Joel Barnett, Baron Barnett

Encyclopedia : J : JO : JOE : Joel Barnett, Baron Barnett

Joel Barnett, Baron Barnett, PC (born 14 October 1923), is a Labour member of the House of Lords. He was made a Life Peer in 1983.

Barnett was educated at Manchester Central High School. He worked as an accountant. He was elected a councillor on Prestwich Borough Council 1956-1959 and was treasurer of Manchester Fabian Society.

Barnett stood in Runcorn in 1959 without success. He was elected Member of Parliament for Heywood and Royton in 1964. He was a member of the Public Accounts Committee from January 1966.

Barnett served as Chief Secretary to the Treasury from 1974 to 1979 gaining a seat in the cabinet from 1977 onwards and was Dennis Healy's right hand man in the Callaghan Government. During this time he oversaw the devising of what is known as the Barnett Formula by which Scotland and Wales receive a higher proportion of government spending per head than England, due to the geographic problems of service provision. He has since joked about the strange and unexpected form of immortality that has been accorded to him by 'having his own Formula'.

Having been seen as very much to the right wing of the Callaghan Labour Party he is very much "Left Wing" in the Blair New Labour Party.. the irony being that his politics has remained constant whereas the Party has moved dramatically to the right.

(1972) - "Man is so intrinsically related to nature that when he sins against God, nature suffers; and when he obeys God, nature rejoices"

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.