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
National Union of Mineworkers headquarters National Union of Mineworkers headquarters The National Union of Mineworkers headquarters is a building in Sheffield, England which formerly housed the head office of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM). The building was commissioned by Arthur Scargill in the early 1980s in an effort to move the NUM from London to the friendlier territory of the "Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire". Construction began in 1986 and the building opened in 1988. Following the decline of the mining industry the NUM again relocated its headquarters to Barnsley. The NUM occupied the building for less than four years. It then stood derelict