Leif Mills

Leif Anthony Mills CBE (25 March 1936 – 17 December 2020) was a British trade unionist.

Mills was educated at Kingston Grammar School and went on to study at Balliol College, Oxford before undertaking national service in the Royal Military Police.[1] He then joined the National Union of Bank Employees (later renamed the Banking Insurance and Finance Union - BIFU), becoming Assistant General Secretary in 1962, then Deputy General Secretary in 1968, and finally General Secretary in 1972, serving until 1996.[2]

Mills stood unsuccessfully for the Labour Party in Salisbury at the 1964 general election, and again in a 1965 by-election. Although his first speech to the Trades Union Congress was followed by BIFU's expulsion, for registering under the Industrial Relations Act, he subsequently held a number of TUC posts, including that of President in 1994/5.[1] He also served on the Monopolies and Mergers Commission, and more recently with the Covent Garden Market Authority.[2]

In 1999, Mills published a biography of Frank Wild, while his Men of Ice appeared in 2008.[2]

He was appointed CBE in the 1995 Birthday Honours.

He died on 17 December 2020 at the age of 84.[3]