{{Short description|British Labour politician (1944–2026)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2019}} {{Use British English|date=December 2019}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = The Right Honourable | name = The Lord Beecham | honorific_suffix = DL | image = Official portrait of Lord Beecham crop 2.jpg | office4 = Member of the House of Lords | status4 = Lord Temporal | term_label4 = Life peerage | term_start4 = 20 July 2010 | term_end4 = 1 September 2021 | office = | term_start = | term_end = | predecessor = | successor = | majority = | office2 = Chairman of the Local Government Association | term_start2 = 1997 | term_end2 = 2010 | predecessor2 = Office formed | successor2 = | majority2 = | office1 = Leader of the Labour Party on Newcastle City Council | deputy1 = | term_start1 = 1977 | term_end1 = 1994 | predecessor1 = Tom Collins | successor1 = Tony Flynn | office3 = Newcastle City Councillor<br />for Benwell and Scotswood | deputy3 = | term_start3 = 11 May 1967<ref>{{cite web |first=Mike |last=Kelly |title=Lord Beecham marks 50 years in politics - but has no plans to retire |date=11 May 2017 |url=https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/lord-beecham-marks-50-years-13016747 |work=Evening Chronicle |access-date=11 April 2026}}</ref> | majority3 = | term_end3 = 2022<ref name=lgc> {{cite web|last= Golding|first=Nick |date=21 March 2022 |title=‘Towering figure’ and ex-LGA chair Beecham announces retirement |url=https://www.lgcplus.com/politics/towering-figure-and-ex-lga-chair-beecham-announces-retirement-21-03-2022/ |website=Local Government Chronicle |access-date=11 April 2026}}</ref> | predecessor3 = | successor3 = | birth_name = Jeremy Hugh Beecham | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1944|11|14}} | birth_place = Leicester, Leicestershire, England | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2026|4|9|1944|11|14}} | death_place = | party = Labour | spouse = | children = }}
'''Jeremy Hugh Beecham, Baron Beecham''', {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|DL}} (14 November 1944 – 9 April 2026) was a British Labour politician and a senior figure in English local government. He was leader of Newcastle City Council and the first Chairman of the Local Government Association. He was the elected Chairman of the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party (October 2005 – September 2006).
==Life and career== Beecham was born in Leicester on 14 November 1944. The family moved to Newcastle when he was two years old.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Morris |first=Peter |date=8 May 2026 |title=Lord Beecham obituary |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/may/08/lord-beecham-obituary |access-date=9 May 2026 |work=The Guardian}}</ref> He was educated at the Royal Grammar School, Newcastle upon Tyne, and University College, Oxford (1962–1965), where he obtained a first class honours degree in law. He became a solicitor. He joined the Labour Party in 1959, and was elected a councillor for Benwell, Newcastle, in the Newcastle City Council elections of 11 May 1967.<ref name="Chron"/>
He stood for Parliament without success in Tynemouth in 1970. He chaired the Social Services Committee on the council from 1973 to 1977 and was Leader of Newcastle from 1977 to 1994, chairing the Finance Committee from 1979 to 1984. In 1991, Beecham became Chairman of the Association of Metropolitan Authorities (AMA). When the AMA merged with the Association of District Councils and the Association of County Councils on 1 April 1997 to form the Local Government Association, he became the first chairman of the LGA. He was, {{As of|2006|lc=on}}, the LGA vice-chairman and continued to chair the LGA Labour Group. He was the President of the British Urban Regeneration Association (now folded).<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.bura.org.uk/BURA+People/The+BURA+Board/Meet+the+BURA+Board|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120419233215/http://www.bura.org.uk/BURA+People/The+BURA+Board/Meet+the+BURA+Board|url-status=dead|title=BURA- Meet the board |work=British Urban Regeneration Association |archivedate=19 April 2012}}</ref>
Beecham was a member of many boards and committees in Newcastle and North East England, and in advising government. Beecham was a member of the Labour Party National Executive Committee from 1998 and was its chairman in 2005-2006.<ref name="Parly"/>
