Jack Cunningham

Infobox_Politician


honorific-prefix = The Right Honourable
name = Jack Cunningham
honorific-suffix =
Baron Cunningham of Felling, PC
birth_date =birth date and age|df=yes|1939|08|04
birth_place = Durham, UK
office = Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
term_start = 27 July 1998
term_end = 11 October 1999
primeminister = Tony Blair
predecessor = David George Clark
successor = Mo Mowlam
office2 = Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food
term_start2 = 3 May 1997
term_end2 = 27 July 1998
predecessor2 = Douglas Hogg
successor2 = Nick Brown
office3 = Shadow Foreign Secretary
term_start3 = 18 July 1992
term_end3 = 21 July 1994
leader3 = John Smith
predecessor3 = Gerald Kaufman
successor3 = Robin Cook
party = Labour Party

John Anderson "Jack" Cunningham, Baron Cunningham of Felling, PC, DL (born 4 August 1939) is a British Labour politician and was Member of Parliament for Copeland until 2005.

Early life

He was educated at Jarrow Grammar School (now Jarrow School) in the same class as Doug McAvoy, future general secretary of the National Union of Teachers. Cunningham then studied at Bede College of the University of Durham, receiving a BSc in Chemistry in 1962, and a PhD in 1967. He stayed at the university to become a research fellow from 1966-8, whilst working as an officer for the General and Municipal Workers' Union.

His father was Andrew Cunningham, leader of Durham County Council in the 1970s, who was disgraced in the 1974 Poulson scandal. Dr Cunningham was first elected as member for Whitehaven in 1970; and the renamed Copeland constituency, which was the same constituency as Whitehaven, in 1983.

hadow Cabinet and in government

He ran the Labour Party's general election campaign in 1992, and joined the Shadow Cabinet in 1983.

After the 1997 general election, he became Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and embarked on a modernisation programme for the Ministry, loosening its hitherto fierce loyalty to the producer interest, and emphasizing its duty to the consumer. He worked hard to secure the lifting of the European Union ban on the export of UK beef, and achieved some limited success on this. He also paved the way for the creation of the independent Food Standards Agency.

He was promoted in 1998 to Minister for the Cabinet Office and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. The media dubbed him "cabinet enforcer", claiming that his role was effectively to sell the Government and its policies to the public and the media. Although there was some truth in this, he also led the government's work on modernizing government, and chaired the Ministerial Committee on genetically-modified foods and crops.

He retired from the Cabinet in 1999, and became an influential backbencher. He stood down from parliament at the 2005 general election.

Having represented the parliamentary constituency that includes Sellafield, the UK's largest nuclear facility, for 35 years, he is a strong proponent of nuclear power and is the founding European legislative chairman of the [http://www.tanef.com/default.asp |Transatlantic Nuclear Energy Forum] .

Personal life

On 13 May 2005 it was announced that he would be created a life peer, and he was created Baron Cunningham of Felling, of Felling in the County of Tyne and Wear, on 27 June. He had previously always been "Rt Hon Dr Jack Cunningham", so following his enoblement he uses the style, "Rt Hon Lord Cunningham of Felling, PC DL PhD".

Lord Cunningham of Felling is still active in politics and chairs an all-party parliamentary committee to review the powers of the House of Lords.

He lives with his wife near Stocksfield, in Northumberland and is an avid fly fisherman. He married Maureen Appleby in 1964 in Durham. They have one son and two daughters.

References

* [http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200506/minutes/051011/ldminute.htm Announcement of his introduction at the House of Lords] House of Lords minutes of proceedings, 11 October 2005