47 Facts About Lord Kinnock

Neil Gordon Kinnock, Baron Kinnock was born on 28 March 1942, and is a British former politician.

Lord Kinnock was the Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition from 1983 until 1992, and Vice-President of the European Commission from 1999 to 2004.

Lord Kinnock was considered as being on the soft left of the Labour Party.

Lord Kinnock became the Labour Party's shadow education minister after the Conservatives won power in the 1979 general election.

Lord Kinnock led the party during most of the Thatcher administration, which included its third successive election defeat when Thatcher won the 1987 general election.

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Lord Kinnock led the Labour Party to a surprise fourth consecutive defeat at the 1992 general election, despite the party being ahead of John Major's Conservative government in most opinion polls, which had predicted either a narrow Labour victory or a hung parliament.

Lord Kinnock left the House of Commons in 1995 to become a European Commissioner.

Lord Kinnock's father, Gordon Herbert Kinnock was a former coal miner who later worked as a labourer; and his mother Mary Kinnock was a district nurse.

In 1953, at eleven years old, Lord Kinnock began his secondary education at Lewis School, Pengam, which he later criticised for its record on caning.

Lord Kinnock went on to the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire in Cardiff, where he graduated in 1965 with a degree in Industrial Relations and History.

Lord Kinnock was first elected to the House of Commons on 18 June 1970, and became a member of the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party in October 1978.

Lord Kinnock's ambition was noted by other MPs, and David Owen's opposition to the changes to the electoral college was thought to be motivated by the realisation that they would favour Kinnock's succession.

Lord Kinnock remained as education spokesman following the resignation of Callaghan as Leader of the Labour Party and the election of Michael Foot as his successor in late 1980.

In 1981, while still serving as Labour's education spokesman, Lord Kinnock was alleged to have effectively scuppered Tony Benn's attempt to replace Denis Healey as Labour's Deputy Leader by first supporting the candidacy of the more traditionalist Tribunite John Silkin and then urging Silkin supporters to abstain on the second, run-off, ballot.

Lord Kinnock was known as a left-winger, and gained prominence for his attacks on Margaret Thatcher's handling of the Falklands War in 1982, although it was in fact this conflict which saw support for the Conservative government increase, and contribute to its landslide re-election the following year.

Lord Kinnock was determined to move the party's political standing to a centrist position, in order to improve its chances of winning a future general election.

Lord Kinnock focused on modernising the party, and upgrading its technical skills such as use of the media and keeping track of voters, while at the same time battling the Militants.

Lord Kinnock stressed economic growth, which had a much broader appeal to the middle-class than the idea of redistributing wealth to benefit the poor.

Lord Kinnock accepted membership in the European Economic Community, whereas the party had pledged immediate withdrawal from it under Michael Foot.

All this meant that Lord Kinnock had made plenty of enemies on the left-wing of the party by the time he was elected as leader, though a substantial number of former Bennites gave him strong support.

Lord Kinnock was almost immediately in serious difficulty as a result of Arthur Scargill's decision to lead his union, the National Union of Mineworkers into a national strike without a nationwide ballot.

Lord Kinnock supported the aim of the strike – which he dubbed the "case for coal" – but, as an MP from a mining area, was bitterly critical of the tactics employed.

Lord Kinnock attacked Militant and their conduct in a speech delivered at the conference:.

Second period of Lord Kinnock's leadership was dominated by his drive to reform the party's policies to gain office.

In 1988, Lord Kinnock was challenged by Tony Benn for the party leadership.

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Lord Kinnock greeted Thatcher's resignation by describing it as "very good news" and demanded an immediate general election.

Neil Lord Kinnock's showing in the opinion polls dipped; before Thatcher's resignation, Labour had been up to 10 points ahead of the Conservatives in the opinion polls, but many opinion polls were actually showing the Conservatives with a higher amount of support than Labour, in spite of the deepening recession.

Since Major's election as Leader of the Conservative Party, Lord Kinnock had spent the end of 1990 and most of 1991 putting pressure on Major to call a general election that year, but Major had held out and by the autumn he had insisted that there would be no general election in 1991.

Lord Kinnock further argues that this explanation is "a red herring" and that the same result would have happened without the rally.

Lord Kinnock announced his resignation as Leader of the Labour Party on 13 April 1992, ending nearly a decade in the role.

Lord Kinnock remains on the Advisory Council of the Institute for Public Policy Research, which he helped set up in the 1980s.

Lord Kinnock was an enthusiastic supporter of Ed Miliband's campaign for the Leadership of the Labour Party in 2010, and was reported as telling activists, when Miliband won, "We've got our party back" – although Miliband, like Lord Kinnock, failed to lead the party back into government, and resigned after the Conservatives were re-elected with a small majority in 2015.

Lord Kinnock was appointed one of the UK's two members of the European Commission, which he served first as Transport Commissioner under President Jacques Santer, in early-1995; marking the end of his 25 years in the House of Commons.

Lord Kinnock was obliged to resign as part of the forced, collective resignation of the Commission in 1999.

Lord Kinnock was re-appointed to the Commission under new President Romano Prodi.

Lord Kinnock now became one of the Vice-Presidents of the European Commission, with responsibility for Administrative Reform and the Audit, Linguistics and Logistics Directorates General.

Lord Kinnock had dismissed going to the Lords in recent interviews.

Lord Kinnock was introduced to the House of Lords on 31 January 2005, after being created, on 28 January, Baron Kinnock, of Bedwellty in the County of Gwent.

Lord Kinnock's peerage meant that the Labour and Conservative parties were equal in numbers in the upper house of Parliament.

Lord Kinnock later clarified that he supports devolution in principle, but found the proposed settlement at the time as failing to address the economic disparities in the UK, particularly following the closure of coal mines in Wales.

Lord Kinnock has often referred to himself as a "unionist" and has stated that "between the mid-sixteenth century and the mid-eighteenth century Wales had practically no history at all, and even before that it was the history of rural brigands who have been ennobled by being called princes".

In 2018, Lord Kinnock stated, “The truth is that we can either take the increasingly plain risks and costs of leaving the EU or have the stability, growth and revenues vital for crucial public services like the NHS and social care.

Lord Kinnock met Glenys Lord Kinnock in the early 1960s whilst studying at University College, Cardiff, where they were known as "the power and the glory", and they married on 25 March 1967.

On 26 April 2006, Lord Kinnock was given a six-month driving ban after being found guilty of two speeding offences along the M4 motorway, west of London.

Lord Kinnock is a Cardiff City FC fan and regularly attends matches.

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Lord Kinnock is a follower of rugby union and supports London Welsh RFC at club level, regularly attending Wales games.

Lord Kinnock was portrayed by both Chris Barrie and Steve Coogan in the satirical TV programme Spitting Image, and by Euan Cuthbertson in the Scottish film In Search of La Che.