John Vincent Tilley (13 June 1941 — 18 December 2005) was a British Labour politician.

Biography

Tilley was born in

Derby Derby ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area on the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent in Derbyshire, England. Derbyshire is named after Derby, which was its original co ...

on 13 June 1941. He was educated at The Bemrose School, a state grammar school, before going on to read history at

Trinity Hall, Cambridge Trinity Hall (formally The College or Hall of the Holy Trinity in the University of Cambridge, colloquially "Tit Hall" ) is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1350, it is th ...

. He then became a journalist at the '' Newcastle Journal'', before moving to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

as industrial, and later diplomatic, correspondent of ''

The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact (newspaper), compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until ...

''. In 1971, Tilley was elected to

Wandsworth Council Wandsworth London Borough Council, also known as Wandsworth Council, is the local authority for the London Borough of Wandsworth in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in London. The council has been under Labour m ...

, where he became council leader. He was selected as Labour candidate to fight

Kensington Kensington is an area of London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, around west of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensingt ...

in the February 1974 and October 1974 elections, with improving results but no success. The party chose him to defend at a by-election its long-standing high majority in Lambeth Central in 1978, which he won. The election was triggered by a caused by the death of Labour MP

Marcus Lipton Marcus Lipton CBE (29 October 190022 February 1978) was a British Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician. Education The son of Benjamin and Mary Lipton of Sunderland, Marcus Lipton was educated at Hudson Road Council School and Sunderland C ...

. In Parliament, he served on Labour's opposition

front bench In many parliaments and other similar assemblies, seating is typically arranged in banks or rows, with each political party or caucus grouped together. The spokespeople for each group will often sit at the front of their group, and are then kno ...

, resigning in 1982 in opposition to the Party leadership's stand on the

Falklands War The Falklands War () was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British Overseas Territories, British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and Falkland Islands Dependenci ...

. As MP for the

Brixton Brixton is an area of South London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Brixton experienced a rapid rise in population during the 19th century ...

area, he worked with

Lord Scarman Leslie George Scarman, Baron Scarman, (29 July 1911 – 8 December 2004) was an English judge and barrister who served as a Law Lord until his retirement in 1986. He was described as an "outstanding judicial figure, entrusted with the most hi ...

after the

1981 Brixton Riots Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 6 – A funeral service is held in West Germany for Nazi Grand Admiral ...

for a better understanding of local social problems. He proposed a bill to amend the

Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 1976 The Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 1976 (c. 82) is an Act of Parliament (UK), act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It made provision in relation to Rape in English law, rape and related offences. Except for subsections (1) and (2) and (4 ...

to make rape in marriage illegal in 1983. Tilley was a founding member of the

Socialist Campaign Group The Socialist Campaign Group, also simply known as the Campaign Group, is a UK parliamentary caucus of the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party including Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Members of Parliament in the House of Commons of the Uni ...

in 1982, but his constituency seat was abolished for the 1983 election and he was selected to fight Southwark and Bermondsey instead. The seat had been safe Labour but

Simon Hughes Sir Simon Henry Ward Hughes (born 17 May 1951) is a British former politician. He is now the Chancellor of London South Bank University, and a strategic adviser to Talgo, a Spanish manufacturer of trains. Hughes was deputy leader of the Lib ...

had won the constituency for the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

in a by-election earlier that year, and Hughes kept the seat in the general election. Tilley never returned to Parliament. Tilley subsequently worked as chief economic adviser to the

London Borough of Hackney The London Borough of Hackney ( ) is a London boroughs, London borough in Inner London, England. The historical and administrative heart of Hackney is Mare Street, which lies north-east of Charing Cross. The borough is named after Hackney, Lond ...

and 11 years as parliamentary secretary to the

Co-operative Union Co-operatives UK is a British co-operative federation described as "the central membership organisation for co-operative enterprise throughout the UK". It was founded in 1870 as the Co-operative Central Board, changing its name to the Co-opera ...

. From 2000 to 2002, he headed the parliamentary office of the

Co-operative Group The Co-operative Group Limited, trading as Co-op and formerly known as the Co-operative Wholesale Society, is a British consumer cooperative, consumer co-operative with a group of retail businesses, including grocery retail and wholesale, leg ...

. An active co-operator, he wrote ''Churchill's Favourite Socialist: A Life of AV Alexander'', a biography of an earlier co-operative activist and member of parliament, created a peer for his life work,

A. V. Alexander, 1st Earl Alexander of Hillsborough Albert Victor Alexander, 1st Earl Alexander of Hillsborough (1 May 1885 – 11 January 1965) was a British Labour and Co-operative politician. He was three times First Lord of the Admiralty, including during the Second World War, and then Minis ...

. Tilley's first marriage ended in divorce, after a daughter, Cleo. He married again in 1982 to Kathryn Riley, a Brixton teacher and Labour activist, later professor at the

Institute of Education The UCL Institute of Education (IOE) is the faculty of education and society of University College London (UCL). It specialises in postgraduate study and research in the field of education and is one of UCL's 11 constituent faculties. Prior t ...

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

. They had a daughter, Jo. Tilley died of cancer on 18 December 2005.

References

External links

* 1941 births 2005 deaths Labour Co-operative MPs for English constituencies Councillors in the London Borough of Wandsworth Alumni of Trinity Hall, Cambridge UK MPs 1974–1979 UK MPs 1979–1983 Politicians from Derby Deaths from cancer in England {{England-Labour-UK-MP-stub