Tomlinson was a pro-European Labour moderate who was Harold Wilson’s final Parliamentary Private Secretary.
Born in London, Tomlinson was educated at Westminster City School and the Co-operative College in Loughborough.
In the October 1974 General Election he retained the seat, defeating a new Conservative candidate, the former Chairman of the Highway Planning Committee in the London Borough of Hammersmith, and Chairman of the Hyde Park Tories (the Conservative Party's open air speakers) Christopher Horne.
During his five years in the Commons, he held a series of government posts: After his defeat in 1979, he lectured at Solihull College of Technology.
[2] On 21 July 1998, he was created a life peer as Baron Tomlinson, of Walsall in the County of West Midlands.