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The Right HonourableThe Lord Mason of BarnsleyPC DL
Mason in 1978
Shadow Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food
In office 14 July 1979 – 24 November 1981
Leader	James Callaghan Michael Foot
Preceded by	John Silkin
Succeeded by	Norman Buchan
Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
In office 4 May 1979 – 14 July 1979
Leader	James Callaghan
Preceded by	Humphrey Atkins
Succeeded by	Brynmor John
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
In office 10 September 1976 – 4 May 1979
Prime Minister	James Callaghan
Preceded by	Merlyn Rees
Succeeded by	Humphrey Atkins
Secretary of State for Defence
In office 4 March 1974 – 10 September 1976
Prime Minister	Harold Wilson James Callaghan
Preceded by	Ian Gilmour
Succeeded by	Fred Mulley
President of the Board of Trade
In office 6 October 1969 – 19 June 1970
Prime Minister	Harold Wilson
Preceded by	Anthony Crosland
Succeeded by	Michael Noble
Minister of Power
In office 1 July 1968 – 6 October 1969
Prime Minister	Harold Wilson
Preceded by	Ray Gunter
Succeeded by	Office Abolished
Postmaster General
In office 6 April 1968 – 1 July 1968
Prime Minister	Harold Wilson
Preceded by	Edward Short
Succeeded by	John Stonehouse
Minister of Defence for Equipment
In office 7 January 1967 – 6 April 1968
Prime Minister	Harold Wilson
Preceded by	Office Created
Succeeded by	John Morris
Minister of State for Trade
In office 20 October 1964 – 7 January 1967
Prime Minister	Harold Wilson
Succeeded by	Joseph Mallalieu
Member of Parliament for Barnsley Central Barnsley (1953–1983)
In office 31 March 1953 – 18 May 1987
Preceded by	Sidney Schofield
Succeeded by	Eric Illsley
Personal details
Born	(1924-04-18)18 April 1924 Royston, England
Died	19 April 2015(2015-04-19) (aged 91) Barnsley, England
Political party	Labour
Alma mater	London School of Economics

Roy Mason, Baron Mason of Barnsley, PC, DL (18 April 1924 – 19 April 2015), was a British Labour Party politician and Cabinet minister who was Secretary of State for Defence and Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in the 1970s.

Early life

Mason was born in Royston, West Riding of Yorkshire, on 18 April 1924, and grew up in Carlton, Barnsley, also in the West Riding of Yorkshire. Mason became a miner at the age of 14. He became a branch official of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) in his early twenties. Aged 26, he studied at the London School of Economics as a mature student on a Trades Union Congress (TUC) scholarship. He remained in the coal industry until he was elected as Member of Parliament (MP) for the Barnsley constituency at a by-election in 1953.

Posts

Mason was Labour Party spokesman on Home Affairs, Defence and the Post Office, 1960–1964. Minister of State at the Board of Trade, 1964–1967. Minister of Defence (Equipment), 1967–1968. Minister of Power, 1968–1969. President of the Board of Trade, 1969–1970. Secretary of State for Defence, 1974–1976. Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, 1976–1979

Northern Ireland

A high-profile politician, Mason's appointment to Northern Ireland was unexpected and seemed to indicate a tougher response from the British Government than had been pursued by his predecessor, Merlyn Rees. In late 1976, he told the Labour Party conference that "Ulster had had enough of initiatives, White Papers and legislation for the time being, and now needed to be governed firmly and fairly". He rejected both military and political solutions in favour of "justice for all; with equality before the law; and, crucially, with republican terrorism treated as a security problem, and nothing else".

While Secretary of State for Defence, Mason had been responsible for the introduction of SAS units into the 'bandit country' of South Armagh. At Stormont Mason was responsible for the tougher role taken by the security forces and authorised an increase in British Army covert tactics with the SAS allowed to operate throughout Northern Ireland. Mason's time in Northern Ireland was characterised by a reduction in violence; "in 1976 there were 297 deaths in Northern Ireland; in the next three years the figures were 111, 80, 120. In 1977, he stood up to militant loyalists attempting to repeat their successful Ulster Workers Council strike tactic of 1974. The same year, he twice attempted to get some movement towards a political settlement from the local political parties. In March 1979, the Irish National Liberation Army planned to assassinate Mason, but the plan was aborted.

