A “giant of the Labour movement” has announced his retirement from public life after more than five decades serving the people of Newcastle.
Jeremy Beecham, the city’s longest serving councillor and a former council leader, has been hailed as one of the most influential British politicians in modern history after confirming he is stepping down. The 77-year-old was first elected as a Labour councillor for Benwell in May 1967, when he was just 22, and has remained on the council ever since.
He served as leader of the local authority from 1977 to 1994, was knighted in 1994, awarded the Freedom of Newcastle in 1995, and appointed to the House of Lords as a life peer in 2010.
