Frederick Thomas Willey (13 November 1910 – 13 December 1987) was a British Labour Party politician. He was a

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 o ...

(MP) representing a Sunderland constituency for 38 years, from 1945 to 1983.

Early life

Willey was educated at

Durham Johnston School Durham Johnston Comprehensive School is a secondary school in Durham, England. Introduction Durham Johnston is a 1700-place 11–18 school serving Durham City and communities beyond to the south and west. It is situated on Crossgate Moor, on ...

and St John's College, Cambridge, and was called to the Bar in 1936. He worked as a barrister on the Northern Circuit. His political career as an activist for social justice and other left-wing causes began in the 1930s, when he was the keynote speaker welcoming returning

International Brigade The International Brigades ( es, Brigadas Internacionales) were military units set up by the Communist International to assist the Popular Front government of the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War. The organization existe ...

volunteers to Sunderland.

Military career

During

the Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

Willey served with the

Auxiliary Fire Service The Auxiliary Fire Service (AFS) was first formed in 1938 in Great Britain as part of the Civil Defence Service. Its role was to supplement the work of brigades at local level. The Auxiliary Fire Service and the local brigades were superseded ...

(AFS) and was an officer of the

Fire Brigades Union The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) is a trade union in the United Kingdom for wholetime firefighters (including officers up to chief fire officer / firemaster), retained firefighters and emergency control room staff. History The first recorded ins ...

Parliamentary career

Willey was elected to 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. T ...

(MP) for Sunderland in 1945, when the Borough still sent two MPs to

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

. In 1950 two-member constituencies were abolished and Willey was returned for the new constituency of Sunderland North, where he served until he retired before the general election of 1983. Willey served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food from 1950 to 1951, and as Minister of Land and Natural Resources from 1965 to 1967. He opened the UK's first long-distance footpath, the

Pennine Way The Pennine Way is a National Trail in England, with a small section in Scotland. The trail stretches for from Edale, in the northern Derbyshire Peak District, north through the Yorkshire Dales and Northumberland National Park and ends at Kir ...

, in 1965. He served as Chairman of the

Parliamentary Labour Party In UK politics, the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) is the parliamentary group of the Labour Party in Parliament, i.e. Labour MPs as a collective body. Commentators on the British Constitution sometimes draw a distinction between the Labour ...

from 1979 to 1981.

References

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External links

* 1910 births 1987 deaths Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge British barristers British firefighters British trade unionists Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Ministers in the Attlee governments, 1945–1951 People from Durham, England UK MPs 1945–1950 UK MPs 1950–1951 UK MPs 1951–1955 UK MPs 1955–1959 UK MPs 1959–1964 UK MPs 1964–1966 UK MPs 1966–1970 UK MPs 1970–1974 UK MPs 1974 UK MPs 1974–1979 UK MPs 1979–1983 Civil Defence Service personnel {{England-Labour-UK-MP-stub