Alfred Dubs, Baron Dubs (born 5 December 1932) is a British
Labour
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the labour ...
politician and former
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
.
Early life and education
Born in
Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...
in what was then
Czechoslovakia
, rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי,
, common_name = Czechoslovakia
, life_span = 1918–19391945–1992
, p1 = Austria-Hungary
, image_p1 ...
, Dubs was one of 669 Czech-resident, mainly Jewish, children saved by British stockbroker
Nicholas Winton
Sir Nicholas George Winton (born Wertheim; 19 May 1909 – 1 July 2015) was a British humanitarian who helped to rescue children who were at risk of being murdered by Nazi Germany. Born to German-Jewish parents who had emigrated to Britain at ...
, and others,
from the Nazis on the ''
Kindertransport
The ''Kindertransport'' (German for "children's transport") was an organised rescue effort of children (but not their parents) from Nazi-controlled territory that took place during the nine months prior to the outbreak of the Second World ...
'' between March and September 1939. Dubs's father was Jewish. His father had fled to England the day the Nazis arrived in Czechoslovakia and young Alf was to meet him at
Liverpool Street station
Liverpool Street station, also known as London Liverpool Street, is a central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station in the north-eastern corner of the City of London, in the ward of Bishopsgate Without. It is the t ...
. He later said that he clearly remembered leaving Prague station at age six and not touching the food pack given to him by his mother for the next two days. His mother was initially denied a visa but was able to join him and his father in London shortly afterwards.
Dubs learned the facts when Nicholas Winton's story was broadcast on ''
That's Life!
''That's Life!'' was a satirical TV consumer affairs programme on the BBC, at its height regularly reaching audiences of fifteen to twenty million, and receiving 10–15,000 letters a week.
The series broadcast on BBC1 for twenty-one years, ...
'' in 1988. He later met Winton in person and campaigned for him to be honoured. Winton was finally
knighted
A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...
in 2003, "for services to humanity, in saving Jewish Children from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia, 1938-39".
Dubs was educated at
Cheadle Hulme School and the
London School of Economics
, mottoeng = To understand the causes of things
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £240.8 million (2021)
, budget = £391.1 millio ...
. He then worked as a local government officer and for
Ogilvy and Mather
Ogilvy is a New York City-based British advertising, marketing, and public relations agency. It was founded in 1850 by Edmund Mather as a London-based agency. In 1964, the firm became known as Ogilvy & Mather after merging with a New York City a ...
as an account executive before entering politics.
Career
Before being elected for Battersea South, Dubs stood three times, due to closely spaced elections. In
1970
Events
January
* January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC.
* January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...
he stood for
Cities of London and Westminster and was defeated by
Christopher Tugendhat. In
South Hertfordshire in the
February
February is the second month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. The month has 28 days in common years or 29 in leap years, with the 29th day being called the ''leap day''. It is the first of five months not to have 31 days (th ...
and
October 1974 General Elections, he was beaten by
Cecil Parkinson
Cecil Edward Parkinson, Baron Parkinson, (1 September 1931 – 22 January 2016) was a British Conservative Party politician and cabinet minister. A chartered accountant by training, he entered Parliament in November 1970, and was appointed a ...
. Both were defeats to the other
largest party (nationally).
Dubs was elected in the
1979 general election as a member of parliament for
Battersea South and for the next parliament was re-elected – in
1983 for
Battersea
Battersea is a large district in south London, part of the London Borough of Wandsworth, England. It is centred southwest of Charing Cross and extends along the south bank of the River Thames. It includes the Battersea Park.
History
Batter ...
(a restored seat). He lost the
election of 1987 for the same seat. Dubs stood for Battersea again at the
1992 election, only to see the Conservative majority increase, against the national trend. From 1988 to 1995, he was director of the
Refugee Council
The Refugee Council is a UK based organisation which works with refugees and asylum seekers. The organisation provides support and advice to refugees and asylum seekers, as well as support for other refugee and asylum seeker organisations. The R ...
. On 27 September 1994, he was appointed as a Labour
life peer
In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. In modern times, life peerages, always created at the rank of baron, are created under the Life Peerages ...
with the title of Baron Dubs, ''of
Battersea
Battersea is a large district in south London, part of the London Borough of Wandsworth, England. It is centred southwest of Charing Cross and extends along the south bank of the River Thames. It includes the Battersea Park.
