Richard Caborn has enjoyed an audience with some of the most influential people on the planet, Nelson Mandela, Sir Alex Ferguson, Prime Ministers and royalty. He has spoken on the world stage to audiences of thousands. I spoke to him in an office barely big enough for three people, in Sheffield Trades Club, where he is a member and President.
Mr Caborn had declared his intention to stand for election as Sheffield City Region Mayor, and agreed to meet me to answer some questions. To assist me, he brought with him his very impressive CV .
He told me that he had started work at 15, when he began an apprenticeship at Firth Browns in Sheffield, joining the union at 16. By the age of 21 he was a shop steward, going on to be elected the convenor of shop stewards – with 4000 members at Firth Browns, and was also elected as convenor of the combined Trade Union committee at Thomas Firth and John Brown’s with 20,000 employees. In 1965 he was awarded Apprentice of the year.
In 1979 he was elected to the first directly elected European Parliament, serving on the Economic and Monetary committee. In 1983 he stood for parliament in his home town and was elected MP for Sheffield Central, a seat he held until 2010.
He told me that when he was first elected they were dark days, “Steel faced a real big battle, just like the coal industry – Thatcher wanted to smash them.”
Between ’83 and ’97, Caborn served on a number of committees and was shadow Regional affairs spokesperson, and chaired the Trade and industry Select Committee, during which time he presented no fewer than 19 major reports to the house. It was his experience in trade and economics that make him perfectly placed as Mayor to provide the region with strategic leadership in the development of a local modern manufacturing economy. He has been a strategic adviser to the Advanced Research Centre in Sheffield and together with the University of Sheffield, has brought investment to the region from global giants such as Boeing, Mclaren and Rolls Royce. His vision for a world leading manufacturing site includes a plan getting hundreds of working class kids on apprenticeships, he said “It wont be based necessarily on academia, but aptitude.”
“Health and Well being will be at the heart of it, we can bring companies like Toshiba to communities like Attercliffe, bringing not only apprenticeships but qualifications in engineering which would help social mobility in reality, opening up opportunities – I’d love to see someone from the Manor getting a 1st doctorate of engineering.”
Bringing channel 4 to the region was also high on Mr Caborn’s ambitious agenda.
When I asked him what he would bring to the role he told me with a knowing smile that he has “A good phone book – Whitehall, Europe, and experience”.
It’s easy to see what Mr Caborn means by experience, he ghosts effortlessly between straight talking business language and anecdotal stories. He talked of how he had brought Sir Alex Ferguson to the manufacturing park, and meeting David Beckham during his time leading the bid for the World cup, while he was Sport minister in Tony Blair’s Government.
He talked proudly about his involvement in the anti-apartheid movement and the free Nelson Mandela concert he organised in 1988, and subsequent meetings with Mandela, while leading the bid for the 2018 World Cup. It has been suggested (not by Caborn) that Mandela’s team thought that the concert increased global pressure for his release. Never once did his anecdotes sound like name dropping, but I would not have been surprised if he had shown me their numbers in his phone.
The man who has been a member of the Labour party for over 50 years, who was involved in bringing the Olympic Games to London in 2010, and has dealt with media coverage on a day to day basis, was incredibly not selected by the party as a candidate for the mayoral race. His omittance from the race was announced the day after we met.
He said in a public statement, “I was surprised and very disappointed to be informed by the Yorkshire Regional Labour party, that they have decided not to shortlist me to seek selection as our party’s candidate for South Yorkshire Mayor.
It’s a real shame the South Yorkshire Labour Party membership will not now be able to have their say on whether or not they thought I could represent them as the local Labour party candidate for this important position.”
The two candidates that were chosen from an all-male shortlist were Barnsley MP, Dan Jarvis and Sheffield Councillor, Ben Curran. The selection closes on 23rd March.
Jason Holyhead 