Robert Sheldon, Baron Sheldon

For other people named Robert Sheldon, see Robert Sheldon (disambiguation).

The Right Honourable The Lord Sheldon PC
Sheldon in 2011
Financial Secretary to the Treasury
In office 17 June 1975 – 4 May 1979
Prime Minister	Harold Wilson James Callaghan
Preceded by	John Gilbert
Succeeded by	Nigel Lawson
Minister of State for the Treasury
In office 18 October 1974 – 17 June 1975
Prime Minister	Harold Wilson
Preceded by	John Nott
Succeeded by	Denzil Davies
Minister of State for the Civil Service Department
In office 7 April 1974 – 18 October 1974
Prime Minister	Harold Wilson
Preceded by	Kenneth Baker Geoffrey Johnson-Smith
Succeeded by	Charles Morris
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
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 by	Hervey Rhodes
Succeeded by	David Heyes
Personal details
Born	Isaac Ezra Shamash (1923-09-13)13 September 1923 Manchester, England
Died	2 February 2020(2020-02-02) (aged 96)
Political party	Labour (from 1945)
Spouses	Eileen Shamash ​ ​ (m. 1945; died 1969)​ Mary Sheldon ​ (m. 1971)​
Relations	Gerald Shamash (brother-in-law)
Children	2

Robert Edward Sheldon, Baron Sheldon PC (born Isaac Ezra Shamash; 13 September 1923 – 2 February 2020) 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 Jack, a textile exporter, and Betty Shamash. His family always called him Bobby and so he changed his name by deed poll in 1943.

Sheldon was educated at Upper Latimer School, trained in engineering at Burnley and Stockport technical colleges, and awarded an external degree from the University of London. 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 to 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.

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.

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). 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. Sheldon retired from the House of Lords on 18 May 2015.

Personal life

Sheldon married his first cousin Eileen Shamash in 1945, with whom he had a son and daughter. 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. He eventually died of a heart attack on 2 February 2020.

External links

• Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom
• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Robert Sheldon
• Catalogue of the Sheldon papers held at LSE Archives