Douglas Houghton, Baron Houghton of Sowerby

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(Arthur Leslie Noel) Douglas Houghton, Baron Houghton of Sowerby PC CH (August 11, 1898 – May 2, 1996) was a British Labour politician.

Houghton was born in Derbyshire and fought in the First World War, survived the horrors of the Battle of the Somme, and secured for himself a post in the civil service. He was a great believer in equality of opportunity and campaigned for the chance of certain numbers of lower (clerical) grade civil servants to take an examination that could lead to previously unheard-of promotion. In 1922, he founded the Inland Revenue Staff Federation and was its leader from 1922 to 1960. He served on the General Council of the Trades Union Congress from 1952 to 1960, and as Chairman of the Staff Side Civil Service National Whitley Council from 1955 to 1957.

He was a panel member of a BBC radio programme Can I help You? between 1941 and 1964. His connections with the London labour movement and Labour Party gave him the profile to become an Alderman of the London County Council - the fore-runner of the Greater London Council - from 1947-1949.

After John Belcher quit the House of Commons over accusations of minor dishonesty, Houghton was persuaded to seek nomination for the subsequent by-election. He secured this and on March 16, 1949 was elected to Parliament for the Yorkshire constituency of Sowerby with a comfortable majority of 2,152.

He was a backbencher but was re-elected in the subsequent general elections of 1950, 1951, 1955, 1959, 1964, 1966 and 1970. His head for figures and tenacity made him a good candidate for Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee in the House of Commons, succeeding Harold Wilson in this post once Wilson had been elected Leader of the Labour Party in 1963. When, after 13 years in government, the Conservative Party, by now led by Alec Douglas-Home, was defeated in October 1964, Houghton became a cabinet minister in the first government of Harold Wilson and was appointed as a Privy Counsellor.

The post of Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster after 1964 gave Houghton a position in the cabinet and special responsibility for Social Services but not an actual department over which he could preside. This made it hard to be particularly effective as a minister, and in a 1966 reshuffle, Wilson made him Minister without Portfolio.

Houghton was dropped from government in 1967 and became Chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) which is a post designed to help shape and reflect the backbench Labour MPs' views but keep them in dialogue with the Labour leadership. His predecessor, Emmanuel Shinwell, could be rather fiery and unpredictable. By contrast, Houghton had a tenacity and command of detail that made him a highly suitable person for the task, given there was perceived to be quite a factionalism in the party at the time. He retired from the House of Commons in the run up to the February 1974 General Election and was elevated to the House of Lords as Baron Houghton of Sowerby, of Sowerby in the County of West Yorkshire a few months later on June 20.

Lord Houghton was passionate about the subject of animal welfare and spoke in the House of Lords on the subject a number of times. Shortly before he died in 1996, he was the last member of the House of Lords to have fought in the First World War, and at 97, was then its oldest serving member. A warm tribute was paid to him by Tam Dalyell, himself a former MP, in one of Britain's national newspapers.

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by John Belcher	Member of Parliament for Sowerby 1949–1974	Succeeded by Max Madden