I read recently of the passing of Albert Booth, who was the Labour MP for Barrow-in-Furness and the Secretary of State for Employment from 1976 to 1979.

Now I did not know him, but I heard of him from Tony Benn’s Diaries and from the Labour Representation Committee who leading tributes to a man who was credited with being a principled socialist in a Labour government. Albert promoted trade union rights and full employment in difficult economic times, even when Labour had barely a working majority.

Jeremy Corbyn, Labour MP for Islington North wrote: “Albert was an inspiration. He proved it was possible to be elected as a socialist, opposed to nuclear weapons, in the heartland of the shipyards that built trident. He stands as an object lesson for those who today believe that Labour is only electable on the politics of the middle ground.”

For me Albert Booth was one of those men who saw that the middle ground of politics could not eradicate poverty, nor bring about a world at peace with itself. Politicians need to be more bold and radical to rid this country of squalor, ignorance, want, idleness and disease. [Beveridge Report].

 


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