Stan Orme Explained

Honorific-Prefix:The Right Honourable
The Lord Orme
Honorific-Suffix:PC
Office:Chair of the Parliamentary Labour Party
Term Start:13 July 1987
Term End:18 July 1992
Predecessor:Jack Dormand
Successor:Doug Hoyle
Office1:Shadow Secretary of State for Energy
Term Start1:2 October 1983
Term End1:13 July 1987
Leader1:Neil Kinnock
Preceded1:John Smith
Succeeded1:John Prescott
Office2:Shadow Secretary of State for Industry
Term Start2:4 November 1980
Term End2:2 October 1983
Leader2:Michael Foot
Preceded2:John Silkin
Succeeded2:Peter Shore
Office3:Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Services
Term Start3:14 June 1979
Term End3:4 November 1980
Leader3:James Callaghan
Preceded3:David Ennals
Succeeded3:Gwyneth Dunwoody
Office4:Minister of State for Social Security
Primeminister4:James Callaghan
Term Start4:5 April 1976
Term End4:4 May 1979
Predecessor4:Brian O'Malley
Successor4:Reg Prentice
Office5:Member of Parliament
for Salford East
Term Start5:9 June 1983
Term End5:8 April 1997
Predecessor5:Frank Allaun
Successor5:Constituency Abolished
Office6:Member of Parliament
for Salford West
Term Start6:15 October 1964
Term End6:13 May 1983
Predecessor6:Charles Royle
Successor6:Constituency Abolished
Birth Date:5 April 1923
Birth Place:Sale, Cheshire, England
Death Place:Sale, Greater Manchester, England
Party:Labour

Stanley Orme, Baron Orme, PC (5 April 1923 – 27 April 2005) was a British left-wing[1] Labour Party politician. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1964 to 1997, and served as a cabinet minister in the 1970s.

Early life

Stan Orme was born in Sale, Cheshire. He was educated at a technical school, which he left in 1938 to become an instrument maker's apprentice.He joined the RAF in 1942, becoming a bomber-navigator, serving in Canada and Egypt. He was demobilised in 1947 as a warrant officer.

Political career

Orme joined the Labour Party in 1944 and he became a Sale Borough Councillor in 1958. Firmly aligned with the left faction of Labour, led intellectually and organisationally by Aneurin Bevan, at this time, he embraced many left-wing causes, including the Movement for Colonial Freedom and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.

He first stood for Parliament in Stockport South at the 1959 general election, when he lost to the incumbent Member of Parliament (MP), Conservative candidate Harold M. Steward. He was elected as MP for Salford West at the 1964 general election.

When Labour returned to office at the February 1974 general election, Orme was installed at Stormont as Minister of State for Northern Ireland. He made an impression in this role, before moving to the Department of Health and Social Security in March 1976. The Prime Minister James Callaghan promoted him to the Cabinet in September 1976 to sit alongside his departmental boss David Ennals. He remained in this role until 1979.

Orme joined the Shadow cabinet in 1979 as chief health and social security spokesman, before later moving on to hold the Industry and Energy portfolios until 1987. Following constituency boundary changes for the 1983 general election, he was elected for the redrawn seat of Salford East.

He served as the Chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party from 1987 to 1992. He retired from the House of Commons at the 1997 general election, and he was created a life peer as Baron Orme, of Salford in the County of Greater Manchester on 21 October 1997.

Orme was a republican.[2] He made several unsuccessful attempts to be elected to Labour's National Executive Committee, without breaking through.

Lord Orme died 22 days after his birthday, on 27 April 2005. His funeral at Dunham Crematorium was attended by many family, friends and political colleagues. A memorial service was held in the House of Lords, with speeches from former Labour leaders Neil Kinnock and Michael Foot. A very rare exception was made by the Lord Chancellor such that any Divisions were suspended during this evening service.

Private life

In 1951 he married Irene Mary Harris (died 2022). They had no children.

Controversy

In December 2019, a Daily Telegraph investigation reported that Orme had been involved in handing confidential information to Czech communist spies.[3]

References

External links

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Notes and References

  1. Book: The IMF Crisis of 1976 and British Politics. 9781850437253. Hickson. Kevin. 25 February 2005.
  2. News: Secret meeting unites republican MPs. The Guardian. 24 January 2002. Watt. Nicholas.
  3. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/12/26/senior-labour-politicians-gave-information-cold-war-spies/ Senior Labour politicians gave information to Cold War spies