Kinnock supported the aim of the strike – which he famously dubbed the " case for coal " – but, as an MP from a mining area, was bitterly critical of the tactics employed.

Hobsbawm supported Neil Kinnock's transformation of the British Labour Party from 1983 ( the party received just 28 % of the vote in that year's elections, just 2 % more than than the Social Democratic Party / Liberal Alliance ), and, though not close to Kinnock, came to be referred to as " Neil Kinnock's Favourite Marxist ".

She supported John Prescott in the Labour deputy-leadership election in 1988 ( against Eric Heffer and the incumbent Roy Hattersley ), leaving the Socialist Campaign Group, along with Margaret Beckett, as a result of Tony Benn's decision to challenge Neil Kinnock for the leadership.

They supported the view that because there was " a blockage within the Labour Party, created by the right-wing Kinnock leadership at the present time, we have to continue to develop independent work and not allow our distinct political identity to be submerged through fear of expulsions.

This was strongly supported by Neil Kinnock when he became Leader of the Labour Party in 1983, who appointed him shadow minister for International Cooperation.

In 1981, when still Labour's Education spokesman, Kinnock was alleged to have effectively scuppered Tony Benn's attempt to replace Denis Healey as Labour's deputy leader by first supporting the candidacy of the more traditionalist Tribunite John Silkin and then urging Silkin supporters to abstain on the second, run-off, ballot.

Thatcher said: ' In his retirement Harold Macmillan occupied a unique place in the nation's affections ', while Labour leader Neil Kinnock struck a more critical note:

Like many other members of the left in the 1980s, he became more moderate under the leadership of Neil Kinnock, who made him a junior Treasury spokesman in 1989, making him the first black person to join the front bench as a party spokesperson.

Labour leader John Smith died of a heart attack in May 1994 and was succeeded by Tony Blair, who continued the modernisation process of the party which began under Smith's predecessor Neil Kinnock, and by the end of that year the opinion polls were showing Labour support as high as 60 %-putting them more than 30 points ahead of the Tories.

Following Labour's fourth consecutive defeat in the 1992 general election, Kinnock resigned as leader and resigned from the House of Commons three years later in order to become a European Commissioner.

Kinnock was appointed one of Britain's two members of the European Commission, which he served first as Transport Commissioner under President Jacques Santer, in early 1995 ; marking the end of his 25 years in UK parliament.

He is married to Glenys Kinnock, Britain's Minister for Africa and the United Nations from 2009 to 2010, and a Labour Member of the European Parliament ( MEP ) from 1994 to 2009.

Another four new halls, opened in September 1998 by Neil Kinnock, European Commissioner for Transport, took the total space to 190, 000 m < sup > 2 </ sup > ( 2, 045, 142 square feet ).

Before becoming an MP, King was on the European Parliament's Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee, and worked as a political assistant to Glyn Ford MEP, the Labour Party Leader in the European Parliament, and later Glenys Kinnock MEP.

* Glenys Kinnock ( Party of European Socialists )

* Neil Kinnock, former leader of the Labour Party and European Commissioner, born in Tredegar in 1942

She married Stephen Kinnock in 1996, so becoming the daughter-in-law of Neil Kinnock, Baron Kinnock, former leader of the British Labour Party and European Commissioner, and Glenys Kinnock, Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead, former British Minister for Europe.

* Neil Kinnock, former resident, former politician and European Commissioner

Kinnock was also perceived as scoring in debates over Margaret Thatcher in the Commons — previously an area in which he was seen as weak — and finally Conservative MPs challenged Thatcher's leadership and she resigned on 22 November 1990 to be succeeded by John Major.

Kinnock also blamed his defeat on the other newspapers who had backed the Tories in the run-up to the election.

The group also published an election pamphlet, Move On Up, with a foreword by Labour leader Neil Kinnock.

( She had sent a letter to Kinnock claiming to fully support his leadership bid and lobbying for the role, yet also sent an identical letter to Kinnock's opponent in the Labour leadership election, Roy Hattersley.

She was also promoted to the front bench by Neil Kinnock in 1991 as a spokeswoman for health and women.

