The Lord Sheldon | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Financial Secretary to the Treasury | |
| In office 17 June 1975 – 4 May 1979 | |
| Prime Minister | Harold Wilson James Callaghan |
| Preceded by | John Gilbert |
| Succeeded by | Nigel Lawson |
| Minister of State for the Treasury | |
| In office 18 October 1974 – 17 June 1975 | |
| Prime Minister | Harold Wilson |
| Preceded by | John Nott |
| Succeeded by | Denzil Davies |
| Minister of State for the Civil Service Department | |
| In office 7 April 1974 – 18 October 1974 | |
| Prime Minister | Harold Wilson |
| Preceded by | Kenneth Baker Geoffrey Johnson-Smith |
| Succeeded by | Charles Morris |
| Member of theHouse of Lords | |
| In office 22 June 2001 – 18 May 2015 Life Peerage | |
| Member of Parliament forAshton under Lyne | |
| In office 15 October 1964 – 14 May 2001 | |
| Preceded by | Hervey Rhodes |
| Succeeded by | David Heyes |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Isaac Ezra Shamash (1923-09-13)13 September 1923 Manchester, England |
| Died | 2 February 2020(2020-02-02) (aged 96) |
| Political party | Labour (from 1945) |
| Spouses | |
| Relations | Gerald Shamash (first cousin) |
| Children | 2 |
Robert Edward Sheldon, Baron SheldonPC (bornIsaac Ezra Shamash; 13 September 1923 – 2 February 2020)[1] was a BritishLabour Party politician andlife peer who served asMember of Parliament (MP) forAshton under Lyne from 1964 to 2001.
Isaac Ezra Shamash was born inManchester to a family ofJewish immigrants fromIraq. His parents were Jack, a textile exporter, and Betty Shamash. His family always called him Bobby and so he changed his name bydeed poll in 1943.[2]
Sheldon was privately educated atLatymer Upper School, trained in engineering at Burnley and Stockport technical colleges, and awarded anexternal degree from theUniversity of London.[3] He joined the Labour Party in 1945 and later served as aManchester City Councillor. Sheldon worked as director of his family textile firm.
Sheldon first stood for Parliament inManchester Withington at the1959 general election and was elected as MP forAshton under Lyne at the1964 general election a post he held until 2001.[4]
He was one of the four directors of the Left Wing Coffee House from 1959 to 1963 in Manchester as well asJoel Barnett, andEdmund Dell, in addition to the chief funder,Harold Lever.[citation needed] By early 1976, all four of these men would be serving as government ministers together, working directly alongside Chancellor Healey.
Sheldon caused difficulty for thefirst Wilson government in his support for devaluation of the pound, which thePrime Minister andChancellor strongly opposed. When ChancellorJames Callaghan refused to answer his question on the issue in Parliament, there was a run on the pound.[5]
He was also staunchly pro-EU, supporting Britain's entry into theEuropean Common Market and later advocating for membership of theEuropean Monetary Union. Sheldon was known for his association with fellow MPsJoel Barnett andEdmund Dell, the three of whom met in Manchester during their youth.[6]
He briefly served asCivil Service Minister after Labour returned to power in 1974 but was appointed as aTreasury Minister later in the same year. Sheldon was promoted toFinancial Secretary to the Treasury from 1975 to 1979 and was made aPrivy Counsellor in 1977.
He served asShadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury from 1981 until 1983, when he became Chair of thePublic Accounts Committee (PAC).[7] In his final term in theHouse of Commons, Sheldon stepped down from the PAC to chair both theLiaison Committee andStandards and Privileges Committee.
He stood down from the Commons at the2001 general election, and was created alife peer asBaron Sheldon, of Ashton-under-Lyne in the County ofGreater Manchester, on 22 June 2001.[8] Sheldon retired from theHouse of Lords on 18 May 2015.[9]
Sheldon married his first cousin Eileen Shamash in 1945, with whom he had a son and daughter.[10] Eileen died in 1969 and he married again to Mary Shield in 1971. His daughter, Gillian Sargeant, later became a Labour Councillor onBarnet London Borough Council.
In 2000, he collapsed on the street of a heart attack and was resuscitated by a passer-by, who happened to be former Olympic swimmerDuncan Goodhew.[11] He eventually died of a heart attack on 2 February 2020.
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forAshton under Lyne 1964–2001 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Financial Secretary to the Treasury 1975–1979 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
