Tom Sawyer, Baron Sawyer

Lawrence "Tom" Sawyer, Baron Sawyer ( born May 12, 1943) is a British trade unionist and Labour Party politician, General Secretary, he was from 1994 to 1998.

Life and career

Sawyer attended the Dodmire School, Eastbourne Comprehensive School and Darlington Technical College. After his training Sawyer initially worked as an engineer before joining the union. In 1971 he was elected official of the National Union of Public Employees ( Nupe ), 1975, their regional representative for the North. In 1981 he was elected deputy chairman of the Nupe, where he remained for their merger with UNISON in 1994 to. During the same period Sawyer was a member of the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party from 1991 from Chairman of the party.

In 1994 he was elected General Secretary of the Labour Party and led them successfully in the British general election of 1997. At the Labour party conference in 1998 he resigned from his position and was on 4 August 1998 to Baron Sawyer, of Darlington in the County of Durham appointed. In the following years, he served as Chairman of a number of companies and public institutions. In 2004 he was appointed as successor to Leon Brittan as the new chancellor of the University of Teesside.