The song also got help with funding and donations from celebrities such as HRH Prince Charles, ( he also requested a copy to be sent to Buckingham Palace ), The then Prime Minister Mrs Margaret Thatcher, The Labour Party Leadrer Niel Kinnock M. P, and Sir Paul McCartney, and the single was mixed at Abbey Road Recording Studios.

Her agency also represented many of the biggest names in the fashion industry including Katharine Hamnett, Jasper Conran, and Jean-Paul Gaultier ; figures from the world of entertainment such as Annie Lennox, Lenny Henry and Ruby Wax, and even worked briefly with the Labour Party in 1986, helping to promote Neil Kinnock ahead of the 1987 general election.

It was also the birthplace of former Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock who attended Georgetown Infants and Juniors.

He also served as a press officer to Labour leader Neil Kinnock during the 1987 general election.

( he also requested a copy to be sent to Buckingham Palace ), The then Prime Minister Mrs Margaret Thatcher, The Labour Party Leadrer Niel Kinnock M. P, and Sir Paul McCartney, and the single was mixed at Abbey Road Recording Studios.

Burtonwood village also has two doctors ' surgeries, known as Burtonwood Surgery on Clay Lane, and Kinnock Park Surgery.

This action was capable of misinterpretation: Heffer was fully supportive of the council's actions, but not a Militant member, and felt that Kinnock was insulting the whole City, and also that he as the senior Liverpool MP ought to have been told in advance.

Labour Party and opposition leader Neil Kinnock made endless calls for a general election throughout 1991, but Major held out and decided not to call the election until he finally set an election date of 9 April 1992.

In 1953, 11-year-old Kinnock began his secondary education at Lewis School, Pengam, which he later criticised for its record on caning in schools.

In 1988, Kinnock was challenged by Tony Benn for the party leadership.

A new Prime Minister and the fact that Kinnock was now current leader of a major party reduced the impact of calls for " Time for a Change ".

On the day of the general election, The Sun ran an " infamous " front page featuring Kinnock ( headline: ' If Kinnock wins today will the last person to leave Britain please turn out the lights ') that he blamed in his resignation speech for losing Labour the election.

Kinnock explained his change of attitude, despite the continuing presence of 90 hereditary peers and appointment by patronage, by asserting that the Lords was a good base for campaigning.

In 1984, Kinnock appeared in the video for the Tracey Ullman song " My Guy " ( his daughter was a fan ) as a someone with a clipboard canvassing on a council estate.

Labour politician Neil Kinnock in the 1980s jokingly called for The Archers to be retitled " The Grundys and their Oppressors ".

Benn stood for election as Party Leader in 1988, against Neil Kinnock, following Labour's third successive defeat in the 1987 general election, and lost by a substantial margin.

It showed support with the Labour Party in the UK, starting with the 1992 general election, when Neil Kinnock was attempting for the second time to return Labour to government for the first time since they had been ousted from power in 1979.

He first entered parliament in 1970 and was the Secretary of State for Trade from 1978 – 1979 and then the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer under Neil Kinnock from 1987-1992.

He was promoted to the Shadow Frontbench in 1984 by Neil Kinnock as a Spokesman for Northern Ireland.

Under the influence of Eric Hobsbawm on the opposing wing of the party Martin Jacques became the editor of the party's theoretical journal Marxism Today and rapidly made it a significant publication for Eurocommunist opinions in the party, and eventually for revisionist tendencies in the wider liberal-left, in particular for the soft left around Neil Kinnock in the Labour Party.

The previous two party leaders, Neil Kinnock and John Smith, had begun efforts to modernise the party as a strategy for electoral success, before Smith died in 1994.

Alastair Campbell was the Labour Party's Press Secretary and led a strategy to neutralise the influence of the press ( which had weakened former Labour leader Neil Kinnock ) and create allies for the party.

He worked as a television producer at London Weekend Television on Weekend World before Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock appointed him as Director of Communications in 1985, with a view to his overseeing Labour's campaign for the next general election, which was ultimately held in June 1987 and ended in a third successive win for Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government, although the Conservative majority was slightly reduced as Labour gained 20 seats.