Roger Darlington is half English and half Italian; his wife is half Welsh and half Czech; and his son has a degree in International Relations. He enjoys travelling to new countries and experiencing new cultures.

In 1971, he obtained a First Class Honours Degree in Management Sciences from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology where his final year options were Organisational Behaviour and Industrial Relations. He spent a year (1969-70) as sabbatical President of the Students’ Union.

Following graduation, he spent six years working for the Labour Party/Labour Government as a Research Assistant/Special Adviser to Rt Hon Merlyn Rees MP in the latter’s capacity as Opposition Spokesperson on Northern Ireland (House of Commons 1972-74), Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Northern Ireland Office 1974-76) and Home Secretary (Home Office 1976-78). He fought the two General Elections of 1974 as a Labour candidate.

For 24 years, he was a National Official with what was the Post Office Engineering Union (1978-85), then became the National Communications Union (1985-95), and is now the Communication Workers Union (1995-2002).

For the first six years, he was a Research Officer in the Research Department concentrating mainly on technological and regulatory issues. He was then promoted to the main negotiating grade of Assistant Secretary and, over the next six years, held a variety of negotiating posts. Next followed five years with responsibility for policy and international matters.

Then, in January 1995, the creation of the Communication Workers Union - a merger of the former National Communications Union and the former Union of Communication Workers - saw him return to the Research Department as Head of Research. The Department briefs Officers and Executive on all postal, telecommunications, and related matters. As well as managing the Department, he took special responsibility for strategic, technological and regulatory issues in both the postal and telecommunications industries. He took early retirement from the CWU in March 2002.

He was the first independent Chair of the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), a body established by British Internet service providers to combat illegal content, especially child abuse images, on the UK Internet. This was a part time position which he held from January 2000 to December 2005, serving the maximum six year term of office. He was Chairman of the Greater London Region and a Council Member of Postwatch, the watchdog for postal consumers. This was a part time position which he held from April 2006 to September 2008 when the organisation was merged with two other consumer groups.

Roger Darlington’s many private interests include reading (especially modern history), writing (especially short stories), the cinema (almost all genres), music (particularly classical), aviation (especially Second World War), and the social and economic aspects of information technology. He has written a biography - published in English and Czech - of his wife’s father, who was a Second World War night intruder ace. He is an intense user of the Internet and maintains his own web site and two weblogs.

Links:
Frequently Asked Questions about Roger Darlington click here
Communications Consumer Panel click here
Consumer Focus click here
Nominet click here
Connect click here
Communication Workers Union click here
Internet Watch Foundation click here

Last modified on 20 March 2011