Mason's policies in Northern Ireland earned the ire of Irish nationalist MPs. That played a part in the March 1979 vote of no confidence, which the Labour government lost by one vote, precipitating the 1979 general election. The Nationalist MP Gerry Fitt abstained in the vote of no confidence and stated that he could not support a government with Mason as its Northern Ireland secretary.

After Labour's election defeat in 1979, Mason came under increasing pressure from some on the left in his constituency party and from Arthur Scargill but did not countenance joining the Social Democratic Party. Mason received full police protection over 30 years after leaving office. In 1982, Energy Secretary Nigel Lawson suggested to Margaret Thatcher that she should make Mason the next Coal Board chairman, but she refused by saying that Mason was "Not one of us". Instead, Ian MacGregor was appointed.

Later life

After his retirement from the House of Commons at the 1987 general election, Mason was created a life peer on 20 October 1987 taking the title Baron Mason of Barnsley, of Barnsley in South Yorkshire. He lived in the same semi-detached house with his wife Marjorie from their marriage until he was aged 84.

Mason died at Highgrove Nursing Home, Stanley Road, Barnsley one day after his 91st birthday, on 19 April 2015. He had suffered from cerebrovascular disease. He was survived by his wife and his two daughters.

References

1. "Birthdays today". The Telegraph. 18 April 2012. Archived from the original on 20 April 2012. Retrieved 14 April 2014. Lord Mason of Barnsley, former Labour Government Minister, 88
2. Yorkshire Post Obituary – 'Roy Mason a Man Forever Linked with Barnsley' Retrieved 20 April 2015
3. ^ "Former Labour MP Lord Mason of Barnsley dies". BBC News. 20 April 2015. Retrieved 20 April 2015.
4. Archived 28 October 2006 at the Wayback Machine
5. Johnston, Wesley. "Deaths in each year of the 'Troubles' 1969 – 1998". Retrieved 22 September 2013.
6. Holland, Jack; McDonald, Henry (1994). INLA Deadly Divisions.
7. ^ "Lord Fitt". Daily Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group. 27 August 2005. Retrieved 25 December 2012. His influence on the British government sharply diminished in 1976 with the advent that year of Mason as Secretary of State. "He's an anti-Irish wee git", Fitt told journalists; but perhaps Mason's worst sin was that he ignored the MP for West Belfast. Fitt took his revenge in the crucial vote on the Labour government's bill for Scottish devolution. He could not bring himself, he explained, to vote for a government with Mason as Ulster Secretary, against a background of alleged police brutality in the province. The government, defeated by one vote, resigned; the radical Gerry Fitt had helped to usher in the rule of Mrs Thatcher.
8. Nigel Lawson -The View from No.11: Memoirs of a Tory Radical
9. "No. 51099". The London Gazette. 23 October 1987. p. 13091.
10. "Death of Lord Mason of Barnsley at 91". Yorkshire Post. 20 April 2015. Archived from the original on 12 September 2019. Retrieved 20 April 2015.
11. List of Deceased members of the House of Lords

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Roy Mason
• Portraits of Roy Mason at the National Portrait Gallery, London

v t e Secretaries of state for Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland Office
Whitelaw Pym Rees Mason Atkins Prior Hurd King Brooke Mayhew Mowlam Mandelson Reid Murphy Hain Woodward Paterson Villiers Brokenshire Bradley Smith Lewis Vara Heaton-Harris Benn
Also held Secretary of State for Wales Opposition Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland

