Brendan Barber

{{Short description|British trade union official (born 1951)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = The Right Honourable | name = The Lord Barber of Ainsdale | honorific_suffix =  | image = Official portrait of Lord Barber of Ainsdale crop 2, 2025.jpg | alt = | caption = Official portrait, 2025 | order = | office = Chair of the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service | term_start = 2014 | term_end = 2020 | minister = Vince Cable Sajid Javid Greg Clark Andrea Leadsom Alok Sharma Kwasi Kwarteng Jacob Rees-Mogg | predecessor = Ed Sweeney | successor = Claire Chapman | office2 = 10th General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress | term_start2 = 2003 | term_end2 = 2012 | predecessor2 = John Monks | successor2 = Frances O'Grady | office3 = Deputy General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress | term_start3 = 1993 | term_end3 = 2003 | predecessor3 = John Monks | successor3 = Frances O'Grady | office4 = Member of the House of Lords | status4 = Lord Temporal | term_label4 = Life peerage | term_start4 = 20 January 2025 | term_end4 = | birth_name = Brendan Paul Barber | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1951|04|03|df=y}} | birth_place = Southport, England | death_date =  | death_place = | citizenship = | party = Labour | other_party =  | spouse = | partner =  | relations = | children = | parents = | alma_mater = City, University of London }}

'''Brendan Paul Barber, Baron Barber of Ainsdale''' (born 3 April 1951), is a British trade union official and life peer. He served as chair of the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) Council until 2020. He is a former general secretary of the United Kingdom's Trades Union Congress (TUC); a post he held from June 2003 until his retirement at the end of 2012. He was appointed Acas Chair in 2014, replacing Ed Sweeney, who had been in the post since 2007. He also serves on the board of the Banking Standards Board (since 2015), the Board of Transport for London (2013–), the board of Britain Stronger in Europe (since 2015), the Council of City University, London and the board of Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts (since 2014).

==Early life and education== Barber was born on 3 April 1951 in Southport, Lancashire, and educated at St Mary's College, Sefton (then a direct grant grammar school). Between school and university, he spent a year with VSO teaching in the Volta Region of Ghana. At City, University of London, he earned a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in social sciences in 1974, then spent the next year as the president of the students' union.<ref name=tuc-bio>{{cite web |url=http://www.tuc.org.uk/the_tuc/about_bbarber.cfm |title=Biographical details: Brendan Barber |publisher=Trades Union Congress |accessdate=24 September 2012 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120725084803/http://www.tuc.org.uk/the_tuc/about_bbarber.cfm |archivedate=25 July 2012 }}</ref>

==Career== He spent a year as a researcher for the Ceramics, Glass and Mineral Products Industry Training Board based in Harrow.<ref name=tuc-bio/>

===Trades Union Congress=== In 1975. he began working at the TUC<ref>{{cite book|author=Stevenson, Alexander|isbn=978-0-7494-6777-7|title=The Public Sector: Managing The Unmanageable|date=2013|publisher=Kogan Page}}</ref> as a policy officer. In 1979, he became the head of the TUC's Press and Information Department. In 1987, he became head of the Organisation and Industrial Relations Department and in 1993 he became deputy general secretary.<ref name=tuc-bio/>

He became General Secretary of the TUC in June 2003. On 18 April 2012, he announced his retirement, enabling a successor to be elected in September at Trades Union Congress 2012.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tuc.org.uk/the_tuc/tuc-20916-f0.cfm |title=Brendan Barber to retire as TUC General Secretary |publisher=Trades Union Congress |date=18 April 2012 |accessdate=24 September 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121012175248/http://www.tuc.org.uk/the_tuc/tuc-20916-f0.cfm |archive-date=12 October 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Frances O'Grady was elected his successor.<ref name=bbc-20120907>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-19436060 |title=Profile: Frances O'Grady, the new TUC general secretary |author=Claire Bolderson |publisher=BBC |date=7 September 2012 |accessdate=24 September 2012}}</ref>

===Awards=== In 2007, Barber was given an Award of Doctor of Science ''honoris causa'' by City University London. He was knighted in the 2013 Birthday Honours for services to employment relations.<ref name=gaz31712>{{London Gazette|issue=60534|supp=y|page=1|date=15 June 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Birthday Honours: Adele joins Blackadder stars on list|work=BBC News |date=14 June 2013 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22904807#TWEET790015|accessdate=14 June 2013}}</ref>

===House of Lords=== Barber was nominated for a life peerage by Prime Minister Keir Starmer in late 2024.<ref>{{Cite press release |date=20 December 2024 |title=Political Peerages December 2024 |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/news/political-peerages-december-2024 |website=GOV.UK |publisher=Prime Minister's Office, 10 Downing Street |access-date=20 December 2024}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Pollock |first=Laura |date=20 December 2024 |title=See the 38 new lifetime peers announced by the UK Government |url=https://www.thenational.scot/news/24808667.see-new-lifetime-peers-announced-uk-government/ |work=The National |access-date=20 December 2024 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20241220145456/https://www.thenational.scot/news/24808667.see-new-lifetime-peers-announced-uk-government/ |archive-date=20 December 2024 |url-status=live}}</ref> He was created ''Baron Barber of Ainsdale, of Southport in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton'', on 20 January 2025,<ref>{{London Gazette |date=24 January 2025 |issue=64639 |page=1182}}</ref> and was introduced to the House of Lords on 23 January.<ref>{{Cite Hansard |title=Introduction: Lord Barber of Ainsdale |url=https://hansard.parliament.uk/lords/2025-01-23/debates/C258A09E-C556-4EE6-997E-211273D36F72/IntroductionLordBarberOfAinsdale |date=23 January 2025 |jurisdiction=Parliament of the United Kingdom |house=House of Lords |volume=842 |column=1803}}</ref>

==Personal life== He met Mary Gray in the TUC International Dept, and they married. They have two daughters. He supports Everton F.C. and lives in Muswell Hill.<ref name=tuc-bio/>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== * {{UK Peer links | parliament = 5377 | publicwhip = Lord_Barber_of_Ainsdale | theywork = 26656 }} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20120725084803/http://www.tuc.org.uk/the_tuc/about_bbarber.cfm TUC] * [https://www.theguardian.com/society/2003/sep/06/politics.business ''Guardian'' profile September 2003] * [http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/about/people/court.htm Bank of England Court of Directors] * {{YouTube|n-utuC8ZTew}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20111120000749/http://www.vanquis.co.uk/news/Budget-Planning/Nov-2011/Christmas-spending-will-be-tough "Christmas spending 'will be tough'"] 16 November 2011, ''Budget Planning News''

{{s-start}} {{s-npo|union}} {{s-bef|before=John Monks}} {{s-ttl|title=Deputy General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress|years=1993–2003}} {{s-aft|after=Frances O'Grady}} {{s-break}} {{s-bef|before=John Monks}} {{s-ttl|title=General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress|years=2003–2012}} {{s-aft|after=Frances O'Grady}} {{s-break}} {{s-gov}} {{s-bef|before=Ed Sweeney}} {{s-ttl|title=Chair of Acas|years=2014–2020}} {{s-aft|after=Claire Chapman}} {{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barber, Brendan}} Category:1951 births Category:Living people Category:21st-century British politicians Category:Alumni of City, University of London Category:Fellows of Nuffield College, Oxford Category:General secretaries of the Trades Union Congress Category:Knights Bachelor Category:Labour Party (UK) life peers Category:Life peers created by Charles III Category:People educated at St Mary's College, Crosby Category:People from Southport Category:Trade unionists from Lancashire