Lord Triesman first became a full-time union official of NATFHE in 1984, rising to the post of National Negotiating Secretary, and was General Secretary of the Association of University Teachers from 1993 until 2001 and the General Secretary of the Labour Party from 2001 to 2003. He was created a Life Peer on 9 January 2004 taking the title Baron Triesman, of Tottenham in the London Borough of Haringey, prior to which he was elected a Visiting Fellow of Wolfson College, Cambridge in 2000, for the study of Higher Education.
Under Tony Blair's third Labour administration, he served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and in the reshuffle of June 2007, he was moved to the newly-created post of Parliamentary Under-Secretary of the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills. A longtime fan of Tottenham Hotspur, Triesman became the first independent Chairman of the Football Association in January 2008 and, responsible for chairing the England football team and for international relations, became a leading figure in governance and anti-corruption.
Lord Triesman is a widely published journalist, academic, a broadcaster, speaker and author of approximately 50 specialist articles on economics, medical epidemiology, and regeneration. He is currently writing two ‘inside story’ books, one on the trials and tribulations of English and global football; and the second on the inner life of a big political machine in the years in government. As a speaker, much as with his professional conduct, he is candid, honest and pulls no punches, making each and every public appearance exciting, humorous and thought-provoking.
