Albert Booth

Albert Edward Booth (28 May 1928 – 6 February 2010)^[1] was a British Labour Party politician.

Early Life

Booth was educated at Marine School, South Shields and Rutherford College of Technology (Northumbria University). He was a design draughtsman. He served as a councillor on Tynemouth Council 1962-65.

Parliamentary Career

Booth contested Tynemouth in 1964. He was Member of Parliament for Barrow-in-Furness from 1966 to 1983, and was Secretary of State for Employment from 1976 to 1979 serving under James Callaghan. He also acted as the Labour Party's national Treasurer between 1983-1984.

After boundary changes, his seat was renamed Barrow and Furness, for the 1983 General Election but despite a 1979 majority of 7,741 he lost it to the Conservative Cecil Franks. This has often been attributed to Labour's unilateralist policy of nuclear disarmament, and Booth himself identified with that, leading a CND march through his constituency. However, his constituents were reliant on the defence industries, particularly shipbuilding, and this led to one of Labour's most unexpected defeats of the election.^[2][3]

Later Life

Despite contesting Warrington South in 1987, Booth never won back a seat in Parliament.

References

• Times Guide to the House of Commons, 1966 & 1983
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Albert Booth
• Albert Booth - Daily Telegraph obituary
• Albert Booth 1928-2010: an "Old Labour" man - Workers' Liberty obituary by his niece, Janine Booth

Callaghan Cabinet Joel Barnett Tony Benn Albert Booth James Callaghan Anthony Crosland Edmund Dell Lord Elwyn-Jones David Ennals Michael Foot Roy Hattersley Denis Healey Roy Jenkins Harold Lever Roy Mason Bruce Millan John Morris Fred Mulley Stanley Orme David Owen Lord Peart Reg Prentice Merlyn Rees Bill Rodgers Lord Shepherd Peter Shore John Silkin John Smith Eric Varley Shirley Williams