Jack Cunningham, Baron Cunningham of Felling

For other people named Jack Cunningham, see Jack Cunningham (disambiguation).

The Right Honourable The Lord Cunningham of Felling PC DL
Minister for the Cabinet Office Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
In office 27 July 1998 – 11 October 1999
Prime Minister	Tony Blair
Preceded by	David Clark
Succeeded by	Mo Mowlam
Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food
In office 2 May 1997 – 27 July 1998
Prime Minister	Tony Blair
Preceded by	Douglas Hogg
Succeeded by	Nick Brown
Shadow Secretary of State for National Heritage
In office 19 October 1995 – 2 May 1997
Leader	Tony Blair
Preceded by	Chris Smith
Succeeded by	Virginia Bottomley
Shadow Secretary of State for Trade and Industry
In office 20 October 1994 – 19 October 1995
Leader	Tony Blair
Preceded by	Robin Cook
Succeeded by	Margaret Beckett
Shadow Foreign Secretary
In office 24 July 1992 – 20 October 1994
Leader	John Smith Margaret Beckett (Acting) Tony Blair
Preceded by	Gerald Kaufman
Succeeded by	Robin Cook
Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
In office 2 November 1989 – 24 July 1992
Leader	Neil Kinnock
Preceded by	Frank Dobson
Succeeded by	Margaret Beckett
Shadow Secretary of State for the Environment
In office 2 October 1983 – 2 November 1989
Leader	Neil Kinnock
Preceded by	Gerald Kaufman
Succeeded by	Bryan Gould
Under Secretary of State for Energy
In office 10 September 1976 – 4 May 1979
Prime Minister	Jim Callaghan
Preceded by	Gordon Oakes
Succeeded by	Norman Lamont
Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Prime Minister
In office 10 September 1976 – 21 February 1977
Prime Minister	Jim Callaghan
Preceded by	John Tomlinson
Succeeded by	Roger Stott
Member of Parliament for Copeland Whitehaven (1970–1983)
In office 18 June 1970 – 11 April 2005
Preceded by	Joseph Symonds
Succeeded by	Jamie Reed
Personal details
Born	John Anderson Cunningham (1939-08-04) 4 August 1939 Durham, England, UK
Political party	Labour
Alma mater	Durham University

John Anderson Cunningham, Baron Cunningham of Felling, PC, DL (born 4 August 1939) is a British politician who was the Labour Member of Parliament for Copeland from the 1983 to the 2005 general elections, and had served in the Cabinet of Tony Blair.

Background

His father was Andrew Cunningham, leader of the Labour Party in the Northern Region 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.

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 Durham University, 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.

He was a district councillor for Chester-le-Street Rural & Parish Council, prior to becoming an MP and continued to live in the Garden Farm area of the town, bringing up his family there.

Political career

Cunningham joined the Shadow Cabinet in 1983, and was appointed to be a Deputy Lieutenant of the County of Cumbria in 1991. He ran the Labour Party's General Election campaign in 1992. He also appeared on many television Election programmes as one of the main spokesmen of the Party.

Minister

After the 1997 general election, he became Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and embarked on a modernisation programme for the Ministry. He worked 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 disputably independent Food Standards Agency.

Cabinet

He was moved 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 modernising government, and chaired the Ministerial Committee on genetically modified foods and crops.

Backbenches

He retired from the Cabinet in 1999, and returned to the backbenches. 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 Transatlantic Nuclear Energy Forum.

House of Lords

In the 2005 Dissolution Honours, he was raised to the peerage as Baron Cunningham of Felling, of Felling in the County of Tyne and Wear.

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.

Lobbyist allegations

Cunningham was suspended from the Labour Party whip, and the party, in June 2013 pending an investigation over claims he had offered to work for lobbyists. He was subsequently cleared of any wrongdoing by the parliamentary standards authorities, and had the Labour whip restored.

Personal life

He lives with his wife near Stocksfield, in Northumberland and is an avid fly fisherman.

References

• Announcement of his introduction at the House of Lords House of Lords minutes of proceedings, 11 October 2005

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Jack Cunningham