History
Batter ...
in the
London Borough of Wandsworth
Wandsworth () is a London boroughs, London borough in southwest London; it forms part of Inner London and has an estimated population of 329,677 inhabitants. Its main named areas are Battersea, Balham, Putney, Tooting and Wandsworth, Wandsworth ...
''. He was Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the
Northern Ireland Office
The Northern Ireland Office (NIO; ga, Oifig Thuaisceart Éireann, Ulster-Scots: ''Norlin Airlann Oaffis'') is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for Northern Ireland affairs. The NIO is led by the Secretary of State for N ...
from May 1997 to December 1999.
While Dubs was still in the House of Commons,
John O'Farrell worked in his office and was a Labour activist in Battersea. In his book, ''Things Can Only Get Better'', O'Farrell described the events leading up to Dubs's shock defeat by the Conservative
John Bowis
John Crocket Bowis OBE (born 2 August 1945 in Brighton, East Sussex) is a former Conservative MP and MEP.
Education
John Bowis was educated at Tonbridge School and Brasenose College, Oxford, where he studied Philosophy, Politics and Eco ...
at the 1987 general election.
Dubs has served on an area health authority and more recently on a mental health trust. He was chair of the
Broadcasting Standards Commission
The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications and mail, postal industries of the United Kingdom.
Ofcom has wide-ranging powers ...
until December 2003 and had previously been deputy chair of the
Independent Television Commission
The Independent Television Commission (ITC) licensed and regulated commercial television services in the United Kingdom (except S4C in Wales) between 1 January 1991 and 28 December 2003.
History
The creation of ITC, by the Broadcasting Act ...
. He is a trustee of the
Open University
The Open University (OU) is a British public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate students are based in the United Kingdom and principally study off- ...
Foundation.
In the past, he has been a local councillor, chair of the
Fabian Society
The Fabian Society is a British socialist organisation whose purpose is to advance the principles of social democracy and democratic socialism via gradualist and reformist effort in democracies, rather than by revolutionary overthrow. The Fa ...
, chair of
Liberty
Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom.
In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society fr ...
, a trustee of
Action Aid, a trustee of the
Immigration Advisory Service and of a number of other voluntary organisations.
Dubs is a patron of
Humanists UK, formerly known as the British Humanist Association, as well as treasurer of the
All-Party Parliamentary Humanist Group
All-Party Groups (APGs) within United Kingdom politics are informal, cross-party, interest groups of the UK Parliament. APGs have at least 20 members who are all Members of the House of Commons and House of Lords. The All-Party Parliamentary H ...
.
In 2008, Dubs participated in 42 House of Lords debates, well above average for all peers. He has spoken on many varied subjects including the
National Probation Service
The Probation Service (formerly the National Probation Service) for England and Wales is a statutory criminal justice service, mainly responsible for the supervision of offenders in the community and the provision of reports to the criminal cour ...
and
road safety
Road traffic safety refers to the methods and measures used to prevent road users from being killed or seriously injured. Typical road users include pedestrians, cyclists, motorists, vehicle passengers, horse riders, and passengers of on-road ...
.
Dubs was chair of the
Road Safety Foundation
The Road Safety Foundation is a United Kingdom charity which carries out and procures research into safe road design and road safety. The Foundation is responsible for the European Road Assessment Program (EuroRAP) in the UK and Ireland.
Histo ...
.
![Alf Dubs receiving Humanist of the Year award](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c9/Alf_Dubs_receiving_Humanist_of_the_Year_award.jpg)
Dubs lists his main home as a cottage in the Lake District in
Cumbria
Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumb ...
, which enabled him to claim over £26,000 of overnight subsistence expenses in 2007–08, although he has lived in
Notting Hill
Notting Hill is a district of West London, England, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Notting Hill is known for being a cosmopolitan and multicultural neighbourhood, hosting the annual Notting Hill Carnival and Portobello Road M ...
, London, since 1964. In May 2009, he argued in justification that Lords regard the overnight allowance as a payment in lieu of salary. "We are the only legislators in the world that don’t get paid," he said. "The overnight thing is quite generous because it compensates for not having a salary. In practice that’s how it works."
