David Triesman, Baron Triesman

David Maxim Triesman, Baron Triesman (born 30 October 1943) is a British politician and former [trade union]] leader.

Triesman is a Labour member of the House of Lords, having previously been a minister in the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills.

A former Chairman of the Football Association, he now serves as HM Opposition (Labour) Lords Spokesman for Foreign Affairs since Cameron's Coalition Government.^[1]

Background

Triesman (named Maxim after Maxim Gorky, the Russian author, whom his mother admired) was born into a North London Jewish community, the son of Michael Triesman, of Belarusian descent, and Rita Triesman (née Lubran) of French descent.

Triesman was educated at the Stationers' Company's School in London, before going up to the University of Essex.^[2][3]

At Essex University, Triesman and a group of fellow students seized control declaring it a 'free university'.^[4] He was subsequently suspended from Essex in 1968 after breaking up a meeting addressed by a defence industry scientist.^[5]

Politics and union career

In 1960, aged 17, Triesman became a member of the Labour Party but ten years later resigned and joined the Communist Party where he remained until the winter of 1976-77, when he rejoined the Labour Party.

For a number of years he was a Lecturer and union leader at South Bank Polytechnic (now London South Bank University).

Triesman first became a full-time union official of NATFHE in 1984, rising to the post of National Negotiating Secretary. He was General Secretary of the Association of University Teachers from 1993 until 2001 and the General Secretary of the Labour Party from 2001 to 2003.^[2] He was created a Life Peer on 9 January 2004 taking the title Baron Triesman, of Tottenham in the London Borough of Haringey,^[6] prior to which he was elected a Visiting Fellow of Wolfson College, Cambridge in 2000, for the study of Higher Education.

Triesman is also a member of the Henry Jackson Society's Political Council.^[7]

Government office

Under Tony Blair's third Labour administration, Triesman served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office with responsibility for relations with Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, Overseas Territories, the Commonwealth, UK visas, migration policy, consular policy, the British Council, the BBC World Service and the Chevening Scholarships Scheme. In the reshuffle of 29 June 2007, he was moved to the newly-created post of Parliamentary Under-Secretary of the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills.

He was critical of Gordon Brown's premiership, making disparaging remarks after the 2010 General Election campaign, saying: "I think Gordon Brown's been awful."^[8]

Football administration

A longtime fan of Tottenham Hotspur, Triesman became the first independent Chairman of the Football Association in January 2008.^[9]

In February 2011, a few months after giving up the chairmanship, he testified before a parliamentary committee on the state of the administration of English football. He was heavily critical of the FA, saying it was shying away from governing the game. He was especially damning of the FA's administrative procedures and its working relationship with other football bodies, in particular the Premier League.^[10]

Comments about FIFA bribery allegations

On 16 May 2010, the Mail on Sunday revealed that Melissa Jacobs, a civil servant and blogger,^[8][11] had secretly tape-recorded Triesman in a restaurant. He made comments about alleged bribery attempts by Spain and Russia of referees in the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Triesman asserted, "there’s some evidence that the Spanish football authorities are trying to identify the referees ... and pay them."^[12] It was announced that he was to 'quit' both the FA and England's 2018 bid.^[13][14] On 10 May 2011, Triesman, speaking before a British parliamentary select committee, affirmed his suspicions of bribery concerning four FIFA members, claiming that they sought bribes in return for backing England's failed 2018 World Cup bid.^[15]

Personal life

Triesman spent many years in a relationship with the writer and critic Michelene Wandor until they split up in the late 1990s.^[2]

References

External links

• Debrett's People of Today
• Lord Triesman - Parliamentary biography