Bob Mellish, Baron Mellish
Encyclopedia
Robert Joseph Mellish, Baron Mellish, PC
(3 March 1913 – 9 May 1998) was a British politician. He was a long-serving Labour Party
MP (from 1946 to 1982) and served as the Labour Chief Whip
from 1969 until 1976 but in his later years he fell out with his local Constituency Labour Party
which had become dominated by left-wingers, and eventually left the party.
to John Mellish and his wife Mary Elizabeth Carroll, the thirteenth of fourteen children. His father, a docker, had taken part in the dockers' strikes of 1899 and 1912. After he left school he worked for the Transport and General Workers' Union
and when the Second World War started in 1939 he was called up and ended the war as a Major in the Royal Engineers
fighting the Japanese in South-East Asia.
resigned from Parliament, the Rotherhithe
constituency was vacated. Most local opinion favoured Dr John Gillison who represented the area on the London County Council
but Mellish was selected after the TGWU dockers' delegates voted for him en bloc. He easily won the constituency in a by-election
in 1946. This constituency was expanded in 1950 and named Bermondsey
.
In 1950 he was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary
to the Minister for Supply, George Strauss
and then in 1951 to the Minister for Pensions, George Isaacs
. He was also Chairman of the London Regional Labour Party from 1956 to 1977.
Mellish was appointed by Harold Wilson
as a Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury
(Chief Whip) which he held during Labour Governments from 1969 to 1970 and again from 1974 to 1976. He was renowned as a tough Chief Whip. He was Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Housing and Local Government when Labour won in 1964 until 1967 and also Minister of Public Building and Works from 1967 until 1969. He became Minister for Housing and Local Government in 1970, however this was now under Anthony Crosland
as Secretary of State for Local Government and Regional Planning.
Mellish was in favour of Britain's entry into the Common Market
but voted to oppose Edward Heath
's policy of entry in 1971, in accordance with Labour Party policy. He was loyal to the Labour Party leader Harold Wilson and apparently wept when he heard the news that he had resigned as Prime Minister
in 1976. He supported Michael Foot
to replace Wilson but Jim Callaghan won instead. Mellish did not get on well with Callaghan and so left the Government a few months later.
Mellish once opened a speech by saying "As I come to this platform, many of you will know that I have never been an anti-racialist". In 1976 Mellish argued that the Malawi
Asian
s expelled by Hastings Banda
should not be allowed to live in Britain despite possessing British passports:
was keen to get a Labour figure to sit on the London Docklands Development Corporation
as Vice Chairman in 1980 but the Labour Party was entirely opposed to the creation of the LDDC and refused to nominate. Mellish offered a way through as he was willing to take the post; as a sitting MP he would lose his seat if the post was paid, so a special provision was made that it would be unpaid until the Vice Chairman elected to take payment. Mellish's acceptance of a post with the LDDC exacerbated the split with the Bermondsey CLP which had elected a slate of left-wing officers at its annual meeting that same year.
later said that "Mellish's final years in the Commons were dogged by controversy and beset with troubles in Bermondsey from hard-left ‘yuppie
’ incomers and the Militant Tendency
, people who were moons apart from the dockers who had selected him four decades earlier". He wanted his ally John O'Grady, Leader of Southwark Borough Council
, to be selected in his stead but the constituency party selected Peter Tatchell
, its Secretary. Mellish made his discontent public and threatened to resign immediately and force a by-election if Tatchell was endorsed by the Labour Party nationally. Unexpectedly, Labour leader Michael Foot
announced that Tatchell would never be endorsed "so far as I am concerned".
However, when, in August 1982, it became clear that Tatchell would be permitted to stand if the Constituency Labour Party selected him again, Mellish announced his resignation from the Labour Party to sit as an Independent MP. In November that year, he resigned his seat in Parliament (by becoming Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds) and forced a 1983 by-election
in which Mellish campaigned for O'Grady who stood as a 'Real Bermondsey Labour' candidate. O'Grady performed badly at the byelection although Mellish did take some satisfaction from the heavy defeat of Tatchell by the Liberal
candidate, Simon Hughes
. Tatchell claimed in 2003, after Mellish's death, that Mellish was secretly bisexual and was "persistent" in propositioning Tatchell but warned him when he was rebuffed not to publicise it as no one would believe him.
