The Lord Hendy | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2024 | |
| Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal | |
| Assumed office 16 October 2019 Life peerage | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | John Giles Hendy 11 April 1948 |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Labour |
| Occupation | Barrister |
John Giles Hendy, Baron Hendy, KC (born 11 April 1948), is an English barrister practising in employment and trade union law, and a member of the House of Lords. [1]
Hendy was privately educated at Latymer Upper School.
Lord Hendy's maternal grandfather was a hereditary peer, the 6th Baron Wynford, [2] whose youngest daughter, the Hon. Jemima Best [3] married Jack Hendy, "a communist electrician and trade unionist". [4] He describes his father as "a great fighter for human dignity as a trade unionist" and as being the greatest influence on his life. [5] His younger brother Sir Peter Hendy, a former Commissioner of Transport for London, former chairman of Network Rail, [6] and a current Minister of State in the Department for Transport, is also a Labour life peer, with the title Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill. [7] [8]
Once qualified as a barrister, Hendy established a law centre, the Newham Rights Centre in East London, [9] and worked there full-time for three years. He then lectured for a year at Middlesex Polytechnic, before returning to the Bar in 1977 to focus on personal injury and industrial relations cases. [5]
In the mid-1980s, he successfully represented Wendy Savage, a consultant obstetrician and gynecologist who was suspended from practice for alleged incompetence. The case led to Hendy taking others in the area of medical negligence, discipline and ethics. [10]
In 1984–85, he represented the National Union of Mineworkers in the civil litigation arising out of the Miners' Strike. He took silk in 1987. In 1991, Hendy was one of four QCs, along with Michael Mansfield, Geoffrey Robertson and Kevin Garnett, [11] acting for the National Union of Mineworkers against claims that they had handled funds inappropriately during the miners' strike of 1984–85. [12] In 1992 he represented mining unions in the High Court against attempts to close 31 coal mines. [13]
In 1995, he acted for National Union of Journalists (NUJ) member Dave Wilson in the Wilson and Palmer v United Kingdom case that ended discrimination against trade unionists. [14]
In April 1999, Hendy became head of Old Square Chambers, in succession to John Melville Williams. [15] [16] By that year, judgments in 76 of his cases had been published in law reports. [5]
Hendy became better known for representing the relatives of the victims of the Ladbroke Grove and Southall rail accidents. [17] [18]
Hendy retired as head of Old Square Chambers in 2009. [18] In 2011, The Lawyer described him as the "barrister champion of the trade union movement", noting that he often assists Unite, ASLEF and the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers [6]
He represented the NUJ at the Leveson Inquiry and questioned Rupert Murdoch directly on 27 March 2012. [19]
Nominated for a life peerage by Theresa May in her 2019 Prime Minister's Resignation Honours, [20] he was created Baron Hendy, of Hayes and Harlington in the London Borough of Hillingdon, on 15 October 2019. [21] Lord Hendy sits as a Labour peer in the House of Lords, [22] and made his maiden speech on 31 October 2019 during the Lords consideration of the Phase 1 Report of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry. [23]
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