VARIED CAREERS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 80, 7 August 1945, Page 6

VARIED CAREERS

NEW BRITISH MINISTERS SEVERAL UNIVERSITY MEN MINERS RISE TO HIGH OFFICE Some interesting personalities are included in the new British Labour Cabinet. The new Home Secretary. Mr J. Chufrer Ede, is 63. He was educated at Christ’s College. Cambridge. He is a schoolmaster by profession, and since 1940 has been Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Education. Viscount Addison, the Dominion Secretary and Leader of the House of Lords, is 76. He is a doctor and an authority on farming. He was formerly a Liberal, but joined Labour Party after a quarrel with Mr Lloyd George in 1921. He held the portfolio of Agriculture in 1930. and was raised to the peerage in 1937, becoming Leader of the Labour Party in the House of Lords in 1940. LORD PETHICK-LAWRENCE’S POST The Secretary for India. Lord Pcthick-Lawrence, a wealthy social worker, is 74. He was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge, of which he is a Fellow. He is a barrister and an authority on financial and economic problems. He and his wife were prominent in the women’s suffrage campaign, during which he was a hunger-striker. He has been vice-chair-man of the Parliamentary Labour Party since 1942. The Colonial Secretary, Mr G. H. Hall, is 64. He was a colliery worker from 1911 to 1922. Member for Aberdare since 1922, he has been Civil Lord of the Admiralty. Parliamentary Un-der-Secretary of State for the Colonies, and later for the Admiralty. A well-known figure is Mr A. V. ’Alexander, First Lord of the Admiralty, a“ post which he first held from 1929 to 1931, and to which he was reappointed in 1940. He has been closely identified with the co-operative movement for many years. He is a Companion of Honour. DURHAM MINERS' LEADER The Secretary for War. Mr J. J. Lawson. is a Durham miners’ leader. He is 64. He has been Financial Secretary to the War Office and Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Labour. He was a member of the British Parliamentary Mission to China in 1942. Viscount Stansgate, D. 5.0., D.F.C., formerly Mr W. Wedgwood Benn, is the new head of the Air Ministry, for which he has been director of public relations since 1942. Formerly a Liberal, he joined the Labour Party in 1927, and has previously held Ministerial rank as Secretary of State for India. The Ministry of Labour and National Service, Mr G. A. Isaacs, is president of the Printing and Kindred Trades Federation. He is 62. He was Parliamentary Private Secretary to Mr J. H, Thomas. Secretary of State for the Colonies and later for the Dominions and to Mr A. V. Alexander, First Lord of the Admiralty. WOMAN MINISTER Miss Ellen Wilkinson, Minister of Education, is 54. She is an M.A. of Manchester University. After being organiser of the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies, she became a vigorous trade union organiser. She was the fifth woman elected to the House of Commons. She has been described as “tiny, red-haired, hardfighting and provocative.” She has been Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Pensions and Joint Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Home Security. A fiery orator and clever tactician, the new Minister of Health, Mr Aneurin Welsh miner, is one of the youngest Ministers. He is 48. He was expelled from the Labour Party in 1939 for his part in Sir Stafford Cripps’ popular front campaign. He is member for Ebbw Vale. Mr Tom Williams, Minister of Agriculture, was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries in 1940. He is a Privy Councillor. NEW MINISTER OF SUPPLY Joint Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Supply since November, 1944, Mr John Wilmot, is now Minister of Supply and Aircraft Production. He is 50. He was a Gilbart Prizeman in Banking of King’s College, London, and is governor of the Royal Normal College for the Blind. Chairman of the Co-operative Party, Mr Alfred Barnes, Minister of War Transport, is 58. He was a Labour Whip from 1925 to 1931 and a Junior Lord of the Treasury in 1929. General organiser of the Transport •and General Workers’ Union, Sir Ben Smith, Minister of Food, is an aiderman of the Bermondsey Borough Council and has been a Labour Whip since 1925. From November, 1943, he has been British Minister resident in Washington. He was knighted last June. The Minister of Fuel, Mr Emanuel Shinwell, was born in London of Jewish parents in 1884. He was a tailor’s machinist and later organiser of the Amalgamated Marine Workers’ Union. He was Secretary for Mines in 193 D-31. In the 1935 election he defeated Mr Ramsay MacDonald in a contest for the Seaham seat. A Welsh miners’ agent, Mr E. J. Williams, 55 He was Parliamentary Secretary, to the Financial Secretary to the Admiralty from 1942. . THE EARL OF LISTOWEL The Postmaster-General, the Earl of Listowel, was a visitor to New Zealand last year with the British Parliamentary delegation. He was educated at Eton and Magdalen College, Cambridge, and will be 39 next month. He succeeded to the earldom in 1931* He has been a Labour Whip in the House of Lords since 1941 and DeputySpeaker of that House since 1944. The politician and author Mr John Strachey, Parliamentary Under-Stecre-tary for Air, is 44. He was educated at Eton and Magdalen College, Oxford. At one time he was a member of Sir Oswald Mosley’s ‘‘New Party,” but resigned. Mr Strachey wrote "The Menace of Fascism,” telling the story of the fall of Mosley’s party. The Parliamentary Under-Secretary for the Dominions, Mr John Parker is 39. He was educated at Marlborough and St. John’s College, Oxford. He has been a member of the national executive of the Labour Party since 194?