The Papers of Sir Gerald Kaufman

Gerald Kaufman was born in Leeds, 21 June 1930, the son of Louis and Jane Kaufman. He was educated at Leeds Grammar School and Queen's College, Oxford, 1950-3.

He was Assistant General Secretary of the Fabian Society, 1954-5, and then worked as a political journalist on the Daily Mirror, 1955-64, and the New Statesman, 1964-5. He became Parliamentary Press Liaison Officer for the Labour Party, 1965-70.

He contested elections in Bromley, 1955, and Gillingham, 1959, before being elected Labour Member of Parliament for Manchester Ardwick, 1970-83, and subsequently Manchester Gorton, 1983-. He was a Minister in the Department of the Environment, 1974-5, and the Department of Industry, 1975-9. In Opposition, he was Shadow Environment Secretary, 1980-3; Shadow Home Secretary, 1983-7; and Shadow Foreign Secretary, 1987-92. He chaired the Select Committee for Culture, Media and Sport [formerly the Select Committee on National Heritage], 1992-2005; and was a member of the Parliamentary Committee of the Parliamentary Labour Party, 1980-92, of the Labour Party National Executive Committee, 1991-2. and of the Royal Commission on House of Lords Reform, 1999. He was also Chairman of the Booker Prize Judges, 1999.

He was awarded a knighthood in 2004.

His publications include: "How to Live Under Labour" (1964); editor, "The Left" (1966); "To Build the Promised Land" (1973); "How to be a Minister" (1980); editor, "Renewal: Labour's Britain in the 1980s" (1983); "My Life in the Silver Screen" (1985); "Inside the Promised Land" (1986); "Meet Me in St Louis" (1994). He also wrote scripts for the television show "That Was The Week That Was" in the 1960s.

Pocket diaries and a notebook

The papers were given to Churchill Archives Centre by Sir Gerald Kaufman, 2006.

The collection is open for consultation by researchers using Churchill Archives Centre, Churchill College, Cambridge. Churchill Archives Centre is open from Monday to Friday, 9am-5pm. A prior appointment and two forms of identification are required.

Researchers wishing to publish excerpts from the papers must obtain prior permission from the copyright holders and should seek advice from Archives Centre staff.

Please cite as Churchill Archives Centre, The Papers of Sir Gerald Kaufman, KAUF

Copies of this catalogue are available for consultation at Churchill Archives Centre, Cambridge; the National Register of Archives, London; and on the Janus website, http://janus.lib.cam.ac.uk.

This catalogue was created by Sophie Bridges, December 2006. Biographical information was obtained from "Who's Who" (2005); the Wikipedia website; and "Guardian Unlimited", the website of "The Guardian" newspaper.