Christopher Lennie, Baron Lennie Explained

Honorific-Prefix:The Right Honourable
The Lord Lennie
Office:Deputy General Secretary of the Labour Party
Alongside:Alicia Kennedy (2006–11)
1Namedata:David Triesman
Matt Carter
Peter Watt
Ray Collins
Iain McNicol
Termstart:2001
Termend:2012
Birth Date:22 February 1953
Leader:Tony Blair
Gordon Brown
Ed Miliband
Party:Labour Party
Office1:Member of the House of Lords
Status1:Lord Temporal
Termstart1:22 September 2014
Life peerage

Christopher (Chris) John Lennie (born 22 February 1953) is a British politician and life peer who served as Deputy General Secretary of the Labour Party from 2001 to 2012.[1] [2] He has been an Opposition Whip in the House of Lords since 2016 and a Shadow Spokesperson since 2021.

Political career

Lennie was regional director of the Labour Party in Northern England, and appointed Assistant General Secretary of the national party after the 2001 general election.[3] He also served as Acting General Secretary on a couple of occasions.

He was shortlisted alongside Iain McNicol, then GMB Political Officer, to become General Secretary of the Labour Party in 2011. Despite reportedly being party leader's Ed Miliband's favoured candidate,[4] Labour's NEC selected McNicol in a move seen as a departure from the New Labour era.[5]

Lennie was appointed as a life peer in the House of Lords on 22 September 2014, as Baron Lennie of Longsands Tynemouth in the County of Tyne and Wear. He joined the opposition front bench as a whip in October 2016, and became a Shadow Spokesperson for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and International Trade in May 2021.

External links

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Notes and References

  1. Web site: Three new Labour peers announced – but there are serious questions about the Government's approach to honours.
  2. Web site: Working peerages announced: 2014.
  3. Web site: Sen. Hopi. Thanks, Chris. 2022-01-16. LabourList. en-GB.
  4. Web site: 2011-06-27. Labour to pick Chris Lennie as new general secretary. 2022-01-16. New Statesman. en-US.
  5. Web site: 2011-07-26. Labour's New General Secretary: His Dramatic Win And Why He Is The Insurgency Candidate. 2022-01-16. HuffPost UK. en.