Fred Barton (politician)
Fred Barton (1917–17 December 1963) was a British socialist politician.
Barton joined the Independent Labour Party (ILP) and was elected chairman of the Stretford Trades Council.[1] By 1944, he was the chairman of the Manchester Federation of the ILP, and was the party's second choice to contest the Manchester Rusholme by-election after Fenner Brockway, but neither accepted the opportunity, and Robert Edwards stood instead.[2]
At the 1950 general election, Barton stood for the party in Newcastle upon Tyne[3] He then stood for the party at the Ormskirk by-election, 1951[1]
Barton was elected as chairman of the ILP in March 1951.[4] While chairman, he campaigned against apartheid in South Africa[5] and the Korean War.[6]
In April 1954, Barton was succeeded as chairman by Annie Maxton.[7] Later in the year, he resigned from the ILP and joined the Labour Party. At the 1955 general election, he was the unsuccessful Labour candidate in Stretford, taking 39.1% of the vote, and in 1959, he took 40.4% in Middleton and Prestwich. He became the Liverpool district organiser of the Tobacco Workers' Union. In the run-up to the 1964 general election, he was the Labour Party Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Liverpool Kirkdale, but he died suddenly in late 1963 of a thrombosis.[4]
References
- ^ a b "I.L.P. Candidate for Ormskirk", Manchester Guardian, 22 March 1951
- ^ "Rusholme Contest", Manchester Guardian, 5 June 1944
- ^ "Four I.L.P. candidates", Manchester Guardian, 15 November 1949
- ^ a b "Fred Barton", Manchester Guardian, 18 December 1963
- ^ "Trade union colour bar denounced", Manchester Guardian, 22 September 1952
- ^ "I.L.P. view of trade depression", Manchester Guardian, 14 April 1952
- ^ LSE Library Archives Catalogue: Independent Labour Party