Reg Freeson

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Reginald "Reg" Yarnitz Freeson (born February 24, 1926 in St Pancras, London Borough of Camden , † October 9, 2006 ) was a British politician , long-time MP of the Labor Party and a minister.

biography

Origin and World War II

Freeson came from a Jewish family who fled the pogroms in Poland and Russia to Great Britain around 1890 and settled in London . After attending school, he joined the Royal Air Force as a volunteer in 1942 at the age of 16 , but because of his age first had to undergo basic training in the Rifle Brigade (Prince Consort's Own) before he was transferred to Egypt with a unit of the Royal Engineers in 1944 . He then served in the military reporting unit for some time. After the Second World War he worked as a military journalist in theMiddle East , before he was released from active military service in 1947 because of his Jewish origins, which made him a staunch Zionist . He then worked as a journalist in Fleet Street , where he was a reporter for the magazines and newspapers "John Bull" , "Everybody's Weekly" , "London Illustrated" , "News Review" , "Today" , "Education" , " The Daily Mirror " and " News Chronicle " . He later became a press assistant at the Ministry of Construction and British Railways .

Freeson joined the Labor Party shortly after his return in 1948 and began his political career in local politics. First he was elected in 1952 as a member of the council of the then Willesden Borough, to which he belonged until it was merged to form the London Borough of Brent in 1965 and of which he was chairman from 1958 to 1965. In 1955 he was also City Councilor of Willesden and from 1965 to 1968 City Councilor of Brent.

Member of the House of Commons and Minister

In the general election of 1964, he was elected to the House of Commons for the first time with a narrow majority of 2,000 votes against the previous Conservative MP Trevor Skeet , where he represented the constituency of Willesden East until February 1974. This meant that the Labor government of Prime Minister Harold Wilson initially had a majority of five seats, but this was quickly reduced to three in by-elections.

Prime Minister Wilson appointed him shortly after the 1964 election as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Transport Minister Tom Fraser and from 1965 to Barbara Castle . Subsequently he was Parliamentary Undersecretary of State in the Ministry of Energy from 1967 to 1969. After all, he was Minister for Housing and Local Administration from 1969 until the Labor Party was defeated in the 1970 general election. After the election defeat, he remained the opposition spokesman for housing and was, because of his expertise, a serious opponent of the incumbent housing ministers of the Conservative government of Prime Minister Edward Heath . Together with his fellow party member Eric Heffer , he was one of the sharpest critics of the controversial Industrial Relations Act 1971.

In the general election in February 1974 , he was re-elected as a member of the House of Commons after the dissolution of his previous constituency for the newly created constituency of Brent East. At the same time, Prime Minister Wilson reappointed him as Minister for Housing and Construction in the newly created Ministry of the Environment after the Labor Party won these elections in a time of rising lending rates and rising property prices. Later, his department was also given responsibility for town planning and local administration. He retained the office of Minister of Construction in the subsequent Labor government of Prime Minister James Callaghan from 1976 until the Labor Party was defeated in 1979 and was also appointed Privy Counselor (PC) in 1976. He was then the opposition spokesman for health and social security, but lost this post in 1981 due to the influence of the new Labor leader Michael Foot . As an MP, Freeson was still a member of the special environmental committee. As a member of parliament, he belonged to the moderate left wing of his party. In the general election of 1983 he was able to win his constituency again, but in 1985 he suffered a defeat against his party opponent Ken Livingstone in the line-up for the 1987 elections .

As a member of the Fabian Society he campaigned for Irish nationalism and the fight against racism and as such was an opponent of the Korean War and the Vietnam War . In 1957 he was a co-founder of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and as such one of the five Labor MPs at the first Easter March (Aldermaston March) 1958. He was also the author of the Tribune magazine and from 1964 to 1967 editor of the anti-fascist Searchlight Magazine . In 1981 he appeared as an opponent of the British Nationality Act 1981 and a critic of the Northern Ireland policy of the Thatcher administration .

After leaving the House of Commons, he worked as a consultant for housing and planning issues. From 1987 until his death he was editor of the magazine "Jewish Vanguard" and chairman of Poalei Tzion . From 2002 until his defeat by a Liberal Democrats candidate in the local elections in 2006, he was a member of the Brent City Council as representative of the local constituency Queen's Park .

swell

Individual evidence

  1. ^ "Sir Trevor Skeet - Conservative MP denied ministerial office" , THE INDEPENDENT August 18, 2004
  2. ↑ Robert Miles, Annie Phizacklea (ed.): Racism and Political Action in Britain . Routledge and Paul, London 1979, ISBN 0-7100-0035-9 , pp. 103 (English, 246 p., Limited preview in Google Book search).
  3. ↑ Nick Wates: The Battle for Tolmers Square . Routledge & K. Paul, 1976, ISBN 0-7100-8448-X , pp. 107 ff . (English, 232 p., limited preview in the Google book search).
  4. ↑ "Ken: The Ups and Downs of Ken Livingstone" , THE SUNDAY TIMES April 20, 2008
personal data
SURNAME Freeson, Reg
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Freeson, Reginald Yarnitz (full name); Freeson, Reg Yarnitz (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British politician (Labor), Member of the House of Commons
DATE OF BIRTH February 24, 1926
PLACE OF BIRTH St Pancras, London Borough of Camden
DATE OF DEATH October 9, 2006