Bertie Hazell,

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(18 April 1907 – 11 January 2009), also known as Bert Hazell, was a British Labour Party politician and trade union activist. The son of a

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

farm worker, he left school at 14 to work on a farm in

Wymondham Wymondham ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the South Norfolk district of Norfolk, England, south-west of Norwich off the A11 road to London. The River Tiffey runs through. The parish, one of Norfolk's largest, includes rural areas to ...

, where his duties included scaring crows. When agricultural wages slumped after the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

sparking the Norfolk farm workers' strike in 1923, Hazell became active in the

National Union of Agricultural Workers The National Union of Agricultural and Allied Workers (NUAW) was a trade union in the United Kingdom which existed between 1906 and 1982. It represented farmworkers. History The union was established as the Eastern Counties Agricultural Labou ...

. He worked as a district organiser for the NUAW, 1937–1964. He unsuccessfully contested the safe Tory parliamentary seat of

Barkston Ash Barkston Ash is a small village and civil parish close to Selby in North Yorkshire, England. It was formerly known as Barkston in the West Riding of Yorkshire. History The village dates back to at least 1090, when it was spelled Barcestone. No ...

in Yorkshire in the 1945 and 1950 elections, before returning to Norfolk to help North Norfolk Labour MP Edwin Gooch. In 1945 he came within 116 votes of victory in Barkston Ash. He was elected Member of Parliament (MP) for North Norfolk in 1964 by just 53 votes. The constituency was unusual in being an agricultural seat electing Labour MPs since 1945, owing to a history of organised agricultural trade unionism and a working-class rural Labour vote in Norfolk at the time, very atypical of the rest of the country. He was re-elected in 1966, when his majority was 737 votes. He lost his seat at the 1970 general election to the

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

Ralph Howell Sir Ralph Frederic Howell (25 May 1923 – 14 February 2008) was a British farmer and Conservative Party politician. He served as Member of Parliament (MP) for North Norfolk for 27 years. Early life Howell was born in Great Moulton in Norfol ...

who held the seat for 27 years. Subsequently, Labour have never regained Norfolk North, and were relegated to third place when the Liberal Democrats gained the seat in 2001. As president of the NUAW for 10 years until he retired in 1978, Hazell devoted nearly 60 years to the cause of agricultural workers. He had a lengthy career in the health service including as chair of York Health Authority in the 1980s. Hazell was made an MBE for services to agriculture in 1946 and a CBE for services as chairman of the regional board for industry in 1962. Hazell, who reached his 100th birthday in April 2007, was the third longest-living MP in British history; only Theodore Cooke Taylor (102) and

Ronald Atkins Ronald Henry Atkins (13 June 1916 – 30 December 2020) was a British Labour politician who served as the Member of Parliament for Preston North for two terms: from 1966 until 1970, and from February 1974 until 1979. His career in British ...

(104) have lived longer. On 6 November 2008 he overtook Lord Shinwell's record as the longest-living former MP of recent times. Upon Hazell's death, James Allason became the oldest living former MP. He died on 11 January 2009, aged 101. He was three months short of his 102nd birthday.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hazell, Bert 1907 births 2009 deaths English centenarians Men centenarians Presidents of the National Union of Agricultural and Allied Workers Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies National Union of Agricultural and Allied Workers-sponsored MPs UK MPs 1964–1966 UK MPs 1966–1970 Commanders of the Order of the British Empire People from Wymondham People associated with the University of East Anglia

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