Education
Despite his Jewish surname, Cohen was in fact of Irish descent and was educated at Saint Patrick and Saint Charles Roman Catholic schools in Leeds.
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Stan Cohen
Edit ProfileMember of Parliament in the United Kingdom
Career
He was on the trade unionist right-wing of the party during the early 1980s struggle for control of the party, and as such suffered deselection at the hands of his constituency party. After service in the Royal Navy from 1945 to 1947, he moved into the tailoring/clothing industry, again, at the time, linked to the Jewish community. Cohen was a councillor on Leeds City Council from 1952 and chaired Leeds South East Constituency Labour Party.
Cohen contested Barkston Ash in 1966.
He publicly mentioned that he was considering following Tom Bradley, the former leader of his union, into the Social Democratic Party. Labour Party leader Michael Foot persuaded him to remain in the Labour Party and not defect at a meeting on 3 December 1981. Later that day Foot denounced Peter Tatchell, a left-wing candidate who had been selected in Bermondsey.
Cohen told The Guardian "Maybe it had nothing to do with me, but I would like to believe our discussion might have helped him to make his stand". However, when the CLP moved to a reselection ballot for Leeds Central, which took in much of what was Leeds South East, they instead chose the left-winger Derek Fatchett.
Membership
45th United Kingdom Parliament. 46th United Kingdom Parliament. 47th United Kingdom Parliament.
48th United Kingdom Parliament]
From 1951 he was employed in the estate department of British Railways and became an executive member of the Transport Salaried Staffs" Association.
He was Member of Parliament for Leeds South East from 1970 to 1983, when that constituency was abolished, but in 1981 he was clearly in trouble with his constituency Labour Party (CLP) which was controlled by the left.
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Born
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Died
February 23, 2004 (aged 76) -
Nationality
United Kingdom -
Political Party
Labour Party