Dubs is a vice-president of the Debating Group.
[Debating Group](_blank)
Chair of the all party Group on Moldova
He was awarded Humanist of the Year 2016 by the British Humanist Association at an awards ceremony in London and an Honorary Silver Medal of
Jan Masaryk
Jan Garrigue Masaryk (14 September 1886 – 10 March 1948) was a Czech diplomat and politician who served as the Foreign Minister of Czechoslovakia from 1940 to 1948. American journalist John Gunther described Masaryk as "a brave, honest, turbul ...
at the
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...
Ambassador's residence in London in November 2019. In 2021, he had his Czech citizenship restored (alongside his British one) and thus became the first Czech-British member of the House of Lords.
During the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, Dubs was among a number of Humanists UK patrons to contribute morale-boosting messages of resilience, hope, and inspiration on
National Prison Radio.
Dubs amendment
In 2016, Lord Dubs tabled what became section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016 by which UK local authorities admitted unaccompanied minors housed in EU refugee camps who are mainly asylum seekers. It responded to the
European migrant crisis
The 2015 European migrant crisis, also known internationally as the Syrian refugee crisis, was a period of significantly increased movement of refugees and migrants into Europe in 2015, when 1.3 million people came to the continent to reques ...
. Originally rejected by the House of Commons, the provision was accepted by the government following a second debate and vote in favour by the Lords.
In February 2017, the
Home Office removed this as a type of permission to enter, in the light of other new provisions targeted at family reunion, after accepting 350 of the 3,000 whom analysts expected it would apply to.
A new amendment was proposed by Lord Dubs in January 2020, to require the UK government to negotiate an agreement with the EU to ensure that unaccompanied children in Europe could continue to come to the UK to join a close relative, who was in the process of seeking refugee status, as part of the law effecting the
Withdrawal Agreement. The amendment was supported by the
House of Lords
The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...
, but was rejected by the
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...
due to the
Government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...
opposing it. It would expand the
laissez-passer
A travel document is an identity document issued by a government or international entity pursuant to international agreements to enable individuals to clear border control measures. Travel documents usually assure other governments that the beare ...
system of
Restoring Family Links
Restoring Family Links (RFL) is a program of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, more specifically the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies involving activities that aim to prev ...
for settled refugees, in line with latest European Union practice. It would also expand the
vulnerable person resettlement and vulnerable children resettlement schemes which began in 2016.
"How Many People Do We Grant Asylum of Protection to?"
UK Government, period ending December 2020
See also
* Road Safety Foundation
The Road Safety Foundation is a United Kingdom charity which carries out and procures research into safe road design and road safety. The Foundation is responsible for the European Road Assessment Program (EuroRAP) in the UK and Ireland.
Histo ...
* Campaign for Safe Road Design
References
Times Guide to the House of Commons
''The Times Guide to the House of Commons'' is a political reference guide book published by Times Newspapers giving coverage of general elections in the United Kingdom.
Following most general elections since 1880, the book has been published. Th ...
1992
External links
Profile
on Parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
website
*
Profile
on TheyWorkForYou
TheyWorkForYou is a parliamentary monitoring website operated by mySociety which aims to make it easier for UK citizens to understand what is going on in Westminster, as well as the Scottish Parliament, the Senedd and the Northern Ireland Assembl ...
interview
on United States Holocaust memorial museum
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) is the United States' official memorial to the Holocaust. Adjacent to the National Mall in Washington, D.C., the USHMM provides for the documentation, study, and interpretation of Holocaust hi ...
archives
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dubs, Alfred
1932 births
Living people
Politicians from Prague
English people of Czech-Jewish descent
Jewish British politicians
Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
Councillors in the City of Westminster
English atheists
English humanists
People educated at Cheadle Hulme School
Alumni of the London School of Economics
Kindertransport refugees
Refugees ennobled in the United Kingdom
UK MPs 1979–1983
UK MPs 1983–1987
Czechoslovak refugees
Labour Party (UK) life peers
Czechoslovak emigrants to England
Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom
Czech emigrants to England
Chairs of the Fabian Society
British Jews
Recipients of the Silver Medal of Jan Masaryk