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
President of the Trades Union Congress the vice-president, Ebby Edwards, who had presided over the previous year's congress. In recent years, the President has once more been elected at the annual congress, but now officially fills the office for the remainder of the year and then presides over the following year's conference (in the years listed below). President of the Trades Union Congress The President of the Trades Union Congress is a prominent but largely honorary position in British trade unionism. Initially, the post of president was elected at the annual Trades Union Congress (TUC) itself, and would serve just for the duration of the congress.