Peter Brichford

[Peter Brichford]

Name: Peter Charles Brichford
Avatar: Earl Blumenauer
Age: 60, DOB 5/8/1947
Sex: Male
Marital Status: Married
Sexual Orientation: Heterosexual.

Party: Labour Party
Political Outlook: Socialism, Euroscepticism, Environmentalism, 
Constituency: Vauxhall
Year Elected: 1983

Education:
Borough Polytechnic Institute (1968)
Open University (1975)

Career:
Mechanical Engineer (1968-1983)
Policy Researcher, AUE (1974-1977)
University Lecturer at Polytechnic of the South Bank (1978-1983)
Co-operative cycling, bookstore and grocery  (1970-)

Political Career:
Lambeth London Borough Council (1978-1983)
Member of Parliament for Vauxhall (1983-)

Family: 

Anne Brichford (Wife, Economics professor), Charles (father, former MP), Andy (Son, musician), Margot (Daughter, 

 

Peter Charles Brichford was born the final of four children to Charles and Margaret Brichford on May 8^th, 1947. His mother Margaret had been a homemaker and seamstress and his father was a dockworker, an official in the Transport and General Workers Union and later Member of Parliament for Poplar South (later Poplar) from 1945-1959.

Peter was raised in a staunchly Socialist home and spent much of his youth involved in his father’s political affairs. His father stood down from Parliament in 1959 due to poor health, but he continued to be involved in Labour politics until his death in 1965. Peter was academically inclined as a youngster, but did not originally plan to go to university. His uncle Samuel was a mechanical engineer as well as an official with the Amalgamated Engineering Union and encouraged Peter to explore both his interests in machinery and academics. He enrolled in the Borough Polytechnic Institute and obtained a degree in mechanical engineering in 1968.

In 1970 he became actively involved in the cooperative movement, and was a founding member of several co-ops focused on cycling, groceries and used books. In 1972 he enrolled in The Open University and began studying both politics and economics. He became a policy researcher for the AUE in 1974 and was an advisor to Hugh Scanlon. In 1978 he began lecturing at the University of the South Bank and was later elected to the Lambeth London Borough Council. He was outspoken figure on the left wing of the council and supported Tony Benn’s 1981 campaign for the Deputy Leadership of the Labour Party.

In 1983 he was selected to contest the safe seat of Vauxhall but was deeply disappointed when the party was defeated and Michael Foot was replaced by Neil Kinnock. He spent much of the next near decade at the center of the internal fights within the Labour Party. He was a staunch critic of Kinnock, frequently breaking the party whip in Parliament and heckling Kinnock and Roy Hattersley at Conference. He became friends with James Byrne during Tony Benn’s 1988 leadership challenge, assisting with the organizing of the campaign.

During much of the early and mid-1990s, Peter was a frequent contributor to many left wing publications, including reoccurring columns on topics such as economics, human rights and social justice. He used the columns as an opportunity to criticize the continued rightward drift of the Labour Party. He was an outspoken critic of the rewriting of Clause IV which he considered a massive betrayal of Labour Party members and workers across Britain.

Following Labour’s victory in 1997, Peter worked to champion issues related to child poverty, a meaningful living wage and pushed for expanded powers for trade unions. He remained a vocal critic of Blair and frequently rebelled against government policy on issues ranging from the war in Iraq, to Trident, ID cards and extended detention without trial. He was a sponsor of the Stop the War Coalition and frequently denounced the international corporate and military industrial complex which profits from the deaths of innocent people and global conflict. He is a noted Eurosceptic, and has repeatedly criticized British membership of the European Union.

Peter lives with his wife in London. His American wife Anne is a Professor of Political Economy at the London School of Economics. He is close friends through his wife with Dr. Cornel West. He is also an avid cyclist, environmentalist, pro-cannabis campaigner and vegetarian.

 

Edited April 3, 2022 by Peter Brichford
Narrative