[2] Born in Lincoln, Lincolnshire, Fatchett was the son of a painter and decorator.
He was more left-wing in his younger days in the 1960s and 1970s but moved towards the centre-left when an MP, leaving the Campaign Group in 1985.
He became a lecturer in Industrial Relations at the University of Leeds in 1971, staying there until he became an MP.
After Labour's 1997 election victory, he was made a Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office with responsibility for the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia.
He married Anita Oakes in Birmingham on 12 April 1969 and had two sons, Brendan and Gareth.