ABSTRACT

Celebrating the centenary of the Parliamentary Labour Party, this fascinating book commemorates the twenty-nine founding Labour MPs elected in 1906, including Labour’s first Prime Minister, first Chancellor of the Exchequer, first Minister of Labour, and a Nobel Peace Prize winner.

With a foreword by Tony Blair, Men Who Made Labour focuses on the pioneers’ origins, expectations, world vision and achievements in the context of early twentieth-century conditions, when the prospect of any Labour government was still a distant dream.

Drawing upon a vast array of previously unpublished material, and with obituaries primarily written by the twenty-first century successors to those original MPs, the text provides a unique insight into how today’s politicians view their party’s past – ensuring that it is an excellent resource for all politics and modern history students, as well as general readers with an interest in the area.

chapter 1|8 pages

George Barnes 1859–1940

chapter 3|8 pages

J.R. Clynes 1869–1949

chapter 4|8 pages

Will Crooks 1852–1921

chapter 6|6 pages

Alfred Gill 1856–1914

chapter 7|8 pages

Thomas Glover 1852–1913

chapter 10|8 pages

John Hodge 1855–1937

chapter 11|8 pages

Walter Hudson 1852–1935

chapter 12|6 pages

John Jenkins 1852–1936

chapter 13|8 pages

Fred Jowett 1864–1944

chapter 14|4 pages

George Kelley 1848–1911

chapter 17|6 pages

James O'Grady 1866–1934

chapter 18|4 pages

James Parker 1863–1948

chapter 20|8 pages

George Roberts 1868–1928

chapter 21|8 pages

James Seddon 1868–1939

chapter 22|10 pages

David Shackleton 1863–1938

chapter 23|8 pages

Philip Snowden 1864–1937

chapter 25|8 pages

Will Thorne 1857–1946

chapter 26|6 pages

Stephen Walsh 1859–1929

chapter 27|6 pages

George Wardle 1865–1947

chapter 28|8 pages

Alex Wilkie 1850–1928

chapter 29|8 pages

W.T. Wilson 1855–1921

chapter 31|22 pages

Labour's Early Days1

By Lord Shepherd 2

chapter 32|3 pages

First PLP Minutes1

12, 13 and 19 February 1906