David Triesman, Baron Triesman
Encyclopedia
David Maxim Triesman, Baron Triesman (born 30 October 1943) is a former Chairman of the Football Association
, a British
politician, a Labour
member of the House of Lords
and previously a minister at the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills
.
, the Russian
author) was born in October 1943 into a North London
Jewish community, the son of a Belarus
ian father and a French
mother. Triesman was educated at the Stationers' Company's School
, London
, and the University of Essex
.
Triesman was suspended from Essex in 1968 after breaking up a meeting addressed by a defence industry scientist.
but ten years later resigned and joined the Communist Party
where he remained until the winter of 1976/1977, whereupon he returned to the Labour party.
For a number of years he was a lecturer and union leader at South Bank Polytechnic (now London South Bank University
)
Triesman first became a full-time union official at NATFHE in 1984. He was General Secretary of the Association of University Teachers
trade union from 1993 to 2001 and the General Secretary of the Labour Party
2001 to 2003. He was made a Life Peer
in January 2004 as Baron Triesman, of Tottenham
in the London Borough of Haringey
.
Triesman contributed to establishing the extant precedent that a trade union may not provide assistance to complainants of racist or sexist harassment where the complaint is against member(s) of the same union, in Weaver v NATFHE
.
, Triesman was Parliamentary Under Secretary
in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
, with responsibility for: relations with Africa
, Latin America
, the Caribbean
, Overseas Territories, the Commonwealth
, UK visas
, migration policy, consular policy, the British Council
, the BBC World Service
and the Chevening Scholarships Scheme. In the 29 June 2007 reshuffle he was given the new post of Parliamentary Under-Secretary for the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills
.
, Triesman became the first independent chairman of the Football Association
in January 2008.
In February 2011, a few months after giving up the chairmanship, he testified before a Parliamentary committee on the state of the administration of English football. He was heavily critical of the FA, saying it was shying away from governing the game. He was especially damning of the FA's administrative procedures and its working relationship with other football bodies, in particular the Premier League.
. Triesman said, "There’s some evidence that the Spanish football authorities are trying to identify the referees ... and pay them." It was announced that he was to 'quit' both the FA
and England's 2018 bid. He also made disparaging remarks about the Labour Party's 2010 General Election campaign, saying: "I think Gordon’s been awful."
On 10 May 2011, Triesman, speaking before a British parliamentary inquiry, made bribery allegations concerning four FIFA
members, claiming that they sought bribes in return for backing England's failed 2018 World Cup bid.
The Football Association
The Football Association, also known as simply The FA, is the governing body of football in England, and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. It was formed in 1863, and is the oldest national football association...
, a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
politician, a Labour
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
member of the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
and previously a minister at the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills
Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills
The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills was a UK government department created on 28 June 2007 to take over some of the functions of the Department of Education and Skills and of the Department of Trade and Industry. In June 2009 it was merged into the newly formed Department for...
.
Background
David Maxim Triesman (Maxim because his mother admired Maxim GorkyMaxim Gorky
Alexei Maximovich Peshkov , primarily known as Maxim Gorky , was a Russian and Soviet author, a founder of the Socialist Realism literary method and a political activist.-Early years:...
, the Russian
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
author) was born in October 1943 into a North London
North London
North London is the northern part of London, England. It is an imprecise description and the area it covers is defined differently for a range of purposes. Common to these definitions is that it includes districts located north of the River Thames and is used in comparison with South...
Jewish community, the son of a Belarus
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
ian father and a French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
mother. Triesman was educated at the Stationers' Company's School
Stationers' Company's School
The Stationers' Company's School was a former boys' grammar school, then comprehensive in Hornsey.-History:It started as the Stationers' Company's Foundation School. In 1861 it was established at Bolt Court near Fleet Street. In 1891 it moved to Mayfield Road in Hornsey, west of Crouch End.-Grammar...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, and the University of Essex
University of Essex
The University of Essex is a British campus university whose original and largest campus is near the town of Colchester, England. Established in 1963 and receiving its Royal Charter in 1965...
.
Triesman was suspended from Essex in 1968 after breaking up a meeting addressed by a defence industry scientist.
Politics and union career
In 1960, aged 17, Triesman became a member of the Labour PartyLabour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
but ten years later resigned and joined the Communist Party
Communist Party of Great Britain
The Communist Party of Great Britain was the largest communist party in Great Britain, although it never became a mass party like those in France and Italy. It existed from 1920 to 1991.-Formation:...
where he remained until the winter of 1976/1977, whereupon he returned to the Labour party.
For a number of years he was a lecturer and union leader at South Bank Polytechnic (now London South Bank University
London South Bank University
London South Bank University is a university in south London. With over 25,000 students and 1,700 staff, it is based in the London Borough of Southwark, near the South Bank of the River Thames, from which it takes its name...
