UK: Former unionist appointed Minister for Students

Lord Triesman, a former Communist, student activist and union leader, has been appointed Britain’s first Minister for Students.

Triesman will be responsible for “an ambitious student listening programme which will put the voices of England’s 2.3 million students at the heart of government”, according to John Denham, Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills.

This ex-radical, Communist and trade unionist Triesman is now firmly entrenched in the New Labour party and Gordon Brown’s government.

He was born in 1943 into a north London Jewish community and joined the second intake of students at the new University of Essex in the mid 1960s. It was the era of Harold Wilson’s Labour government, the Vietnam war and student protests around Europe.

Triesman soon became a key figure in the Radical Student Alliance – an oganisation much to the left of the mainstream National Union of Students. He led demonstrations, causing him to be suspended in his final year but was reinstated after students, and some faculty members, supported him with protests and sit-ins.

Triesman joined the Communist Party of Great Britain in 1970 and was a member for several years. He was an active supporter of Natfhe, the college lecturers’ union, eventually becoming national negotiating secretary, a post he held until he moved to the more conservative Association of University Teachers in 1993 as general secretary.

By the time Labour returned to power in 1997, Triesman, ever the consummate politician, had forged links with Tony Blair’s Cabinet. Labour Party chairman Charles Clarke made him the party’s general secretary in 2001 in recognition of his organising skills. Elevation to the House of Lords and a Foreign Office post soon followed.

Triesman’s new job will take him round the country visiting groups of students on campus to listen to their views on student finance, widening participation and learning support, among other issues. All very different from those far off Essex days.