Ian Lavery Ian Lavery Ian Lavery (born 6 January 1963) is a British Labour Party politician and former trade union leader from Northumberland who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Wansbeck since the 2010 general election. Born and raised in Ashington, Lavery began work in the construction industry after leaving school before becoming a mining apprentice. Noted for being the sole apprentice to refuse to work during the miners' strike of 1984-1985, he gradually rose up the ranks of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and was chosen to succeed Arthur Scargill as NUM President in 2002. Once elected to
Trade Union and Labour Party Liaison Organisation There are 13 trade unions currently affiliated to the Labour Party at national level. On affiliation to the Labour Party, every union automatically becomes a member of the National Trade Union and Labour Party Liaison Organisation and its General Secretary is entitled to sit on the National TULO Committee, if they are an individual member of the Labour Party. The Committee is jointly chaired by a member from the union side, currently Mick Whelan, and the Labour Party Leader, Jeremy Corbyn. Between 2002 and 2016 the TULO National Officer was Byron Taylor, a former trade union officer and Labour leader