Born near Watford, Bruce Grocott took his undergraduate degree in our Department of Politics and International Relations here at Leicester followed by a Masters at Manchester University which led to a post as lecturer at City of Birmingham College of Commerce (which is now Birmingham City University) from where he moved to North Staffordshire Polytechnic (now Staffordshire University).

After serving on Bromsgrove District Council, he was elected to Parliament in 1974 as MP for Lichfield and Tamworth and served as Minister for Agriculture before losing his seat in 1979. He spent the next few years as a producer and presenter on TV programmes such as Central Lobby and Central Weekend before returning to Parliament in 1987 as MP for The Wrekin and subsequently for Telford.

In opposition, he worked under Neil Kinnock and John Smith and he then served as Tony Blair’s Parliamentary Private Secretary from 1994 to 2001, when he left the Commons to become Baron Grocott of Telford. From 2002 to 2008 he was Government Chief Whip in the House of Lords.