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Stan Orme

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British politician

The Right HonourableThe Lord OrmePC
Orme in 1978
Chair of the Parliamentary Labour Party
In office
13 July 1987 – 18 July 1992
Preceded byJack Dormand
Succeeded byDoug Hoyle
Shadow Secretary of State for Energy
In office
2 October 1983 – 13 July 1987
LeaderNeil Kinnock
Preceded byJohn Smith
Succeeded byJohn Prescott
Shadow Secretary of State for Industry
In office
4 November 1980 – 2 October 1983
LeaderMichael Foot
Preceded byJohn Silkin
Succeeded byPeter Shore
Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Services
In office
14 June 1979 – 4 November 1980
LeaderJames Callaghan
Preceded byDavid Ennals
Succeeded byGwyneth Dunwoody
Minister of State for Social Security
In office
5 April 1976 – 4 May 1979
Prime MinisterJames Callaghan
Preceded byBrian O'Malley
Succeeded byReg Prentice
Member of Parliament
for Salford East
In office
9 June 1983 – 8 April 1997
Preceded byFrank Allaun
Succeeded byConstituency Abolished
Member of Parliament
for Salford West
In office
15 October 1964 – 13 May 1983
Preceded byCharles Royle
Succeeded byConstituency Abolished
Personal details
Born(1923-04-05)5 April 1923
Sale, Cheshire, England
Died27 April 2005(2005-04-27) (aged 82)
Sale, Greater Manchester, England
Political partyLabour
Spouse Irene Harris ​(m. 1951)​

Stanley Orme, Baron Orme, PC (5 April 1923 – 27 April 2005) was a British left-wing Labour Party politician. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1964 to 1997, and served as a cabinet minister in the 1970s.

Early life

Stan Orme was born in Sale, Cheshire. He was educated at a technical school, which he left in 1938 to become an instrument maker's apprentice. He joined the RAF in 1942, becoming a bomber-navigator, serving in Canada and Egypt. He was demobilised in 1947 as a warrant officer.

Political career

Orme joined the Labour Party in 1944 and he became a Sale Borough Councillor in 1958. Firmly aligned with the left faction of Labour, led intellectually and organisationally by Aneurin Bevan, at this time, he embraced many left-wing causes, including the Movement for Colonial Freedom and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.

He first stood for Parliament in Stockport South at the 1959 general election, when he lost to the incumbent Member of Parliament (MP), Conservative candidate Harold M. Steward. He was elected as MP for Salford West at the 1964 general election.

When Labour returned to office at the February 1974 general election, Orme was installed at Stormont as Minister of State for Northern Ireland. He made an impression in this role, before moving to the Department of Health and Social Security in March 1976. The Prime Minister James Callaghan promoted him to the Cabinet in September 1976 to sit alongside his departmental boss David Ennals. He remained in this role until 1979.

Orme joined the Shadow cabinet in 1979 as chief health and social security spokesman, before later moving on to hold the Industry and Energy portfolios until 1987. Following constituency boundary changes for the 1983 general election, he was elected for the redrawn seat of Salford East.

He served as the Chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party from 1987 to 1992. He retired from the House of Commons at the 1997 general election, and he was created a life peer as Baron Orme, of Salford in the County of Greater Manchester on 21 October 1997.

Orme was a republican. He made several unsuccessful attempts to be elected to Labour's National Executive Committee, without breaking through.

Lord Orme died 22 days after his birthday, on 27 April 2005. His funeral at Dunham Crematorium was attended by many family, friends and political colleagues. A memorial service was held in the House of Lords, with speeches from former Labour leaders Neil Kinnock and Michael Foot. A very rare exception was made by the Lord Chancellor such that any Divisions were suspended during this evening service.

Private life

In 1951 he married Irene Mary Harris (died 2022). They had no children.

Controversy

In December 2019, a Daily Telegraph investigation reported that Orme had been involved in handing confidential information to Czech communist spies.

References

  1. Hickson, Kevin (25 February 2005). The IMF Crisis of 1976 and British Politics. ISBN 9781850437253.
  2. "No. 54930". The London Gazette. 27 October 1997. p. 12047.
  3. Watt, Nicholas (24 January 2002). "Secret meeting unites republican MPs". The Guardian.
  4. Senior Labour politicians gave information to Cold War spies, The Daily Telegraph

External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded byCharles Royle Member of Parliament for Salford West
1964–1983 		Constituency abolished
Preceded byFrank Allaun Member of Parliament for Salford East
1983–1997
Political offices
Preceded byBrian O'Malley Minister of State for Social Security
1976–1979 		Succeeded byReg Prentice
Party political offices
Preceded byJack Dormand Chair of the Parliamentary Labour Party
1987–1992 		Succeeded byDoug Hoyle
Second Wilson Cabinet
Government Coat of Arms.
Callaghan Cabinet
James Callaghan
Government Coat of Arms.
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