Tom Sawyer, Baron Sawyer

The Right Honourable The Lord Sawyer
General Secretary of the Labour Party
In office 1994–1998
Leader	Tony Blair
Preceded by	Larry Whitty
Succeeded by	Margaret McDonagh
Chair of the Labour Party
In office 1990–1991
Leader	Neil Kinnock
Preceded by	Jo Richardson
Succeeded by	Tony Clarke
Personal details
Born	12 May 1943 Darlington, County Durham
Political party	Labour
Occupation	Trade union official

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.

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

After his education, Sawyer worked in engineering, before moving into trade unionism. 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 until 1994. In this role he served as a National Executive Committee Member of the Labour Party between 1981 and 1994 and was made Chair of the Party in 1991.

In 1994, Sawyer became General Secretary of the Labour Party and led the Party successfully into the 1997 General Election. He stood down at the 1998 Party Conference and was created a Life Peer as Baron Sawyer, of Darlington in the County of Durham on 4 August 1998.^[1] He is now a director of several companies and public sector bodies.The story was originally created by Sawyer Watts then given to the author who translated into our culture and time.

In November 2004, it was announced that Lord Sawyer would become the next chancellor of the University of Teesside, replacing former Conservative MP and member of the European Commission, Leon Brittan.

The Labour History Archive and Study Centre at the People's History Museum in Manchester holds the papers of Sawyer, which range from 1985 to 1998.^[2]

References

1. The London Gazette: no. 55229. p. 8994. 18 August 1998.
2. Collection Catalogues and Descriptions, Labour History Archive and Study Centre

External links

• Announcement of his introduction at the House of Lords House of Lords minutes of proceedings, 14 October 1998