Eric Varley, Baron Varley
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The Right Honourable The Lord Varley PC |
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|---|---|
| Shadow Secretary of State for Employment | |
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In office 14 July 1979 – 31 October 1983 |
|
| Leader |
James Callaghan Michael Foot |
| Preceded by | James Prior |
| Succeeded by | John Smith |
| Shadow Secretary of State for Industry | |
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In office 4 May 1979 – 14 July 1979 |
|
| Leader | James Callaghan |
| Preceded by | John Biffen |
| Succeeded by | John Silkin |
| Secretary of State for Industry | |
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In office 10 June 1975 – 4 May 1979 |
|
| Prime Minister |
Harold Wilson James Callaghan |
| Preceded by | Tony Benn |
| Succeeded by | Sir Keith Joseph, Bt |
| Secretary of State for Energy | |
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In office 5 March 1974 – 10 June 1975 |
|
| Prime Minister | Harold Wilson |
| Preceded by | The Lord Carrington |
| Succeeded by | Tony Benn |
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Member of Parliament for Chesterfield |
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In office 15 October 1964 – 19 January 1984 |
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| Preceded by | George Benson |
| Succeeded by | Tony Benn |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Eric Graham Varley 11 August 1932 Poolsbrook, England |
| Died | 29 July 2008 (aged 75) |
| Political party | Labour |
| Alma mater | Ruskin College |
Eric Graham Varley, Baron Varley, PC (11 August 1932 – 29 July 2008) was an English politician and former Cabinet Minister on the right wing of the Labour Party.
Varley was born in Poolsbrook near Staveley, Chesterfield, Derbyshire and left school at 15 to become a craftsman, first in the local iron works and then for the local mining industry. He was active in the National Union of Mineworkers, and became a branch secretary of the union in 1955, joining the Labour Party the same year. After a period at Ruskin College, Varley won the NUM nomination to be the Labour candidate for his home town, where the sitting Labour Member of Parliament (MP) George Benson was retiring from Parliament. He was narrowly selected in June 1963 and duly held the Chesterfield seat in the 1964 election.
Despite rebelling against the government's application to join the Common Market in 1967, Varley became an Assistant Whip later that year, and Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Prime Minister Harold Wilson in November 1968. He served briefly as a junior minister under Tony Benn at the Ministry of Technology from 1969. During the Labour Party's period of opposition in the early 1970s Varley was Chairman of the Trade Union Group of MPs, and became spokesman on fuel and power.
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