ABSTRACT
The miners have, since 1874, been at the forefront of working class parliamentary politics. Parliamentary politics were used to avoid the limitations imposed by the unions’ organisational and numerical weakness. Ramsay Macdonald described the Parliamentary Labour Party of 1918-1922 as a party of checkweighmen, yet the links between the Yorkshire miners and their MPs are traditionally weak. The Barnsley District Labour Party came into being in March 1949. The Rother Valley selection shows the important role of the wards, demonstrating a shift away from the unions to the individual members who had a different conception of the role of the MP. The unions and the Party had different functions within the political system despite the unions’ links with the Party, and sponsorship is not a mainstream union activity. Despite the Government’s fuel policy and the hostility of a number of branches the Area Executive refused to accept any censure motion and secured the defeat of all criticism in Council.
