Frank Allaun
Frank Julian Allaun (27 February 1913 – 26 November 2002) was a British Labour politician.
Frank Allaun | |
|---|---|
| Chair of The Labour Party | |
| In office 1978–1979 | |
| Leader | James Callaghan |
| Preceded by | Joan Lestor |
| Succeeded by | Lena Jeger |
| Member of Parliament for Salford East | |
| In office 26 May 1955 – 13 May 1983 | |
| Preceded by | Edward Arthur Hardy |
| Succeeded by | Stan Orme |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 27 February 1913 Manchester, England |
| Died | 26 November 2002 (aged 89) Manchester, England |
Born in Manchester,[1] Allaun was educated at Manchester Grammar School and worked as an engineer, shop assistant, tour leader, chartered accountant and journalist. He helped to organise the first Aldermaston March in 1958 and was chair of the Labour Peace Fellowship. Allaun was against British membership of the EEC.[2]
Allaun contested Manchester Moss Side in 1951. He was Member of Parliament for Salford East from 1955 to 1983.
He was a veteran of leftwing causes, especially the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), of which he was vice president from 1983. He was the first President of the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy in 1973.[3] Allaun wrote several books on nuclear weapons including Stop the H-Bomb Race (1959) and The Wasted 30 Billions (1975).
In his book (Next Stop Execution) detailing his experiences as an agent working for the British during his service with the KGB Oleg Gordievsky describes Allaun, together with fellow M.P. James Lamond, as being deeply involved in the pro-Moscow peace movement, doing exactly what the official Soviet peace committee wanted of them. Their trips abroad, their statements, their behaviour, their votes - all appeared to Moscow to be nicely in line with Soviet propaganda.
Naive or optimistic, or just unappreciative of war culture, Allaun was a straight up-and-down idealist. His style was intensely gentle, the voice never raised, but the questions - chiefly on peace and housing - insistent. The beautiful manners and the soft Lancashire voice must have got on ministerial nerves. But then, as one of the organisers of the first Aldermaston march, he helped launch a movement whose appeal in the late 1950s and 1960s did more than get on nerves.
Outside the peace movement, his preoccupation was with public housing, and the vastly increased expenditure he urged should be paid for by cuts, equally massive, in defence. Defence cuts would, of course, come, but, despite Allaun's life work, Britain remained a nuclear power.
Frank Allaun retired from the House of Commons in 1983 but continued to be active in politics. This included writing the books Spreading the News: A Guide To Media Reform (1989) and The Struggle for Peace (1992).
His recreations were walking and swimming.
His first wife died in 1986, and on 3 June 1989 he married Millie Bobker, née Greenberg, a widow and retired civil servant.
He died in Manchester in 2002 aged 89. His second wife, son and daughter survived him.
Notes
- http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article1181144.ece/
- David Butler and Uwe Kitzinger, The 1975 Referendum (London: Macmillan, 1976), p. 105, p. 235.
- "c l p d - a potted history". CLPD. Retrieved 2 August 2015.
References
- Times Guide to the House of Commons, 1966 and 1979
- Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs
External links
- Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Frank Allaun
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Edward Arthur Hardy |
Member of Parliament for Salford East 1955–1983 |
Succeeded by Stan Orme |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by Joan Lestor |
Chair of The Labour Party 1978–1979 |
Succeeded by Lena Jeger |
Authority control  |
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