Albert Booth

Albert Edward Booth (born May 28, 1928 in Winchester , † February 6, 2010 in Beckenham ) was a British politician .

biography

Professional career and Member of the House of Commons

Booth, the son of a craftsman , first attended St. Thomas' School in Winchester and, after the family moved to South Shields, the local naval school and the Rutherford College of Technology. At the age of 15, he was politically in 1943 in the Youth League of the Labor Party (Labor League of Youth, LLY) active and soon a member of the National Consultative Committee of YLL. Like his father, he initially worked as a craftsman, before he began a full-time job for the Labor Party as an election campaign agent in 1951.

He was then from 1952 to 1964 secretary in the constituency office of the Labor Party in Tynemouth . In this capacity he was also a member of the council of the Metropolitan Borough of North Tyneside from 1962 to 1965 . In 1964 he became chairman of the Tynemouth Confederation .

Booth began his national political activities in 1964 when he was a candidate for the Labor Party in the constituency of Tynemouth . In the elections to the House of Commons, he was clearly defeated by the Conservative MP for the constituency Irene Ward with 25,894 to 33,894 votes. Nevertheless, this was a respectable success against Irene Ward, the future Baroness Ward of North Tyneside, who was the female member of the lower house with the longest term in office when she left the House of Commons in 1974. For this reason, after the resignation of Walter Monslow in 1966, Booth became a candidate in the Labor Party safe constituency of Barrow-in-Furness .

In the general election of 1966, he won against the candidate of the Conservative Party, the well-known manager of an oil company Richard Rollins in the constituency, with 23,485 to 15,453 votes. As a member of the House of Commons, he became a member of the so-called Tribune Group, a far-left wing of the Labor Party and a close confidante of Michael Foot , who later became Chairman of the Labor Party.

After only four years of membership in the House of Commons, he became chairman of the influential Select Committee on Statutory Instruments, a position traditionally held by a representative of the Public Accounts Committee after the Labor Party's defeat in 1970 Opposition is perceived. At the same time he was appointed spokesman for trade and industry by the previous prime minister and current leader of the opposition , and thus a member of Wilson's shadow cabinet .

After the Labor Party's unexpected victory in the February 1974 general election , it was natural that Prime Minister Wilson appointed him Minister of State in the Department of Labor , which was led by Booth's friend and mentor Michael Foot. Booth proved to be an excellent representative of Foots in parliamentary affairs and at Labor Party conferences.

At that time he was responsible for numerous matters such as construction workers, the caravan industry, measures to combat inflation (counter-inflation), labor protection, fishing industry, disputes between industries, the expansion of London Heathrow Airport , maternity leave and parental leave , spouse allowances for employees civil service, stabilization of new markets, pension entitlements of employees, retail prices, elections in trade unions, unjustified layoffs, wages and salaries as well as the situation in the cotton textile industry. Thanks to his detailed knowledge , he was able to conduct difficult negotiations such as the Employment Protection Bill with the then opposition spokesman for work, Leon Brittan .

Minister of Labor and leaving politics

When, after the sudden resignation of Prime Minister Wilson in April 1976, Minister of Labor Foot was seen as a promising successor, Booth supported his mentor as campaign manager. However, the previous Instead, Foreign Minister James Callaghan 's new prime minister, for while Foot from this group chairman was appointed (Leader of the House of Commons). When the cabinet was formed, Callaghan appointed Booth as Secretary of State for Employment, giving him precedence over Energy Secretary Tony Benn .

Booth also proved to be a loyal supporter of Callaghan in the negotiations on socially acceptable income policy with the trade union federation ( Trades Union Congress , TUC). His loyalty was reinforced in particular by the fact that the Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union (AUEW) had taken over the Draftman's Trade Union a few years earlier, which was extremely critical of the policies of Callaghan and Chancellor of the Exchequer Denis Healey . On the other hand, despite his own concerns, he was also loyal to the policy of cuts in public spending initiated by Callaghan.

After the election defeat of the Labor Party in 1979 against the Conservatives under Margaret Thatcher , Booth was appointed by Callaghan in his shadow cabinet as Transport Minister (Shadow Transport Secretary) and was a member of this until 1983. In this role, he also appointed the later Minister and EU Commissioner Peter Mandelson as a research assistant to his advisory team.

When the Labor Party again suffered a heavy defeat in the 1983 general election and lost another 60 lower house seats, Booth was one of the losers. He lost his majority of 7,741 votes in the general election to his conservative challenger Cecil Franks.

After retiring from the House, he was managing director in the passenger transport company of South Yorkshire (South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive). Between 1983 and 1984 he was also Treasurer of the Labor Party.

In the 1987 general election, he ran as a representative of the Labor Party in the constituency of Warrington South . However, after missing the re-entry into the House of Commons, he withdrew completely from politics and lived in Beckenham until his death .

Booth died on February 6, 2010, a little less than a month before his longtime friend and mentor Michael Foot, who passed away on March 3, 2010.

Web links

• THE INDEPENDENT: "Albert Booth: Principled Labor MP who served as Secretary of State under James Callaghan" (February 11, 2010)