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Jamie Driscoll
British politician From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Jamie Driscoll (born 1970) is a British politician who served as the metro mayor of the North of Tyne Combined Authority from 2019 to 2024. He was previously a councillor on Newcastle City Council for the Monument ward from 2018 to 2019.
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Early life
Driscoll was born in Middlesbrough, North Riding of Yorkshire in 1970.[1][2] His father was a tank driver in the British army before becoming a shift worker at Imperial Chemical Industries, while his mother trained to be a youth worker. He states that his politics is influenced by his mother. He has three siblings: an older brother who served in the Royal Navy; a sister who was a healthcare assistant for the NHS; and a younger brother Jon, who is a football commentator, podcaster and author of The Fifty: Football's Most Influential Players, and Get it Kicked! The Battle for the Soul of English Football. Driscoll left school at 16. During this time, he was training as an engineer making breathing apparatus. Driscoll decided to go to university later on, studying engineering at Northumbria University.[3]
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Early career
After university, Driscoll worked as a project engineer and later became the manager and company director for a software development firm.[2]
Political career
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Driscoll joined the Labour Party in 1985.[4] He was elected to Newcastle City Council in 2018 to represent Monument ward. He was a member of the campaigning group and the chair of the Newcastle branch of Momentum.[2][5]
Mayor of North of Tyne
Driscoll stood for selection to be Labour's candidate in the 2019 North of Tyne mayoral election, defeating Newcastle council leader Nick Forbes in February 2019.[6] He ran being supported by figures on the left, including shadow Chancellor John McDonnell, Noam Chomsky[citation needed], Paul Mason, Clive Lewis and Laura Pidcock. He also had organisational support from Unite the Union, Momentum, RMT, Fire Brigades Union, TSSA and Aslef.[7][8]
Driscoll won the 2019 North of Tyne mayoral election over second place candidate Conservative Charlie Hoult.[9]
In June 2023, after interview by a panel of the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party Driscoll was unsuccessful in progressing to a ballot of Labour Party members in the selection process to determine a Labour Party candidate for Mayor of the North East. Labour Peer Jenny Chapman defended the decision as "simply guaranteeing the highest quality candidates". Unite the Union and its general secretary, Sharon Graham, criticised the decision to exclude Driscoll. Andy Burnham and Steve Rotheram described the Labour Party as undemocratic, opaque and unfair. Aditya Chakrabortty wrote in The Guardian that Driscoll was a "victim of McCarthyism".[10][11] He resigned from Labour and later announced that he would seek to be elected as the inaugural Mayor of the North East in the 2024 North East mayoral election as an independent.[12] Driscoll finished second, 58,399 votes behind Labour candidate Kim McGuinness.[13]
New party Majority
On 16 December 2024, Driscoll registered a new political party named "Majority" with the Electoral Commission to field candidates across Great Britain.[14]
In the 2025 United Kingdom local elections, Majority stood one candidate as "Majority Northumberland Independents" in the Rothbury ward of Northumberland County Council. The candidate came fifth out of eight candidates.[15]
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Personal life
Driscoll lives with his two children and his wife, who is an NHS doctor.[16]
He was criticised for sending his children to private schools.[17]
Bibliography
Driscoll, Jamie; Broadbent, Rachel (16 August 2017). The Way of the Activist. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. ISBN 9781974094929. OCLC 1313868367.
References
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