Michael Meacher

Michael Meacher    (academic, politician)
Born	Michael Hugh Meacher 1939-11-04 Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England
Died	21 October 2015 (Age 75)
Cause of death	"A short illness"
Alma mater	New College (Oxford), London School of Economics
Spouse	Molly Reid
Member of	9/11 Consensus Panel
Party	Labour
Minister of State for the Environment In office 2 May 1997 - 13 June 2003  Shadow Minister for Environmental Protection In office 25 July 1996 - 2 May 1997  Shadow Secretary of State for Transport  In office 20 October 1994 - 19 October 1995 Preceded by Frank Dobson  Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster In office 21 October 1993 - 20 October 1994 Succeeded by Ann Taylor  Shadow Minister for the Citizen's Charter In office 21 October 1993 - 20 October 1994 Succeeded by Ann Taylor  Shadow Minister for Overseas Development  In office 18 July 1992 - 21 October 1993  Shadow Secretary of State for Social Security  In office 2 November 1989 - 18 July 1992  Shadow Secretary of State for Employment In office 13 July 1987 - 2 November 1989 Preceded by John Prescott Succeeded by Tony Blair  Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Services In office 31 October 1983 - 13 July 1987 Succeeded by Robin Cook  Under-Secretary of State for Trade In office 5 April 1976 - 4 May 1979  Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Security In office 12 June 1975 - 5 April 1976  Under-Secretary of State for Industry In office 7 March 1974 - 12 June 1975  Member of Parliament for Oldham West and Royton In office 18 June 1970 - 21 October 2015 Preceded by Kenneth Baker, George Brown, Gwyneth Dunwoody, Niall MacDermot, Robert Maxwell, David Winnick

Michael Meacher, Labour MP since 1970 and former Minister of the Environment, died on 21 October 2015. Jeremy Corbyn's biographer wrote:

"Since Corbyn became Labour leader, there has been a demise around which some speculation swirls. His good friend Michael Meacher, MP for Oldham West and Royton, who had appeared in robust health, died unexpectedly after a short illness the details of which have never been disclosed. Meacher once wrote a cogent analysis of the questions surrounding the 9/11 attacks and reportedly had been lately taking renewed interest in the matter."

The online journal Veterans Today said that when Meacher broke ranks with the liars and traitors back in 2003, and came out for 9/11 truth in the pages of The Guardian, the Deep State panicked – and Meacher was targeted for vilification and threats.

Left-winger

Michael Meacher: 'Benn's vicar on earth'

Michael Meacher was on the party’s left throughout his long career, though this did not prevent him serving as a junior minister in the late 1970s. After 1979, when Tony Benn was running a campaign to pull the Labour Party to the left, and had his sights on the party leadership, Meacher was so important to the cause that he was awarded the nickname ‘Benn’s vicar on earth’. In 1983, he ran unsuccessfully for the deputy leadership as the left’s standard bearer, while Benn was temporarily out of Parliament.

Though he was beaten in that contest by Roy Hattersley, Meacher’s prominence secured him a place on Labour’s shadow cabinet, which in those days was elected by Labour MPs. He was re-elected every year from 1983 to 1996, an indication that he was more popular among fellow MPs than with successive party leaders.

Neil Kinnock was obliged to give him a senior job, but in 1988 removed him from the politically sensitive post as shadow employment secretary, to bring in the younger and more junior Tony Blair. In 1997, Meacher’s status as the longest serving member of the shadow cabinet should, under party rules, have guaranteed him a job in the first Labour cabinet, but Tony Blair ignored the rules and made him a middle ranking environment minister instead.

Despite the humiliation, Meacher refused to resign even when his position as a minister obliged him to go through the motions of supporting the Iraq War. He was sacked in June 2003. His re-election in May 2015 made him, at the age of 75, one of the four longest serving MPs in the Commons.

In July, as a Corbyn victory loomed, Meacher wrote: “The arrogance and intolerance of the Blairites is breathtaking. Faced with the prospect of a runaway victory for Jeremy Corbyn who has come from repudiated outsider to front-runner in scarcely more than a month, their sole response is to prepare a coup against Corbyn if he is elected.”

Outspoken

Towards the end of his 45-year parliamentary career, Michael Meacher was outspoken about the Bilderberg group, and after their meeting in Watford in 2013, he proposed a private members bill demanding a report on the meeting from each of the UK participants.

In response to Meacher's 2012 article "What is Cameron hiding over Megrahi?", former diplomat and Lockerbie campaigner Patrick Haseldine wrote suggesting "David Cameron has a secret about Lockerbie"

Twenty four years earlier, answering a question put by the same Patrick Haseldine, Meacher spoke strongly in support of imposing economic sanctions against apartheid South Africa on BBC Question Time on 25 February 1988 and, when chairman Sir Robin Day called for a show of hands, 60% of the studio audience voted in favour.

Death

The BBC repeated the Oldham Chronicle's information that Meacher "died after a short illness". Details seem scarce.

Suspicions

Tony Gosling notes that Michael Meacher was a firm opponent of the "War On Terror" and that his Twitter account was summarily deleted.

 

Documents by Michael Meacher

Title	Document type	Publication date	Subject(s)	Description
Document:Ed Miliband’s decision to oppose military action against Syria is an action of statesmanship of which Britons will be proud	Article	28 August 2013	Iran Ed Miliband Iraq Libya Russia Syria Bashar al Assad Syrian Chemical Weapons Attack Afghanistan Rupert Murdoch Jeremy Corbyn Brian Leveson	It is all very well to rush to war in a surge of moral outrage, it is quite another to spell out clearly what are the war objectives and how exactly they are to be achieved.
Document:This war on terrorism is bogus	article	6 September 2003	Project for the New American Century War on Terror/Purposes

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