Terry Lewis, the former Labour MP for Worsley, Greater Manchester, has died aged 90. He spent 22 years in the House of Commons after being elected in 1983.
During his parliamentary career, Lewis was known for his dissenting stance against his party's frontbench policy on various left-wing issues. He was a member of the “awkward squad” alongside Dennis Skinner and Bob Cryer.
Lewis consistently featured in lists of Labour's most rebellious MPs, voting against party whips on 49 occasions between 1992 and 1997. He left Westminster in 2005, expressing disappointment with the Labour government's commitment to socialist policies, and later resigned from the party in 2010, rejoining in 2015 when Jeremy Corbyn became leader.
His political views were shaped by the left-wing and trade union culture of postwar Manchester. Lewis campaigned against prevention of terrorism legislation, the Gulf and Iraq wars, and the Maastricht treaty. He also pursued a campaign against British Telecom regarding chat lines and advocated for restricting public smoking and health warnings on tobacco packaging.