. In 1985 he stood down from the LDDC and accepted a life peerage as Baron Mellish, of Bermondsey in Greater London
, sitting as an independent. Mellish was a supporter of Millwall Football Club
and was President of the Millwall Supporters Club. In 1995 during a debate on the commemorations for the fiftieth anniversary of Victory over Japan Day
, Roy Jenkins expressed "sorrow and regret" about the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
. Mellish replied that "While on board we heard that the war was over. I have never prayed so hard nor been so grateful for anything as I was for that atom bomb. It was the finest thing that ever happened that we should have dropped it on those villains. When we reached Port Swettenham, the ramifications would have been unbelievable. Thousands of lives would have been lost and, at the time, I thanked God for the atom bomb".
The tallest building in Milton Keynes
, Mellish Court, is named after him.
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Privy Council of the United Kingdom
Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, usually known simply as the Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the Sovereign in the United Kingdom...
(3 March 1913 – 9 May 1998) was a British politician. He was a long-serving Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
MP (from 1946 to 1982) and served as the Labour Chief Whip
Chief Whip
The Chief Whip is a political office in some legislatures assigned to an elected member whose task is to administer the whipping system that ensures that members of the party attend and vote as the party leadership desires.-The Whips Office:...
from 1969 until 1976 but in his later years he fell out with his local Constituency Labour Party
Constituency Labour Party
A Constituency Labour Party is an organisation of members of the British Labour Party who live in a particular UK parliamentary constituency in England, Scotland and Wales. The Labour Party in Northern Ireland has, since February 2009, been organised as a province-wide Constituency Labour Party...
which had become dominated by left-wingers, and eventually left the party.
Early life
Mellish was born in DeptfordDeptford
Deptford is a district of south London, England, located on the south bank of the River Thames. It is named after a ford of the River Ravensbourne, and from the mid 16th century to the late 19th was home to Deptford Dockyard, the first of the Royal Navy Dockyards.Deptford and the docks are...
to John Mellish and his wife Mary Elizabeth Carroll, the thirteenth of fourteen children. His father, a docker, had taken part in the dockers' strikes of 1899 and 1912. After he left school he worked for the Transport and General Workers' Union
Transport and General Workers' Union
The Transport and General Workers' Union, also known as the TGWU and the T&G, was one of the largest general trade unions in the United Kingdom and Ireland - where it was known as the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers' Union - with 900,000 members...
and when the Second World War started in 1939 he was called up and ended the war as a Major in the Royal Engineers
Royal Engineers
The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually just called the Royal Engineers , and commonly known as the Sappers, is one of the corps of the British Army....
fighting the Japanese in South-East Asia.
Political career
When Sir Ben SmithBen Smith (British Labour politician)
Sir Benjamin Smith, PC was a Labour Party politician in England. A driver of one of London's first taxicabs, he was Member of Parliament for Rotherhithe from 1923 until 1931 and from 1935 until 1946...
resigned from Parliament, the Rotherhithe
Rotherhithe (UK Parliament constituency)
Rotherhithe was a parliamentary constituency centred on the Rotherhithe district of South London. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post system....
constituency was vacated. Most local opinion favoured Dr John Gillison who represented the area on the London County Council
London County Council
London County Council was the principal local government body for the County of London, throughout its 1889–1965 existence, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today known as Inner London and was replaced by the Greater London Council...
but Mellish was selected after the TGWU dockers' delegates voted for him en bloc. He easily won the constituency in a by-election
By-election
A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....
in 1946. This constituency was expanded in 1950 and named Bermondsey
Bermondsey (UK Parliament constituency)
Bermondsey was a borough constituency centred on the Bermondsey district of South London, England. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom...
.
In 1950 he was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary
Parliamentary Private Secretary
A Parliamentary Private Secretary is a role given to a United Kingdom Member of Parliament by a senior minister in government or shadow minister to act as their contact for the House of Commons; this role is junior to that of Parliamentary Under-Secretary, which is a ministerial post, salaried by...
to the Minister for Supply, George Strauss
George Strauss
George Russell Strauss, Baron Strauss PC was a long-serving British Labour Party politician, who was a Member of Parliament for 46 years and was Father of the House of Commons from 1974 to 1979....
and then in 1951 to the Minister for Pensions, George Isaacs
George Isaacs
George Alfred Isaacs JP DL was a British politician and trades unionist who served in the government of Clement Attlee....
. He was also Chairman of the London Regional Labour Party from 1956 to 1977.
Mellish was appointed by Harold Wilson
Harold Wilson
James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, KG, OBE, FRS, FSS, PC was a British Labour Member of Parliament, Leader of the Labour Party. He was twice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the 1960s and 1970s, winning four general elections, including a minority government after the...
as a Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury
Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury
The Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury is a junior ministerial position in the British Government. The holder is usually the Government Chief Whip in the House of Commons. However, the office is no longer attached to the Treasury...
