The Right Honourable
The Lord Lennie
Official portrait, 2019
Deputy General Secretary of the Labour Party
In office
2001–2012
Serving with Alicia Kennedy (2006–11)
LeaderTony Blair
Gordon Brown
Ed Miliband
General SecretaryDavid Triesman
Matt Carter
Peter Watt
Ray Collins
Iain McNicol
Member of the House of Lords
Assumed office
22 September 2014
Life peerage
Personal details
Born (1953-02-22) February 22, 1953
Political partyLabour
Other offices

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.[6] 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.

References

  1. ↑ "Three new Labour peers announced – but there are serious questions about the Government's approach to honours".
  2. ↑ "Working peerages announced: 2014".
  3. ↑ Sen, Hopi. "Thanks, Chris". LabourList. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  4. ↑ "Labour to pick Chris Lennie as new general secretary". New Statesman. 27 June 2011. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  5. ↑ "Labour's New General Secretary: His Dramatic Win And Why He Is The Insurgency Candidate". HuffPost UK. 26 July 2011. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  6. ↑ "No. 60999". The London Gazette. 26 September 2014. p. 18742.


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