Ben Ford (politician)

For other people named Ben Ford, see Ben Ford (disambiguation).

Benjamin Thomas Ford (born 1 April 1925), known as Ben Ford, is a British politician.

Early years

Address at time of birth, 67 Haberdasher Street, Shoreditch, County of London. Moved to Streatham, SW16 in 1927. Ford was an electronic fitter-wireman and was a councillor on Clacton Urban District Council 1959-62 and an alderman of Essex County Council 1959–65. He was election agent for Harwich in 1959 and was president of that Constituency Labour Party for seven years. He married Vera Ada Fancett 1950 with whom he had three children, Anthony, Paula and Ivan.

MP for Bradford North

Ford was elected Labour Party Member of Parliament for Bradford North at the 1964 general election. Whilst an MP he served as chairman of the All-Party Wool and Textile Group of MPs and was a founder member of The Manifesto Group In 1982, he was deselected as the Labour candidate in favour of Pat Wall, and subsequently stood in the 1983 general election as an independent Labour candidate. Ford polled 9% of the vote, which split Labour support and helped the Conservative candidate Geoffrey Lawler to win. By the early 1990s he had joined the Liberal Democrats.

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Ben Ford
• Times Guide to the House of Commons, 1966 & 1983
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs