Alfred Barnes (Labour politician)

Alfred John Barnes PC (1887 – 26 November 1974) was a British Labour Co-operative politician.^[1]

Born in North Woolwich, he was the youngest child of William Barnes, a docker. Barnes lost a leg in a fairground accident at the age of 8. He was educated at the Northampton Institute and the Central School of Arts and Crafts.^[1]

Barnes worked originally as an artist in gold and silver.^[1] He was an early member of the Independent Labour Party and was heavily involved in the co-operative movement.^[1] He was chairman of the London Co-operative Society for nine years until 1923 and was a founder of the Co-operative Party.^[1] He became the Party's chairman in 1924 and served until 1945. He was also a director and President of the National Cooperative Publishing Society.

In November 1922, Barnes was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for East Ham South. In 1925 he was appointed a Labour Whip and served as a whip in Government, as Junior Lord of the Treasury. However, he was forced to resign in October 1930 - although his position as a director of the National Cooperative Publishing Society was unpaid, parliamentary rules dictated that a minister cannot be a director of a public company (although they could be of a private company): Barnes chose to remain on the co-op board rather than as a whip. Like many Labour MPs, he lost his seat in the 1931 general election but regained it in 1935.

In 1945, Barnes was made a Privy Counsellor and Minister of War Transport, later Minister of Transport, serving until the fall of the Labour government in 1951.^[1] He stood down as a Member of Parliament at the 1955 general election.

References

• The Times Guides to the House of Commons, Times Newspapers Ltd, 1945, 1950, 1951
• (2003) The Times Guides to the House of Commons, 1929, 1931, 1935, Politico's Publishing (reprint). ISBN 1-84275-033-X
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs