Orme , Stanley , 1923-2005 , Baron Orme of Salford , politician

Orme, Stanley (1923-2005) Lord Orme of Salford, was born on April 5th 1923 in Sale, Cheshire. He left school at 15 to work as an engineer at Trafford Park. Orme continued his education at the National Council of Labour Colleges and the Workers' Education Association, and became an active member of the Amalgamated Engineering Union (AEU). Orme joined the RAF in 1942 and served an navigator in the Pathfinder Force of Bomber Command. He was demobilized in 1947 and returned to work at Budenberg Gauge Company, Broadheath. Orme had joined the Labour Party in 1944, and on return to civilian life, became an important shop steward in the AEU. He married Irene Mary Harris in 1951. Orme served on Sale Borough Council between 1958-1965, and fought unsuccessfully the Parliamentary seat of Stockport South in 1959. He was elected to the Parliamentary seat of Salford West in 1964. Orme was an important member of the Tribune Group, and its chairman during the late 1960s. Orme was made Minister of State, Northern Ireland Office in 1974 and was involved in passing a bill against religious discrimination in the Province. He was made a Privy Counsellor in 1975, and then made Minister of Social Security in the Cabinet in 1976. Following the Labour election defeat in 1979 Orme took up the post of Opposition Spokesman on Trade and Industry, before moving to shadow the Minister for Energy in 1983.

Orme was very closely involved with the miners' strike of 1984-1985, and was praised widely for his persistent efforts to encourage a negotiated settlement between the National Union of Mineworkers and the National Coal Board. Following the end of the strike, Orme campaigned against privatizations, increased nuclear power supply, and the closure of collieries. Orme increased his majority in the 1987 election, and was subsequently elected chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party. He retired as a Member of Parliament at the 1997, and was made a life peer, taking the title Lord Orme of Salford. He died on April 28th 2005.