981, p. 28
25. ↑ Dianne Hayter: Fight Back !: Labor's Traditional Right in the 1970s and 1980s . Manchester University Press, 2005, ISBN 0-7190-7271-9 , p. 70 (accessed December 27, 2007)
26. ^ Philip Webster, Ex-whip is new PLP chairman , The Times , November 6, 1981, p. 2.
27. ↑ Anthony Bevins, MPs enraged by Foot's failure to unite party , The Times , November 26, 1982, p. 1
28. ↑ Weatherill pledges to be faithful , The Times , June 16, 1983, p. 4.
29. ^ Pay rises for MPs as they decide their own incomes policy to 1988 , The Times , July 21, 1983, p. 4.
30. ^ John Biffen: Inside the House of Commons: Behind the Scenes at Westminster . Grafton, 1989, ISBN 0-246-13479-8 , p. 97.
31. ^ John Cummings : New standard bearer for Labor in Easington . In: Hartlepool Mail , September 5, 2007. Accessed on December 25, 2007.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.   
32. ↑ Peerage: Dormand to Duffus . In: Leigh Rayment's peerage pages . Retrieved December 24, 2007.
33. ^ Peter Hetherington: Police inquiry into grant by agency: Government redevelopment money was allegedly diverted . In: The Guardian , May 27, 2000. Retrieved December 24, 2007. 
34. ↑ Conal Gregory : Lives Remembered: Lord Dormand of Easington . In: The Times , January 12, 2004. Retrieved December 25, 2007. 
35. ↑ House of Lords Hansard, July 27, 2000: Col. 571-572 , House of Lords . Archived from the original on June 25, 2006. Retrieved December 24, 2007. 
36. ↑ Michael Turnbull : Lives Remembered: Lord Dormand of Easington . In: The Times , January 12, 2004. Retrieved December 25, 2007. 
37. ^ Paul Harvey: Lord Dormand Of Easington: a memoir. In: durhampast.net. Durham VCH Trust Newsletter, No. January 10, 2004; archived from the original on December 15, 2005 ; accessed on March 9, 2020 (English). 
38. ↑ House of Lords contributions: Lord Dormand of Easington . In: TheyWorkForYou.com . Retrieved December 24, 2007. 
39. ^ Kenneth O. Morgan : The Labor Party and British Republicanism . (PDF) In: EREA (Revue d'Études Anglophones) . No. 1.2, Fall 2003, pp. 137-142. Retrieved December 27, 2007.
40. ↑ House of Lords Hansard November 21, 2001: Col. 1124-1126 . Archived from the original on October 23, 2006. Retrieved December 25, 2007.
41. ↑ House of Lords Hansard March 27, 2003: Col. 952-953 . Archived from the original on August 28, 2006. Retrieved December 25, 2007.
42. ↑ House of Lords Hansard November 19, 2003: Sp. 1930-1931 . Archived from the original on August 8, 2007. Retrieved December 25, 2007.
43. ↑ ^{a b} Lord Dormand Of Easington: Our home grown MP . Retrieved December 27, 2007.
44. ↑ Jack Dormand care center, Peterlee . Southern Cross Healthcare. Archived from the original on February 9, 2012. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved December 27, 2007.