Tony Woodley says he accepts Labour peerage to help work of Gordon Brown

Tony Woodley, a former general secretary of party-affiliated Unite the Union, has accepted a peerage that was offered by Jeremy Corbyn when he was still Labour leader after initially turning it down over the summer.

As reported by LabourList in August, Woodley originally said he was “deeply honoured” to be invited to join Labour’s team in the House of Lords but “after the most careful reflection” had decided not to accept the offer.

But the trade unionist has now changed his mind and opted to accept the peerage. He has attributed this decision to a desire to help Gordon Brown and the former Prime Minister’s work on the ‘Alliance for Full Employment’.

Woodley said: “I was proud to be recommended for a peerage by Jeremy Corbyn but some weeks ago I announced that I had decided I would prefer to remain a campaigner for working people from outside the House of Lords.

“Since then a number of people have urged me to reconsider. I have been particularly influenced by former Labour premier Gordon Brown who is now leading the Alliance for Full Employment to help avert the looming disaster of the return of mass unemployment, particularly among the young.

“There could not be a cause closer to my heart, and if I can help Gordon and Labour from within the Lords as proposed then I feel that I have an obligation to do so.

“I know that this change of heart will disappoint those who reject peerages on principle, but those who know me will be assured that wherever I am or whatever title I hold I will always put the interests of working people first, as I have done all my life.”

Woodley was general secretary of the Transport and General Workers’ Union (TGWU) from 2004 until 2007, before becoming joint general secretary of Unite when the union merged with Amicus. He stepped down from the role in 2011.