John Lawrence Whitty, Baron Whitty, (born 15 June 1943), known as Larry Whitty, is a British Labour Party politician.

Early life

Born in 1943, Whitty was educated at

Latymer Upper School (Slowly Therefore Surely) , established = , closed = , sister_school = Godolphin and Latymer School , type = Public schoolIndependent day school , head_label = H ...

and graduated from

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge founded by the Tudor matriarch Lady Margaret Beaufort. In constitutional terms, the college is a charitable corporation established by a charter dated 9 April 1511. Th ...

, with a BA (Hons) degree in

Economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analy ...

. He worked for

Hawker Siddeley Aviation Hawker Siddeley was a group of British manufacturing companies engaged in aircraft production. Hawker Siddeley combined the legacies of several British aircraft manufacturers, emerging through a series of mergers and acquisitions as one of on ...

from 1960 to 1962 and at the Ministry of Aviation Technology from 1965 to 1970.

Career

Trade unions

He was employed by the

Trades Union Congress The Trades Union Congress (TUC) is a national trade union centre, a federation of trade unions in England and Wales, representing the majority of trade unions. There are 48 affiliated unions, with a total of about 5.5 million members. Frances O ...

from 1970 to 1973 and the General Municipal Boilermakers and Allied Trade Union from 1973 to 1985.

The Labour Party

In 1985, Whitty became the

General Secretary of the Labour Party The General Secretary of the Labour Party is the most senior employee of the British Labour Party, and acts as the non-voting secretary to the National Executive Committee. When there is a vacancy the National Executive Committee selects a provi ...

, a post he held until 1994. He was part of the reforming leadership of

Neil Kinnock Neil Gordon Kinnock, Baron Kinnock (born 28 March 1942) is a British former politician. As a member of the Labour Party, he served as a Member of Parliament from 1970 until 1995, first for Bedwellty and then for Islwyn. He was the Leader ...

and in the role progressed a wide-ranging agenda including the modification of internal rules, a shift towards a national membership scheme, the expulsion of

entryist Entryism (also called entrism, enterism, or infiltration) is a political strategy in which an organisation or state encourages its members or supporters to join another, usually larger, organization in an attempt to expand influence and expand the ...

Militant The English word ''militant'' is both an adjective and a noun, and it is generally used to mean vigorously active, combative and/or aggressive, especially in support of a cause, as in "militant reformers". It comes from the 15th century Latin " ...

group members and, following the 1987 election defeat, the internal Policy Review. Whitty's period as General Secretary meant that he oversaw two general elections (the later in 1992), and the election of

John Smith John Smith is a common personal name. It is also commonly used as a placeholder name and pseudonym, and is sometimes used in the United States and the United Kingdom as a term for an average person. It may refer to: People :''In chronological ...

and

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of the ...

as leaders of the party. He was the European Co-ordinator for the Labour Party from 1994 to 1997.

Peerage

Whitty was created a

life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. In modern times, life peerages, always created at the rank of baron, are created under the Life Peerages ...

on 21 October 1996 as Baron Whitty, ''of Camberwell in the

London Borough of Southwark The London Borough of Southwark ( ) in South London forms part of Inner London and is connected by bridges across the River Thames to the City of London and London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It was created in 1965 when three smaller council ar ...

''. From July 1998, Whitty was Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the

Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions The Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions was a United Kingdom Cabinet position created in 1997, with responsibility for the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR). The position and department ...

with responsibility for roads and road safety issues. From 1997 Lord Whitty was a Lord-in-Waiting (

Government Whip A whip is an official of a political party whose task is to ensure party discipline in a legislature. This means ensuring that members of the party vote according to the party platform, rather than according to their own individual ideology ...

) covering education and foreign affairs. He became Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at DEFRA with responsibility for Farming, Food and Sustainable Energy in June 2001, serving in this position until the general election of May 2005.

Consumer Focus

Whitty was appointed as the first Chairman of

Consumer Focus The New National Consumer Council, operating as Consumer Futures, was a non-departmental public body and statutory consumer organisation in England, Wales, Scotland, and, for postal services, Northern Ireland. It was established by the Consumers ...

in July 2007. Consumer Focus was created through the merger of three organisations – energywatch, Postwatch and the National Consumer Council (including the Scottish and Welsh Consumer Councils) – by the Consumers, Estate Agents and Redress Act 2007.

Personal life

Whitty is married, with two sons from a previous marriage. He is the brother of

Geoff Whitty Geoffrey James Whitty CBE (31 December 1946 – 27 July 2018) was a British economist and professor for equity in education at the University of Newcastle, Australia and who was also a director of the Institute of Education, University of Lo ...

, a former Director of the

Institute of Education IOE, UCL's Faculty of Education and Society (IOE) is the education school 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 to ...

, London University.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Whitty, Larry 1943 births Living people Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge Labour Party (UK) Baronesses- and Lords-in-Waiting Labour Party (UK) life peers People educated at Latymer Upper School Members of the Fabian Society Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Civil servants in the Ministry of Aviation Civil servants in the Ministry of Technology English trade unionists Labour Party (UK) officials