Born this day, 1942 in Tredegar,

Neil Gordon Kinnock, MP and Leader of the Labour Party whose period as Leader of the Opposition between 1983 and 1992 was the longest in British political history to date.

Kinnock's grandfather and his political hero Aneurin Bevan were mining colleagues, and after graduating from Cardiff University, he worked as a tutor for four years before becoming involved in politics. In 1970 he became Labour MP for Bedwellty and in 1983 he became the only Welsh leader of the Labour party to date.

Despite a heavy defeat to Margaret Thatcher in 1987 the party kept faith with Kinnock. After Thatcher's resignation, Kinnock held the edge in the close-fought campaign of 1992, until the tabloid press pulled out all the stops, branding Kinnock as a Welsh windbag who would open the floodgates to left wing extremism. His subsequent defeat at the election spelt the end of his career in frontline British politics and he became a European Commissioner.

Neil Kinnock’s big speeches were always intensely emotional; his pre-election speech at Cardiff in 1987 moved many party stalwarts to tears. ... See MoreSee Less