James Milner, 1st Baron Milner of Leeds

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Major James Milner, 1st Baron Milner of Leeds, MC, PC (12 August 1889 – 16 July 1967) was a British Labour Party politician.

Milner was educated at Leeds University and became a solicitor. He was a major in World War I and was wounded, awarded the Military Cross and bar for his service. He was a Leeds City Councillor and Deputy Lord Mayor of Leeds in 1928, and was also Chairman of Leeds Labour Party and President of Leeds Law Society. He later became deputy-lieutenant of the West Riding of Yorkshire.

He became Labour Member of Parliament for Leeds South East at the 1929 general election and served until 1951. He became Chairman of Ways and Means and Deputy Speaker and led the British Group of the Inter-Parliamentary Union. He was made a Privy Counsellor in 1945.

In 1951, the Speaker of the House of Commons had stepped down. As the senior Deputy Speaker and Chairman of Ways and Means, Milner wanted to be Labour's first-ever Speaker. However, the Conservatives, now the majority party, nominated William Morrison. The vote went along party lines – the first time the post had been contested in the 20th century – and Milner lost. As some compensation, he was elevated to the House of Lords as 1st Baron Milner of Leeds in December 1951. Denis Healey replaced him in the subsequent by-election.

Milner's son, Michael, born in 1923, succeeded him as Baron Milner of Leeds and topped the poll of hereditary Labour peers to stay in the House of Lords in 1999.

[edit] References

• (2003) in Iain Dale: The Times House of Commons 1929, 1931, 1935. Politico's (reprint). ISBN 1-84275-033-X. 
• (1945) The Times House of Commons 1945. 
• (1950) The Times House of Commons 1950. 

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Sir Henry Slesser	Member of Parliament for Leeds South East 1929–1952	Succeeded by Denis Healey
Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by New Creation	Baron Milner of Leeds	Succeeded by Arthur James Michael Milner