Jonathan Baume

Jonathan Edward Baume (born 13 July 1953, Wakefield) has been General Secretary of the First Division Association since 1997 and a member of the General Council of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) since 2001.

Education

He was educated at Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Wakefield, and Keble College, Oxford (BA Hons 1974; MA). While at University, he was active in student politics and joined the Broad Left student movement.

Career

• Oxfordshire County Council, 1974–77
• Department of Employment Group, 1977–87
• Trades Union Congress (Organisation and Industrial Relations Department), 1987–89
• First Division Association: Assistant General Secretary, 1989–94; Deputy General Secretary, 1994–97

Government advisor

Jonathan Baume is generally regarded, by the Government and the press, as the spokesperson for Senior Civil Servants, who are necessarily very discreet and cannot speak for themselves. He is thus often consulted by the Government on matters relating to the Civil Service. He has served on three Government advisory groups:

• Ministerial Advisory Group on Openness in the Public Sector 1998–99
• Ministerial Advisory Group on Implementation of the Freedom of Information Act 2001–present
• Age Advisory Group, Department of Trade and Industry 2004–present

He is also frequently interviewed by the media about Civil Service related matters.

Outside interests

He is a member of the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England and the National Trust, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. After suffering from back problems, he took up yoga. His other hobbies are post-war jazz, world music and rambling. He is a member of the Athenaeum Club.

Controversy

As Assistant General Secretary, he was editor of FDA News. He published an article about public sector trade unions in Israel, intending it to be for general information. However, he was accused of taking sides in Israel-Arab disputes and hence breaking the FDA's rules on political neutrality (although these rules only cover domestic issues). In a subsequent issue, he included an article about Palestinian trade unions.

Following the announcement of Elizabeth Symons' resignation as General Secretary, the FDA National Executive interviewed several candidates to replace her and agreed to propose Jonathan as her successor. However, former FDA member Tony Engel (who had not been a candidate) demanded a ballot of the whole membership to decide between himself and Jonathan. Jonathan received 68% of the votes cast.

References

• Debrett's People of Today
• Who's Who
• FDA News, various issues 1990-8