Trimdon Labour Club

Last updated

Trimdon Labour Club
Durham UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Trimdon Labour Club
Location within County Durham
Former namesTrimdon Working Men's Club
General information
StatusClosed
TypeConstituency Labour Club
Address22 Front Street South
Trimdon
County Durham
TS29 6LZ [1]
Coordinates 54°42′05″N1°25′47″W / 54.7015°N 1.4296°W / 54.7015; -1.4296
Opened1993
Closed2010

Trimdon Labour Club was a bar and local branch of Sedgefield Labour Party in the village of Trimdon, County Durham in England. It opened in 1993, as a conversion of a former Working Men's Club. [2] It was the local Labour Club of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who lived in nearby Trimdon Colliery.

Contents

History

The village green in Trimdon; the Labour Club is nearby Trimdon Village Green - geograph.org.uk - 150197.jpg
The village green in Trimdon; the Labour Club is nearby

Trimdon Labour Club opened in its former state as a Working Men's Club in 1919, serving beer to mineworkers from a barrel in a farmer's cottage. [3] It fell into disrepair in the 1980s, before the local Constituency Labour Party took on the running of the club. [2]

It was opened in its repurposed state in 1993 by former Labour Leader Neil Kinnock, with the help of a £350 loan from Sedgefield Labour Party. [4] A year later, in 1994, then-Shadow Home Secretary and MP for Sedgefield Tony Blair announced that he would stand to be Leader of the Labour Party. He succeeded, replacing John Smith, who had died suddenly of a heart attack. [5]

Rise to fame

Tony Blair in 2002 Tony Blair in 2002.jpg
Tony Blair in 2002

In 1997, Tony Blair became Prime Minister after a landslide election, ending 18 years of Conservative rule. [5] His victory speech came from the stage inside the club, sweeping the Labour Party into power and Blair into Number 10 Downing Street. The next year, Blair accompanied French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin for a pint of beer in the bar, [4] and in 1999 a phone call was received from US President Bill Clinton, to which the barmaid asked customers: "Is Tony Blair in?" Blair's agent, John Burton asked who it was, and the barmaid replied that it was "someone called Clinton". [4]

Five years later, Clinton's successor George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush called into the club on a visit to the UK with Blair and his wife Cherie. [6] [7] In June 2007, Blair announced his resignation from the same stage as his election victory speech 10 years earlier, to a crowd of local Labour supporters and anti-war protesters. [8] He returned the next year to make a speech in support of Gordon Brown, who was elected Prime Minister after Blair's resignation. [2]

Demise

In 2010, three years after Blair gave up his Sedgefield seat, Trimdon Labour Club closed, citing reasons including the increase in satellite TV, the smoking ban and cheap supermarket alcohol, all of which reduced custom to the club. The decision was confirmed after the new Conservative Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne announced a hike in the rate of VAT in that year's budget, making staying open unrealistic. The £350 loan from Sedgefield Labour Party was repaid, and the club's secretary Paul Trippet announced that the club would close on 22 July 2010. [2] [9] The former club is now a carpet shop. [10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gordon Brown</span> Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2007 to 2010

James Gordon Brown is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer under Tony Blair from 1997 to 2007. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Dunfermline East from 1983 to 2005 and, following boundary changes, Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath from 2005 to 2015. Brown is both the most recent Labour Party prime minister and the most recent not to be from England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hilary Armstrong</span> British Labour politician

Hilary Jane Armstrong, Baroness Armstrong of Hill Top, DL is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for North West Durham from 1987 to 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Labour Party Conference</span> Annual gathering of the British Labour Party

The Labour Party Conference is the annual conference of the British Labour Party. It is formally the supreme decision-making body of the party and is traditionally held in the final week of September, during the party conference season when the House of Commons is in recess, after each year's second Liberal Democrat Conference and before the Conservative Party Conference. The Labour Party Conference opens on a Sunday and finishes the following Wednesday, with an address by the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party; the Leader's address is usually on the Tuesday. In contrast to the Liberal Democrat Conference, where every party member attending its Conference, either in-person or online, has the right to vote on party policy, under a one member, one vote system, or the Conservative Party Conference, which does not hold votes on party policy, at the Labour Party Conference, 50% of votes are allocated to affiliated organisations, and the other 50% to Constituency Labour Parties, but all voting in both categories is restricted to nominated representatives.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sedgefield (borough)</span> Former local government district in England

Sedgefield District was, from 1974 to 2009, a local government district and, borough in County Durham, in North East England. It had a population of about 87,000. It was named after Sedgefield, but its largest town was Newton Aycliffe. Other places included Shildon, Ferryhill and Spennymoor.

Trimdon is a village in County Durham, in England.

Reginald Thomas Keys is the father of a British serviceman killed in the Iraq War. He stood in the 2005 general election as an anti-war independent candidate for in Sedgefield, a constituency represented by the then Prime Minister, Tony Blair.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sedgefield (UK Parliament constituency)</span> Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom since 1983

Sedgefield is a constituency in County Durham represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2019 by Paul Howell of the Conservative Party. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.