)
Triesman first became a full-time union official at NATFHE in 1984. He was General Secretary of the Association of University Teachers
Association of University Teachers
The Association of University Teachers was the trade union and professional association that represented academic and academic-related staff at pre-1992 universities in the United Kingdom...
trade union from 1993 to 2001 and the General Secretary of the Labour Party
General Secretary of the Labour Party
The General Secretary is the most senior employee of the British Labour Party, and acts as the non-voting secretary to the National Executive Committee...
2001 to 2003. He was made a Life Peer
Life peer
In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the Peerage whose titles cannot be inherited. Nowadays life peerages, always of baronial rank, are created under the Life Peerages Act 1958 and entitle the holders to seats in the House of Lords, presuming they meet qualifications such as...
in January 2004 as Baron Triesman, of Tottenham
Tottenham
Tottenham is an area of the London Borough of Haringey, England, situated north north east of Charing Cross.-Toponymy:Tottenham is believed to have been named after Tota, a farmer, whose hamlet was mentioned in the Domesday Book; hence Tota's hamlet became Tottenham...
in the London Borough of Haringey
London Borough of Haringey
The London Borough of Haringey is a London borough, in North London, classified by some definitions as part of Inner London, and by others as part of Outer London. It was created in 1965 by the amalgamation of three former boroughs. It shares borders with six other London boroughs...
.
Triesman contributed to establishing the extant precedent that a trade union may not provide assistance to complainants of racist or sexist harassment where the complaint is against member(s) of the same union, in Weaver v NATFHE
Weaver v NATFHE
Weaver v National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education EAT is a UK labour law case, concerning racial discrimination.-Facts:...
.
Government
In the third Labour government under Tony BlairTony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
, Triesman was Parliamentary Under Secretary
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State
A Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State is the lowest of three tiers of government minister in the government of the United Kingdom, junior to both a Minister of State and a Secretary of State....
in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, commonly called the Foreign Office or the FCO is a British government department responsible for promoting the interests of the United Kingdom overseas, created in 1968 by merging the Foreign Office and the Commonwealth Office.The head of the FCO is the...
, with responsibility for: relations with Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
, the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
, Overseas Territories, the Commonwealth
Commonwealth of Nations
The Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states...
, UK visas
Visa (document)
A visa is a document showing that a person is authorized to enter the territory for which it was issued, subject to permission of an immigration official at the time of actual entry. The authorization may be a document, but more commonly it is a stamp endorsed in the applicant's passport...
, migration policy, consular policy, the British Council
British Council
The British Council is a United Kingdom-based organisation specialising in international educational and cultural opportunities. It is registered as a charity both in England and Wales, and in Scotland...
, the BBC World Service
BBC World Service
The BBC World Service is the world's largest international broadcaster, broadcasting in 27 languages to many parts of the world via analogue and digital shortwave, internet streaming and podcasting, satellite, FM and MW relays...
and the Chevening Scholarships Scheme. In the 29 June 2007 reshuffle he was given the new post of Parliamentary Under-Secretary for the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills
Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills
The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills was a UK government department created on 28 June 2007 to take over some of the functions of the Department of Education and Skills and of the Department of Trade and Industry. In June 2009 it was merged into the newly formed Department for...
.
Football administration
A longtime fan of Tottenham HotspurTottenham Hotspur F.C.
Tottenham Hotspur Football Club , commonly referred to as Spurs, is an English Premier League football club based in Tottenham, north London. The club's home stadium is White Hart Lane....
, Triesman became the first independent chairman of the Football Association
The Football Association
The Football Association, also known as simply The FA, is the governing body of football in England, and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. It was formed in 1863, and is the oldest national football association...
in January 2008.
In February 2011, a few months after giving up the chairmanship, he testified before a Parliamentary committee on the state of the administration of English football. He was heavily critical of the FA, saying it was shying away from governing the game. He was especially damning of the FA's administrative procedures and its working relationship with other football bodies, in particular the Premier League.
Comments about bribery allegations
On 16 May 2010, the Mail on Sunday revealed that Melissa Jacobs, a civil servant and blogger, had secretly tape-recorded Triesman in a restaurant. He made comments about alleged bribery attempts by Spain and Russia of referees in the 2010 FIFA World Cup2010 FIFA World Cup
The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national association football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010...
. Triesman said, "There’s some evidence that the Spanish football authorities are trying to identify the referees ... and pay them." It was announced that he was to 'quit' both the FA
FA
Fa or FA may refer to:- Education :* Falmouth Academy* Foxcroft Academy* Friends Academy* Fryeburg Academy- Finance :* Federal Association, Federal Savings Bank* Financial adviser* Financial analyst- Government and law :...
and England's 2018 bid. He also made disparaging remarks about the Labour Party's 2010 General Election campaign, saying: "I think Gordon’s been awful."
On 10 May 2011, Triesman, speaking before a British parliamentary inquiry, made bribery allegations concerning four FIFA
FIFA
The Fédération Internationale de Football Association , commonly known by the acronym FIFA , is the international governing body of :association football, futsal and beach football. Its headquarters are located in Zurich, Switzerland, and its president is Sepp Blatter, who is in his fourth...
members, claiming that they sought bribes in return for backing England's failed 2018 World Cup bid.