Jack Dormand

John Donkin Dormand, Baron Dormand of Easington (27 August 1919 – 18 December 2003) was a British educationist and Labour Party politician from the coal mining area of Easington in County Durham, in the north-east of England. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for the Easington constituency from 1970 until his retirement in 1987.

Described as an "old-style centre-right socialist", Dormand was a working-class child who progressed through grammar school education to study at Durham, Oxford and Harvard and on to a career as an educational administrator before entering Parliament at the age of 50, where he was noted as an advocate for education and for mining areas. He never achieved ministerial office, but as a skilled administrator he played a significant role as a government whip in the 1970s, and as Chair of the Parliamentary Labour Party when the party was in opposition in the 1980s. and a staunch republican, he reluctantly accepted a life peerage when he retired from the House of Commons and was an active working peer until his death 16 years later.

Early life Dormand was born near Easington in 1919 at the workingmen's club in the village of Haswell, where his father Bernard, a former miner, was steward. Although he later took up rugby, Sport remained a major part of his life; until his death he remained a member of Houghton-le-Spring Rugby Club and of Burnmoor Cricket Club, last playing both games at the age of 63. He was not called up for military service during World War II, because teaching was a reserved occupation. where he was awarded a diploma in public and social administration with distinction, and won a Fulbright Scholarship to Harvard in his second year (1954), becoming a friend of the future Senator Ted Kennedy.

Manny Shinwell, the then 85-year-old veteran Labour Member of Parliament (MP) for the Easington constituency, announced in 1969 that he would not contest the next general election. Dormand, who had been secretary of the Easington Constituency Labour Party throughout the 1960s and Shinwell's presumed successor, ). At the 1970 general election in which Harold Wilson's Labour government was defeated, Dormand was returned to the House of Commons with a barely reduced 79.8% share of the vote.

Education His maiden speech on 8 July 1970 focused on education and on the needs of Durham as an "excepted district", and in particular on those classed as "slow learners". It was well received, and the then Secretary of State for Education Margaret Thatcher was seen to be making notes. He spoke out in opposition to the monarchy, declaring in 1971 that "the whole of the royal establishment from the Queen downwards could go, lock stock and barrel tomorrow".

Government whip Labour was returned to government at the February 1974 general election, and Dormand was appointed as an assistant government whip under Bob Mellish. He was promoted to be a Lord of the Treasury (full Government whip) in a reshuffle after the October election.

The post of a Whip normally required silence in the chamber of the House of Commons, but in February 1976 Dormand was involved in a difficult situation which required him to give an explanation. The Conservative opposition had called a vote censuring the Secretary of State for Industry Eric Varley by reducing his salary to £1,000. Dormand was appointed as one of the tellers to count the vote, but both he and his Conservative opposite number miscounted and lost the true count. When Mellish announced the confusion to the Speaker, the Speaker agreed to hold another vote. Embarrassingly for Dormand, many Labour MPs had not stayed to hear the result and were no longer present, resulting in the Conservatives winning the vote by a majority of five. The Government decided that the result was not a true indication of the House's opinion and overturned the vote a few days later.

When James Callaghan succeeded Wilson as Prime Minister in 1976, Mellish resigned and was replaced by Michael Cocks, and Dormand was promoted within the Whip's office to be the pairing whip, a job which involved co-ordinating agreed absences by MPs from one party with those of another so that the outcome of parliamentary votes is not affected. The Home Secretary Merlyn Rees had urged Callaghan to appoint Dormand as Chief Whip rather than Michael Cocks.

On free votes he did not always help the Government. In July 1977, Dormand voted against the European Assembly Elections Bill which brought in direct elections to the European Parliament.

In opposition When Labour lost the 1979 general election, Dormand served for two years as an opposition whip. He was an active opposition frontbencher who was particularly vocal in criticising the effects of the Thatcher government's economic policy on the manufacturing industry of the Northern region: in June 1980 he said that the policies were "crucifying" the region and it was "becoming a scene of devastation". He specifically called on Chancellor of the Exchequer Sir Geoffrey Howe to abandon monetarism.

Parliamentary Labour Party chair In the 1970s, Dormand had opposed left-wing infiltration into the Labour Party, defeated the main challenger, left-wing MP Ian Mikardo by 102 votes to 65, and Mikardo then withdrew. The other three candidates were Harry Ewing (22 votes), Willie Hamilton (11 votes) and Frank Hooley (11 votes) but all withdrew so no second ballot was held. Dormand held the chairmanship until he retired from the House of Commons in 1987.

Dormand had a difficult job in trying to unite a fractious Parliamentary party at a time when the Labour Party was growing unpopular. In November 1982, amidst rumours that a majority of Labour MPs wanted to replace party leader Michael Foot, Dormand gave a radio interview insisting that "I have absolutely no doubt whatever that the vast majority think that Michael Foot is the man for the job at the moment, and will take us into the next general election". In response, Foot's critics noted Dormand's use of the words "at the moment".

Kingmaker for the Speaker After the 1983 general election, Dormand played a key role in the accession to the Speakership of Bernard Weatherill, seconding his nomination for the post. Weatherill had been an opposition whip when Dormand had been working in the Government whip's office in the late 1970s, but had not been appointed to the Thatcher government; in supporting him, Dormand pointed out to Labour cheers that Weatherill "is his own man" and would "ensure that the rights of backbenchers were safeguarded". In July 1983 he worked with his Conservative opposite number Edward du Cann (Chairman of the 1922 Committee) to agree an increase in MPs' pay over that which the Government proposed.

Like most Labour MPs, Dormand opposed the decision of National Union of Mineworkers president Arthur Scargill to call a national strike in 1984 to 1985, but he supported the miners in the Durham coalfield when his local Easington Colliery and others joined the strike. and although he abandoned the bicycle in 1987, deterred by London's heavy traffic, he took up walking instead.

A staunch republican who deplored all forms of social privilege, including hereditary peerages,

However, once in the Lords he thrived, serving on numerous select committees, including education, trade and industry, and the liaison and procedure committees.

His areas of expertise included the film industry and tourism, He was also a member of the select committee on committee structure of the House of Lords and its chairman at the end of 1991, and later became Labour Peer's Representative on the Shadow Cabinet. He helped form the All Party Humanist Group, but remained active in the Lords until his death, Of some 20 Labour peers opposed to the monarchy, Dormand was the most outspoken, asking the government in November 2001 "whether they will call a referendum on the abolition of the monarchy" (the Lord Chancellor's answer was "No, my Lords"), and asked in March 2003 for a Select Committee to consider the future of the Monarchy.

He recovered from a double heart bypass in 2001, and received an honorary doctorate of letters in July 2003 from Loughborough University. The following week he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Laws by the University of Sunderland, and died on 18 December 2003, aged 84.

Family In 1963, Dormand married Doris Robinson (née Pearson), a former teacher who survived him. He had one stepson, and one stepdaughter from Doris's previous marriage.