The Right Honourable
The Lord Sheldon
PC
Sheldon in 2011
Financial Secretary to the Treasury
In office
17 June 1975 – 4 May 1979
Prime MinisterHarold Wilson
James Callaghan
Preceded byJohn Gilbert
Succeeded byNigel Lawson
Minister of State for the Treasury
In office
18 October 1974 – 17 June 1975
Prime MinisterHarold Wilson
Preceded byJohn Nott
Succeeded byDenzil Davies
Minister of State for the Civil Service Department
In office
7 April 1974 – 18 October 1974
Prime MinisterHarold Wilson
Preceded byKenneth Baker
Geoffrey Johnson-Smith
Succeeded byCharles Morris
Member of the House of Lords
In office
22 June 2001 – 18 May 2015
Life Peerage
Member of Parliament
for Ashton under Lyne
In office
15 October 1964 – 14 May 2001
Preceded byHervey Rhodes
Succeeded byDavid Heyes
Personal details
Born
Isaac Ezra Shamash

(1923-09-13)13 September 1923
Manchester, England
Died2 February 2020(2020-02-02) (aged 96)
Political partyLabour (from 1945)
Spouses
Eileen Shamash
​
​
(m. 1945; died 1969)​
    Mary Sheldon
    ​
    (m. 1971)​
    Children2

    Robert Edward Sheldon, Baron Sheldon PC (born Isaac Ezra Shamash; 13 September 1923 – 2 February 2020)[1] was a British Labour Party politician and life peer who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Ashton under Lyne from 1964 to 2001.

    Early life and career

    Isaac Ezra Shamash was born in Manchester to a family of Jewish immigrants from Iraq. His parents were Meir, a textile exporter, and Betty Shamash. He changed his name by deed poll in 1943.[2]

    Sheldon was educated at Burnley Grammar School, trained in engineering at Burnley and Stockport technical colleges, and awarded an external degree from the University of London.[3] He joined the Labour Party in 1945 and later served as a Manchester City Councillor. Sheldon worked as director of his family textile firm.

    Political career

    Sheldon first stood for Parliament in Manchester Withington at the 1959 general election and was elected as MP for Ashton under Lyne at the 1964 general election a post he held until 2001.

    He was one of the four directors of the Left Wing Coffee House from 1959-1963 in Manchester as well as Joel Barnett, and Edmund Dell, in addition to the chief funder, Harold Lever.

    Sheldon caused difficulty for the first Wilson government in his support for devaluation of the pound, which the Prime Minister and Chancellor strongly opposed. When Chancellor James Callaghan refused to answer his question on the issue in Parliament, there was a run on the pound.[4]

    He was also staunchly pro-EU, supporting Britain's entry into the European Common Market and later advocating for membership of the European Monetary Union. Sheldon was known for his association with fellow MPs Joel Barnett and Edmund Dell, the three of whom met in Manchester during their youth.[5]

    He briefly served as Civil Service Minister after Labour returned to power in 1974 but was appointed as a Treasury Minister later in the same year. Sheldon was promoted to Financial Secretary to the Treasury from 1975 to 1979 and was made a Privy Counsellor in 1977.

    He served as Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury from 1981 until 1983, when he became Chair of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).[6] In his final term in the House of Commons, Sheldon stepped down from the PAC to chair both the Liaison Committee and Standards and Privileges Committee.

    He stood down from the Commons at the 2001 general election, and was created a life peer as Baron Sheldon, of Ashton-under-Lyne in the County of Greater Manchester, on 22 June 2001.[7] Sheldon retired from the House of Lords on 18 May 2015.[8]

    Personal life

    Sheldon married his first cousin Eileen Shamash in 1945, with whom he had a son and daughter.[9] Eileen died in 1969 and he married again to Mary Shield in 1971. His daughter, Gillian Sargeant, later became a Labour Councillor on Barnet London Borough Council.

    In 2000, he collapsed on the street of a heart attack and was resuscitated by a passer-by, who happened to be former Olympic swimmer Duncan Goodhew.[10] He eventually died of a heart attack on 2 February 2020.

    References

    1. ↑ Former Ashton MP Robert Sheldon Dies Aged 96
    2. ↑ "No. 36197". The London Gazette. 5 October 1943. p. 4422.
    3. ↑ The almanac of British politics p. 25 full text at Google books
    4. ↑ "Lord Sheldon obituary". the Guardian. 5 February 2020. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
    5. ↑ "Lord Sheldon obituary". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
    6. ↑ "Contributors in full". BBC News Online. 13 November 2007. Retrieved 27 March 2010.
    7. ↑ "No. 56257". The London Gazette. 27 June 2001. p. 7571.
    8. ↑ "Retired members of the House of Lords".
    9. ↑ "Robert Edward (Ezra) ("Bob") Sheldon (Living, Male) & Eileen Shamash". www.farhi.org. Retrieved 8 July 2015.
    10. ↑ "Famous Award Winners". Royal Humane Society. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
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