Kinnock, Neil

Kinnock, Neil (Gordon)

(born March 28, 1942, Tredegar, Monmouthshire, Wales) British politician. Elected to Parliament in 1970, he rose in the Labour Party ranks and was named to its national executive committee in 1978. After the party suffered its heaviest defeat in 48 years in 1983, he was elected party leader, the youngest in its history. By 1989 he had persuaded the party to abandon its radical policies on disarmament and large-scale nationalization. Although the party increased its numbers in Parliament, it lost the 1992 general election to the Conservatives, and Kinnock resigned as party leader. He became a vice president of the European Commission of the European Union in 1999.