ABSTRACT
One day in 1892, so the story goes, when Keir Hardie, newly elected independent Member for West Ham, arrived at the House of Commons wearing the famous cloth cap, a policeman halted him at the entrance. Roof repairs were in progress and the constable pointed round the corner to the workmen’s entrance. ‘You working on the roof, mate?’ he asked. ‘No, on the floor, mate’ replied Hardie laconically. And the small, squarely-built figure passed into the precincts to continue his lonely job as ‘member for the unemployed’.
