Thomas Burlison, Baron Burlison

Football player infobox
playername = Tom Burlison
fullname = Thomas Henry Burlison
dateofbirth = birth date|1936|5|23|df=y
cityofbirth = Edmondsley
countryofbirth = England
dateofdeath = death date and age|2008|5|20|1936|5|23|df=y
cityofdeath = Gateshead
countryofdeath = England
position = Wing-half
youthyears =
youthclubs =
years = 1954–1957
1957–1964
1964–1965
clubs = Lincoln City
Hartlepool United
Darlington
caps(goals) = 000 (0)
148 (5)
026 (2)
pcupdate = 16:48, 4 August 2008 (UTC)

Thomas Henry Burlison, Baron Burlison, DL (23 May 1936 – 20 May 2008) was a British footballer and GMB trade unionist. He was the first professional footballer to take a seat in the House of Lords.

Burlison was born in Edmondsley, County Durham, the son of a miner, Robert Burlison, and his wife, Georgina. He was educated in Edmondsley and worked as panel beater from 1951 to 1957, joining the General and Municipal Workers' Union (GMWU, later merged to form the GMB).

He was a professional footballer from 1953 to 1965 (playing for Lincoln City, Hartlepool United and Darlington). Between 1959 and 1961, he did National Service in the Royal Air Force.

He became a regional officer of the GMB in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1965, and regional secretary in 1978. A polite and unassuming man with a low profile, he was an effective "fixer" behind the scenes, drawing from a base in the union's heartland in the northeast, and responsible for setting many on the path to power. His staff included former Labour ministers Nick Brown and Doug Henderson, and former MEP and Labour leader in the European parliament Alan Donnelly. He was also ionvolved in the selection of many Labour MPs, including Tony Blair and Peter Mandelson.

He was involved in the negotiations in 1982 to merge the GMWU with the Boilermakers to form the General, Municipal, Boilermakers and Allied Trades Union. He was runner-up behind John Edmonds in the election for general secretary of the GMB in 1985. The GMB merged with APEX in 1989 for form the GMB Union, and Burlison served as deputy general secretary of the merged union from 1991 to 1996. He was also treasurer of the Labour Party from 1992 to 1996. He was chairman of the TUC northern region for nine years. He was also a trustee of the Board of Governors of the University of Northumbria, a Deputy Lieutenant and Honorary President of Hartlepool United. He was an important moderniser on Labour's National Executive Committee in the years before the party's landslide victory at the 1997 UK general election.

On 21 October 1997, he was created a life peer as Baron Burlison of Rowlands Gill, in the County of Tyne and Wear. He was a working peer, and was a Lord in Waiting (a Government whip in the House of Lords) from 1999 to 2001.

Burlison married Valerie Stephenson in 1981. They had two sons and one daughter.

Burlison lived in Rowlands Gill, Tyne and Wear, for at least 20 years. He died in Gateshead on 20 May 2008 at the age of 71. [cite news
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/tees/7413645.stm
title=Footballer turned peer dies at 71
date=2008-05-21
accessdate=2008-05-21
publisher=BBC Sport]

References

*cite web | url= http://www.dodonline.co.uk/engine.asp?lev1=4&lev2=38&menu=81&biog=y&id=26576| title= DodOnline| accessdate= 2007-02-12
* [http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/lord-burlison-gmb-and-labour-stalwart-832816.html Obituary: "The Independent", 23 May 2008]
* [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/2016928/Lord-Tom-Burlison-Trade-union-stalwart-and-Labour-fixer-who-became-the-first-professional-footballer-to-take-a-seat-in-the-House-of-Lords.html Obituary: "The Daily Telegraph", 23 May 2008]
* [http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/jun/11/tradeunions.labour Obituary: "The Guardian", 11 June 2008]