Neil Gordon Kinnock, Baron Kinnock PC (born 28 March 1942) is a Welsh politician who was Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party from 1983 to 1992. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1970 to 1995, first for Bedwellty and then for Islwyn. He was Vice-President of the European Commission from 1999 to 2004. Kinnock was positioned on the soft left of the Labour Party.

Born and raised in South Wales, Kinnock was first elected to the House of Commons in the 1970 general election. He became the Labour Party's shadow education minister after the Conservatives won power in the 1979 general election. After the party under Michael Foot suffered a landslide defeat to Margaret Thatcher in the 1983 election, Kinnock was elected Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition. During his tenure as leader, Kinnock proceeded to fight the party's left wing, especially the Militant tendency, and he opposed NUM leader Arthur Scargill's methods in the 1984–1985 miners' strike. He led the party during most of the Thatcher government, which included its third successive election defeat when Thatcher won the 1987 general election. Although Thatcher had won another landslide, Labour regained sufficient seats for Kinnock to remain Leader of the Opposition following the election.

Kinnock led the Labour Party to a surprise fourth consecutive defeat at the 1992 general election, despite the party being ahead of John Major's Conservative government in most opinion polls, which had predicted either a narrow Labour victory or a hung parliament. Shortly afterwards, he resigned as Leader of the Labour Party; he was succeeded in the ensuing leadership election by John Smith. He left the House of Commons in 1995 to become a European commissioner. He went on to become Vice-President of the European Commission under Romano Prodi from 1999 to 2004, before being elevated to the House of Lords as Baron Kinnock in 2005. Until the summer of 2009, he was also the chairman of the British Council and the president of Cardiff University.

Kinnock, an only child, was born in Tredegar, Wales on Saturday, 28 March 1942. His father, Gordon Herbert Kinnock, was a former coal miner who later worked as a labourer, whilst his mother, Mary Kinnock (née Howells), was a district nurse. The family lived in a terraced house in the mining town, where Kinnock grew up surrounded by the close-knit community typical of the South Wales Valleys. Gordon died of a heart attack in November 1971 at the age of 64, and Mary died the following month at 61.

In 1953, aged eleven, Kinnock began his secondary education at Lewis School, Pengam, once described by David Lloyd George as ‘the Eton of the Valleys’, but an institution Kinnock later criticised for its record on corporal punishment. The school was a direct grant grammar school that served pupils from across the Rhymney Valley and Monmouthshire, and Kinnock performed well academically, particularly in history and English. He went on to the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire in Cardiff (now Cardiff University), where he graduated in 1965 with a degree in Industrial Relations and History. The following year, Kinnock obtained a postgraduate diploma in education. From August 1966 to May 1970, he worked as a tutor for a Workers' Educational Association (WEA).

At university, Kinnock was active in student politics and became involved with the Labour Party. He also participated in Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament activities and anti-apartheid protests. During his time at Cardiff, he met Glenys Parry, a fellow student studying education. Kinnock later recalled that his work with the WEA exposed him to the concerns of working-class communities across South Wales and helped develop his skills as a public speaker.

He married Glenys Kinnock on 25 March 1967. They have two children – son Stephen Kinnock (born January 1970, now a Labour MP), and daughter Rachel Nerys Helen Kinnock (born 11 December 1971).

In June 1969, Kinnock secured the Labour Party nomination for the Bedwellty constituency in South Wales, narrowly defeating an endorsed candidate of the National Union of Mineworkers (Great Britain) who was twice his age. The constituency was later redesignated as Islwyn before the 1983 general election. He was first elected to the House of Commons on 18 June 1970 with a majority of 22,000 votes, and held the seat by massive majorities throughout his parliamentary career. Upon his election as an MP, his father advised him: "Remember Neil, MP stands not just for Member of Parliament, but also for Man of Principle."^{[citation needed]}