(Chief Whip) which he held during Labour Governments from 1969 to 1970 and again from 1974 to 1976. He was renowned as a tough Chief Whip. He was Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Housing and Local Government when Labour won in 1964 until 1967 and also Minister of Public Building and Works from 1967 until 1969. He became Minister for Housing and Local Government in 1970, however this was now under Anthony Crosland
Anthony Crosland
Charles Anthony Raven Crosland , otherwise Tony Crosland or C.A.R. Crosland, was a British Labour Party politician and author. He served as Member of Parliament for South Gloucestershire and later for Great Grimsby...
as Secretary of State for Local Government and Regional Planning.
Mellish was in favour of Britain's entry into the Common Market
European Economic Community
The European Economic Community The European Economic Community (EEC) The European Economic Community (EEC) (also known as the Common Market in the English-speaking world, renamed the European Community (EC) in 1993The information in this article primarily covers the EEC's time as an independent...
but voted to oppose Edward Heath
Edward Heath
Sir Edward Richard George "Ted" Heath, KG, MBE, PC was a British Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and as Leader of the Conservative Party ....
's policy of entry in 1971, in accordance with Labour Party policy. He was loyal to the Labour Party leader Harold Wilson and apparently wept when he heard the news that he had resigned as Prime Minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
in 1976. He supported Michael Foot
Michael Foot
Michael Mackintosh Foot, FRSL, PC was a British Labour Party politician, journalist and author, who was a Member of Parliament from 1945 to 1955 and from 1960 until 1992...
to replace Wilson but Jim Callaghan won instead. Mellish did not get on well with Callaghan and so left the Government a few months later.
Mellish once opened a speech by saying "As I come to this platform, many of you will know that I have never been an anti-racialist". In 1976 Mellish argued that the Malawi
Malawi
The Republic of Malawi is a landlocked country in southeast Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the northwest, Tanzania to the northeast, and Mozambique on the east, south and west. The country is separated from Tanzania and Mozambique by Lake Malawi. Its size...
Asian
Asian people
Asian people or Asiatic people is a term with multiple meanings that refers to people who descend from a portion of Asia's population.- Central Asia :...
s expelled by Hastings Banda
Hastings Banda
Hastings Kamuzu Banda was the leader of Malawi and its predecessor state, Nyasaland, from 1961 to 1994. After receiving much of his education overseas, Banda returned to his home country to speak against colonialism and advocate for independence...
should not be allowed to live in Britain despite possessing British passports:
We cannot go on like this. I do not care what those on this side of the House, or the Opposition side or anywhere else, say. Problems at local level will become worse and worse for our own people unless something is done. All hon. Members know that people come to their surgeries describing the most distressing conditions—terrifying conditions. People born and bred in their own constituencies have been on the housing waiting list for as long as six years. But, on the points system, one must give immigrants preference...People cannot come here just because they have a British passport—full stop.
London Docklands Development Corporation
The government of Margaret ThatcherMargaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
was keen to get a Labour figure to sit on the London Docklands Development Corporation
London Docklands Development Corporation
The London Docklands Development Corporation was a quango agency set up by the UK Government in 1981 to regenerate the depressed Docklands area of east London. During its eighteen-year existence it was responsible for regenerating an area of in the London Boroughs of Newham, Tower Hamlets and...
as Vice Chairman in 1980 but the Labour Party was entirely opposed to the creation of the LDDC and refused to nominate. Mellish offered a way through as he was willing to take the post; as a sitting MP he would lose his seat if the post was paid, so a special provision was made that it would be unpaid until the Vice Chairman elected to take payment. Mellish's acceptance of a post with the LDDC exacerbated the split with the Bermondsey CLP which had elected a slate of left-wing officers at its annual meeting that same year.
Bermondsey by-election
Mellish was against the shift to the Left in the Labour Party and decided not to stand for election again. Tam DalyellTam Dalyell
Sir Thomas Dalyell Loch, 11th Baronet , known as Tam Dalyell, is a British Labour Party politician, who was a Member of Parliament in the House of Commons from 1962 to 2005, first for West Lothian and then for Linlithgow.-Early life:...
later said that "Mellish's final years in the Commons were dogged by controversy and beset with troubles in Bermondsey from hard-left ‘yuppie
Yuppie
Yuppie is a term that refers to a member of the upper middle class or upper class in their 20s or 30s. It first came into use in the early-1980s and largely faded from American popular culture in the late-1980s, due to the 1987 stock market crash and the early 1990s recession...
’ incomers and the Militant Tendency
Militant Tendency
The Militant tendency was an entrist group within the British Labour Party based around the Militant newspaper that was first published in 1964...
