- Leader of the British Labour Party 1983 - 1992.
- He was frequently mocked by The Sun newspaper during his tenure as Labour leader. They ran headlines such as "Why I'm backing Kinnock, by Stalin" and, on the day of the 1992 general election, "If Kinnock wins today will the last person to leave Britain please turn out the lights?".
- He was widely condemned by the Left for failing to support the miner's strike in 1984-85.
- Despite calling for the House of Lords to be abolished, he controversially accepted a peerage in 2005.
- Mentioned in the song "Prologue to History" by Manic Street Preachers.
- He fought and lost two general elections, first to Margaret Thatcher in 1987 and then to John Major in 1992. This made him the last Labour or Conservative leader to have lost a general election and then continued as leader until Jeremy Corbyn in 2017. His successor as Labour leader following the 1992 defeat was John Smith.
- Father-in-law of Helle Thorning-Schmidt.
- Father of Stephen Kinnock.
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