Former MP for Oldham, Lord Bryan Davies, has died at the age of 86.
The late British Labour politician first entered the Houses of Parliament as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Enfield North in London which he held for five years between 1974 and 1979 before losing to the Conservatives. He was then elected 13 years later in 1992 as the MP for Oldham Central and Royton.
However in 1997, that constituency was abolished due to boundary changes and Baron Davies was beaten in the Labour selection process for the new constituency of Oldham West and Royton by Michael Meacher. Later that year, he was given a life peerage in the House of Lords and subsequently became known as Baron Davies of Oldham.
He held this position until July 9 2024 where he was removed as a member because of non-attendance. The Association of Former Members of Parliament said he died in October 2026.
Baron Davies served as Government Deputy Chief Whip in the House of Lords from 2003 to 2010, and as usual for a holder of that position, also held the position of Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard.
In one of his last speeches in Parliament made in 2021, Baron Davies said: “One of the things I miss most at present is that Covid has taken away school visits for a lot of us. I enjoy talking to young people, by young I mean 15 to 16 year-olds and sixth formers, who are certainly young in comparison to the vast majority of us because two things crop up each time.
“The first is “how do you become a politician?” That is interesting, because it seems to give the impression that it is a career in which you have to learn to make the progress of securing first base and then move on from there.
“I am afraid that I tend to destroy those illusions fairly fast. I have a good record of failure in politics, so they do believe me after a short while.
“The second aspect, which is of great importance, is that they do believe that our society can be made better and that there can be improvements—and there are aspects of this debate that must be translated into those anticipations so that it is recognised that the body politic needs improving.”
Before he entered politics, Baron Davies was educated at Redditch County High School in Worcestershire and studied at University College London, the Institute of Education, as well as the London School of Economics. He worked as a history teacher at the Latymer School from 1962 to 1965 and as a history and social science lecturer and assistant dean at Middlesex University.
While he was a teacher, he was a trade union official in the National Association for Teachers in Further and Higher Education and was a member of the Transport and General Workers Union, which preceded Unite the Union.