Robert Alan Clay, known as Bob Clay, is a left-wing politician and former Labour MP in the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tony Blair</span> Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007

Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He served as Leader of the Opposition from 1994 to 1997 and held various shadow cabinet posts from 1987 to 1994. Blair was Member of Parliament (MP) for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007. He is the second-longest-serving prime minister in post-war British history and the longest-serving Labour politician to have held the office.

<i>The Deal</i> (2003 film) 2003 television film directed by Stephen Frears

The Deal is a 2003 British television film directed by Stephen Frears from a script by Peter Morgan, based in part upon The Rivals by James Naughtie. The film depicts the Blair–Brown deal, a well-documented pact that Tony Blair and Gordon Brown made, whereby Brown would not stand in the 1994 Labour leadership election so that Blair could have a clear run at becoming leader of the party and later Prime Minister. The film begins in 1983, as Blair and Brown are first elected to Parliament, and ends in 1994 at the Granita restaurant—the location of the supposed agreement—with a brief epilogue following the leadership contest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Premiership of Tony Blair</span> Period of the Government of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007

Tony Blair's term as the prime minister of the United Kingdom began on 2 May 1997 when he accepted an invitation of Queen Elizabeth II to form a government, succeeding John Major of the Conservative Party, and ended on 27 June 2007 upon his resignation. While serving as prime minister, Blair also served as the first lord of the treasury, minister for the civil service and leader of the Labour Party. He and Gordon Brown both extensively used the New Labour branding while in office, which was presented as the brand of a newly reformed party that had altered Clause IV and endorsed market economics. Blair is the second longest serving prime minister in modern history after Margaret Thatcher, and is the longest serving Labour politician to have held the office.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timeline of the 2007 Labour Party leadership election (UK)</span>

This is a timeline of events relating to the final years of Tony Blair's tenure as Leader of the Labour Party and prime minister and the leadership elections to find replacements for him and Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, from his announcement that he would not lead Labour into a fourth general election, concluding with Gordon Brown becoming prime minister.

John Burton was a Labour Party councillor in County Durham, England. He was a member of Sedgefield Borough Council, representing the ward of Fishburn and Old Trimdon. He was the constituency agent of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who represented the Sedgefield constituency from 1983 until standing down as Prime Minister in 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2007 Sedgefield by-election</span>

The 2007 Sedgefield by-election was a by-election held on 19 July 2007 for the House of Commons constituency of Sedgefield in County Durham. The Ealing Southall by-election was also held on 19 July.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phil Wilson (British politician)</span> British Labour politician

Philip Wilson is a British Labour Party politician. He was elected as Member of Parliament (MP) for Sedgefield in a by-election that followed the resignation of Tony Blair, former Prime Minister, from the seat. He lost the seat at the 2019 general election to Paul Howell of the Conservative Party.

Elections to Sedgefield Borough Council were held on 3 May 2007. The whole council was up for election and the Labour Party stayed in overall control of the council.

<i>The Special Relationship</i> (film) 2010 film by Richard Loncraine

The Special Relationship is a 2010 biographical drama television film directed by Richard Loncraine and written by Peter Morgan. It is the third film in Morgan's informal "Blair trilogy", which dramatizes the political career of British Prime Minister Tony Blair (1997–2007), following The Deal (2003) and The Queen (2006), both directed by Stephen Frears.

Sedgefield Community College, which is in the laidlaw trust, is an coeducational secondary school located in Sedgefield in County Durham, England.

The 2007 Labour Party leadership election was triggered on 10 May 2007 by incumbent leader Tony Blair's announcement that he would resign as leader on 27 June. At the same time that Blair resigned, John Prescott resigned as Deputy Leader, triggering a concurrent election for the deputy leadership.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">People's princess</span> Sobriquet given to Diana, Princess of Wales

The term "people's princess" is a sobriquet used on 31 August 1997 by the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Tony Blair to describe Diana, Princess of Wales, following her death earlier that day. The term had first been applied to Diana in a 1992 article by Julie Burchill in the Modern Review, when she described Diana as "the one and only People's – and Pop's – Princess".

References

  1. ↑ "Labour Club, Trimdon". Cyclex. Retrieved 20 April 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Trimdon Labour Club closes down". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
  3. ↑ "Last orders at Trimdon". Club Historians. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
  4. 1 2 3 "Trimdon Labour Club closed". The Northern Echo. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
  5. 1 2 "History of Tony Blair". GOV.UK. Retrieved 11 March 2020.
  6. ↑ "Trimdon, his beginning and his end". The Daily Mirror. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
  7. ↑ "Bush visit ends with Pub and protests". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
  8. ↑ "Tony Blair's Sedgefield send-off". BBC News. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
  9. ↑ "How Blair failed the Working Man". The New Statesman. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
  10. ↑ Pidd, Helen (15 September 2019). "'People have lost faith': support for Labour ebbs away in Blair's Sedgefield". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.