Tom Burlison

Wide-ranging tributes were paid to the former deputy general secretary of the GMB general union, Tom Burlison, who died on 20 May aged 71.

Current GMB general secretary Paul Kenny said Burlison was “a quietly spoken but very effective fixer. Many of the things he tried to introduce when he was deputy general secretary are now being carried forward”.

Burlison had been a panel beater, a professional footballer, and later a Labour Party treasurer, a life peer, and a champion for industry in the North East of England.