He became a Knight Bachelor in the 1994 Birthday Honours<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=53696 |date=10 June 1994 |page=1 |supp=y}}</ref> having the honour conferred by HM The Queen on 22 November 1994.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=53910 |date=10 January 1995 |page=307}}</ref>
Beecham was made a Freeman of the city of Newcastle in 1995. He was Deputy Lieutenant for the County of Tyne and Wear and Benwell and Scotswood on the City Council. He was a council member at charity Common Purpose since 1989. He was Jewish, and a board member of the New Israel Fund in the UK.<ref name="JC">{{cite web | title=Peerage for New Israel Fund board member | newspaper=The Jewish Chronicle|location=London|language=en-GB | date=1 June 2010 | url=http://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/32321/peerage-new-israel-fund-board-member | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100723230322/http://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/32321/peerage-new-israel-fund-board-member | archive-date=23 July 2010 | url-status=dead | access-date=10 April 2026}}</ref><ref name="Parly">{{cite web | title=Experience for Lord Beecham | publisher=UK Parliament|location=London|language=en-gb | url=https://members.parliament.uk/member/4181/experience | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230129165428/https://members.parliament.uk/member/4181/experience | archive-date=29 January 2023 | url-status=live | access-date=10 April 2026}}</ref>
On 20 July 2010, Beecham was created a life peer as "Baron Beecham of Benwell and Newcastle upon Tyne in the County of Tyne and Wear",<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=59496 |date=23 July 2010 |page=14094}}</ref> and was introduced in the House of Lords on 28 July 2010.<ref>[https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201011/minutes/100728/ldordpap.htm House of Lords Minute of Proceedings], 28 July 2010.</ref> He sat on the Labour benches until his retirement in 2021.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Parliamentary career for Lord Beecham - MPs and Lords - UK Parliament member profile |url=https://members.parliament.uk/member/4181/career |access-date=2026-04-10 |website=members.parliament.uk |language=en}}</ref>
Beecham later suffered from Alzheimer's disease. He died on 9 April 2026, at the age of 81.<ref name="Chron">{{cite news |last1=Holland |first1=Daniel |title=Tributes to longest-serving council leader |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9qdezjzzq9o |access-date=10 April 2026 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB |date=10 April 2026}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== *{{cite journal |last=Beecham |first=Jeremy |title=Urban Change: The Local Perspective |journal=RSA Journal |volume=141 |number=5441 |year=1993 |pages=534–48 |url=http://www.jstor.org.libezproxy.open.ac.uk/stable/41376208 }} * {{cite web |title=BEECHAM, Baron (Life Peer UK 2010), of Benwell and Newcastle upon Tyne in the County of Tyne and Wear; Sir Jeremy Hugh Beecham” |year=2017 |work=Debrett’s People of Today 2017 |publisher=Debrett's Peerage Limited |editor=Hume, L |url=https://access.infobase.com/article/1884093-beecham-baron-life-peer-uk-2010-benwell-and-newcastle-upon-tyne-county-tyne?rak=1&aid=275203}}
{{S-start}} {{S-off}} {{Succession box| title= Chairman of the Local Government Association| years=1997–2004 | before=(new post) | after=Sir Sandy Bruce-Lockhart}} {{Succession box| title=Chair of the Labour Party | years=2005–2006 | before=Ian McCartney | after=Michael Griffiths }} {{s-end}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baron Beecham, Jeremy Beecham}} Category:1944 births Category:2026 deaths Category:Jewish British politicians Category:Labour Party (UK) councillors Category:Labour Party (UK) life peers Category:Life peers created by Elizabeth II Category:Councillors in Newcastle upon Tyne Category:Politicians from Newcastle upon Tyne Category:People educated at the Royal Grammar School, Newcastle upon Tyne Category:Alumni of University College, Oxford Category:Deputy lieutenants of Tyne and Wear Category:Labour Friends of Israel Category:Knights Bachelor Category:Chairs of the Labour Party (UK) Category:Leaders of local authorities of England Category:Chairs of the Local Government Association Category:Peers retired under the House of Lords Reform Act 2014 Category:Place of death missing Category:Deaths from Alzheimer's disease in England