Brenda Dean

Who is Brenda Dean?

Brenda Dean, Baroness Dean of Thornton-le-Fylde PC, FRSA is a British trade unionist and politician.

She began her career as a trade unionist as a teenager, becoming President of the print union SOGAT in 1983, and was its General Secretary between 1985 and 1991.

She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in 1992. Dean was created a life peer in October 1993 as Baroness Dean of Thornton-le-Fylde of Eccles in the County of Greater Manchester, and a Privy Councillor in 1998.

Her autobiography, Hot Mettle, deals largely with her tenure as SOGAT General Secretary at the time of Rupert Murdoch's battles with her own and other trades unions. She is a Vice-President of the Debating Group.