leaders opposed to New Labour policies, that they perceive to be against the interests of working people. Simpson stated that he is not in the awkward squad: "I get named as such, but it's astonishing that nobody's able to back that up with any fact". Since becoming General Secretary, he has been supportive of the links between Amicus and the Labour Party. A member of the Communist Party of Great Britain until its disbanding in 1991, he joined the Labour Party in 1994. He was involved in the negotiation that let to the 2004 Warwick Agreement, in which the Labour Party agreed to implement some of the trade unions' policies during their third term. He favoured the early departure of Tony Blair as Labour Party Leader and Prime Minister. Joint General Secretary of Unite On 9 October 2008, the Executive Council of Unite decided that there would be an election for the General Secretary (Amicus section), with a timetable of January/February 2009 for the election, the results to be announced in March 2009. This election was for a fixed term until December 2010. The Executive council also postponed the merger of the union and adoption of the new rule book until May 2009. In May 2010, during confidential negotiations with British Airways under the chairmanship of conciliation service Acas to resolve an ongoing dispute, Simpson was found to be using his BlackBerry to update his Twitter account with progress of the confidential negotiations. Personal life Simpson met his first wife Freda when working at a greyhound track, parading the dogs and setting the traps. They married on 23 December 1967 in Sheffield. They divorced in 1974, and in 1976 Simpson married Linda Gilliver; they have two sons (born 1980 and September 1986) and a daughter (born 1982). Simpson then divorced Linda, and remarried Freda, who has two sons (born 1979 and August 1984) and a daughter (born 1977) from her previous marriage. References External links A message from Unite's joint general secretaries Unite Key players in union movement BBC News, 5 September 2007 1944 births Living people Trade unionists from Sheffield Alumni of the Open University Communist Party of Great Britain members General Secretaries of Amicus General Secretaries of Unite the Union Members of the General Council of the Trades Union Congress Unite the Union