v t e Defence secretaries of the United Kingdom
Ministers for co-ordination of defence	Sir Thomas Inskip Lord Chatfield
Ministers for defence	Winston Churchill Clement Attlee A. V. Alexander Manny Shinwell Winston Churchill Harold Alexander Harold Macmillan Selwyn Lloyd Sir Walter Monckton Anthony Head Duncan Sandys Harold Watkinson Peter Thorneycroft
Secretaries of state for defence	Peter Thorneycroft Denis Healey Lord Carrington Ian Gilmour Roy Mason Fred Mulley Francis Pym John Nott Michael Heseltine George Younger Tom King Malcolm Rifkind Michael Portillo George Robertson Geoff Hoon John Reid Des Browne John Hutton Bob Ainsworth Liam Fox Philip Hammond Michael Fallon Gavin Williamson Penny Mordaunt Ben Wallace Grant Shapps John Healey

v t e Presidents of the Board of Trade
Shaftesbury Bridgewater Stamford Weymouth Stamford Winchilsea Guilford Berkeley Suffolk Holderness FitzWalter Monson Halifax Sandys Townshend Shelburne Hillsborough Dartmouth Hillsborough Nugent Hillsborough Dartmouth Sackville Carlisle Grantham Sydney Liverpool Montrose Auckland Bathurst Clancarty Robinson Huskisson Grant Vesey-Fitzgerald Herries Auckland Thomson Baring Thomson Labouchere Ripon Gladstone Dalhousie Clarendon Labouchere Henley Cardwell Stanley Henley Donoughmore Gibson Northcote Richmond Bright Parkinson-Fortescue Adderley Sandon Chamberlain Richmond Stanhope Mundella Stanley Hicks Beach Mundella Bryce Ritchie Balfour Salisbury Lloyd George Churchill Buxton Burns Runciman Stanley Geddes Horne Baldwin Cunliffe-Lister Graham Cunliffe-Lister Runciman Stanley Duncan Lyttelton Duncan Llewellin Dalton Lyttelton Cripps Wilson Shawcross Thorneycroft Eccles Maulding Erroll Heath Jay Crosland Mason Noble Davies Walker Benn Varley Joseph Jenkin Shore Dell Smith Nott Biffen Cockfield Parkinson Tebbit Brittan Channon Young Ridley Lilley Heseltine Lang Beckett Mandelson Byers Hewitt Johnson Darling Hutton Mandelson Cable Javid Clark Fox Truss Trevelyan Badenoch Reynolds

v t e Callaghan Cabinet
James Callaghan Joel Barnett Tony Benn Albert Booth Anthony Crosland Edmund Dell Lord Elwyn-Jones David Ennals Michael Foot Roy Hattersley Denis Healey Roy Jenkins Harold Lever Roy Mason Bruce Millan John Morris Fred Mulley Stanley Orme David Owen Lord Peart Reg Prentice Merlyn Rees Bill Rodgers Lord Shepherd Peter Shore John Silkin John Smith Eric Varley Shirley Williams

v t e Second Wilson Cabinet
Tony Benn James Callaghan Barbara Castle Anthony Crosland Lord Elwyn-Jones Michael Foot Denis Healey Roy Jenkins Harold Lever Roy Mason Bob Mellish John Morris Fred Mulley Stanley Orme Fred Peart Reg Prentice Merlyn Rees Bill Rodgers Willie Ross Lord Shepherd Peter Shore Edward Short John Silkin Eric Varley Shirley Williams Harold Wilson

• 1924 births
• 2015 deaths
• Alumni of the London School of Economics
• Deaths from cerebrovascular disease
• Deputy lieutenants of South Yorkshire
• English miners
• Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
• Labour Party (UK) life peers
• Life peers created by Elizabeth II
• Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
• Ministers in the Wilson governments, 1964–1970
• National Union of Mineworkers-sponsored MPs
• People from Royston, South Yorkshire
• People of The Troubles (Northern Ireland)
• Politics of Barnsley
• Presidents of the Board of Trade
• Secretaries of State for Defence (UK)
• Secretaries of State for Northern Ireland
• UK MPs 1951–1955
• UK MPs 1955–1959
• UK MPs 1959–1964
• UK MPs 1964–1966
• UK MPs 1966–1970
• UK MPs 1970–1974
• UK MPs 1974
• UK MPs 1974–1979
• UK MPs 1979–1983
• UK MPs 1983–1987
• Postmasters general of the United Kingdom