James Wellbeloved

Alfred James Wellbeloved (29 July 1926 – 10 September 2012)^[1] was a British politician.

Wellbeloved was educated at South London Technical College and was a commercial and industrial correspondent. He served as a councillor on Erith Borough Council from 1956, and was the first leader of the London Borough of Bexley from 1964.^[1]

Wellbeloved was elected Labour Party Member of Parliament (MP) for Erith and Crayford at a 1965 by-election following the death of Norman Dodds, whose constituency chairman he had been.^[1]

He served successively as parliamentary private secretary (PPS) to Defence Minister Gerry Reynolds and Foreign Secretary Michael Stewart, and was also a junior defence minister in the Callaghan government.^[1]

In 1981, he was among the Labour MPs who defected to the Social Democratic Party. At the 1983 general election, he lost his seat by just 920 votes to the Conservative David Evennett.^[1]

After his defection, he was referred to as "the inappropriately named Wellbeloved" by then Labour leader Michael Foot. Wellbeloved subsequently rejoined the Labour Party as a member.

Wellbeloved married Mavis Ratcliff in 1948.^[1]

Wellbeloved died in September 2012 aged 86.

References

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