ABSTRACT
John Robert Clynes has suffered from an undeserved neglect. In his long public life – between 1890 and his death in 1949 – he came to represent and reflect the British labour movement’s dualistic character for much of the early twentieth century. Clynes played an important role in the transformation of the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) from a small, independent pressure group representing organized manual working-class interests and aspirations into a broader-based people’s party that sought national political power. He was first elected as Labour MP for the working-class constituency of Manchester North East (later Manchester Platting)
1 The author would like to thank David Howell and Jim Cronin for their comments on this essay.