, people who were moons apart from the dockers who had selected him four decades earlier". He wanted his ally John O'Grady, Leader of Southwark Borough Council
London Borough of Southwark
The London Borough of Southwark is a London borough in south east London, England. It is directly south of the River Thames and the City of London, and forms part of Inner London.-History:...
, to be selected in his stead but the constituency party selected Peter Tatchell
Peter Tatchell
Peter Gary Tatchell is an Australian-born British political campaigner best known for his work with LGBT social movements...
, its Secretary. Mellish made his discontent public and threatened to resign immediately and force a by-election if Tatchell was endorsed by the Labour Party nationally. Unexpectedly, Labour leader Michael Foot
Michael Foot
Michael Mackintosh Foot, FRSL, PC was a British Labour Party politician, journalist and author, who was a Member of Parliament from 1945 to 1955 and from 1960 until 1992...
announced that Tatchell would never be endorsed "so far as I am concerned".
However, when, in August 1982, it became clear that Tatchell would be permitted to stand if the Constituency Labour Party selected him again, Mellish announced his resignation from the Labour Party to sit as an Independent MP. In November that year, he resigned his seat in Parliament (by becoming Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds) and forced a 1983 by-election
Bermondsey by-election, 1983
A by-election was held in the Bermondsey constituency in South London, on 24 February 1983, following the resignation of Labour MP Robert Mellish, who had represented the constituency and its predecessors in the House of Commons since 1946...
in which Mellish campaigned for O'Grady who stood as a 'Real Bermondsey Labour' candidate. O'Grady performed badly at the byelection although Mellish did take some satisfaction from the heavy defeat of Tatchell by the Liberal
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
candidate, Simon Hughes
Simon Hughes
Simon Henry Ward Hughes is a British politician and Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats. He is Member of Parliament for the constituency of Bermondsey and Old Southwark. Until 2008 he was President of the Liberal Democrats...
. Tatchell claimed in 2003, after Mellish's death, that Mellish was secretly bisexual and was "persistent" in propositioning Tatchell but warned him when he was rebuffed not to publicise it as no one would believe him.
Later life
Mellish later joined the Social Democratic PartySocial Democratic Party (UK)
The Social Democratic Party was a political party in the United Kingdom that was created on 26 March 1981 and existed until 1988. It was founded by four senior Labour Party 'moderates', dubbed the 'Gang of Four': Roy Jenkins, David Owen, Bill Rodgers and Shirley Williams...
. In 1985 he stood down from the LDDC and accepted a life peerage as Baron Mellish, of Bermondsey in Greater London
Greater London
Greater London is the top-level administrative division of England covering London. It was created in 1965 and spans the City of London, including Middle Temple and Inner Temple, and the 32 London boroughs. This territory is coterminate with the London Government Office Region and the London...
, sitting as an independent. Mellish was a supporter of Millwall Football Club
Millwall F.C.
Millwall Football Club is an English professional football club based in South Bermondsey, south east London, that plays in the Football League Championship, the second tier of English football. Founded as Millwall Rovers in 1885, the club has retained its name despite having last played in the...
and was President of the Millwall Supporters Club. In 1995 during a debate on the commemorations for the fiftieth anniversary of Victory over Japan Day
Victory over Japan Day
Victory over Japan Day is a name chosen for the day on which the Surrender of Japan occurred, effectively ending World War II, and subsequent anniversaries of that event...
, Roy Jenkins expressed "sorrow and regret" about the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
During the final stages of World War II in 1945, the United States conducted two atomic bombings against the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan, the first on August 6, 1945, and the second on August 9, 1945. These two events are the only use of nuclear weapons in war to date.For six months...
. Mellish replied that "While on board we heard that the war was over. I have never prayed so hard nor been so grateful for anything as I was for that atom bomb. It was the finest thing that ever happened that we should have dropped it on those villains. When we reached Port Swettenham, the ramifications would have been unbelievable. Thousands of lives would have been lost and, at the time, I thanked God for the atom bomb".
The tallest building in Milton Keynes
Milton Keynes
Milton Keynes , sometimes abbreviated MK, is a large town in Buckinghamshire, in the south east of England, about north-west of London. It is the administrative centre of the Borough of Milton Keynes...
, Mellish Court, is named after him.
External links
- The Independent obituary by Tam DalyellTam DalyellSir Thomas Dalyell Loch, 11th Baronet , known as Tam Dalyell, is a British Labour Party politician, who was a Member of Parliament in the House of Commons from 1962 to 2005, first for West Lothian and then for Linlithgow.-Early life:...
. - Photograph of Mellish
- BBC's The Westminster Hour with an interview with Peter Tatchell concerning the Bermondsey by-election.
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