Ivor Malcolm Clemitson (8 December 1931 – 24 December 1997) was 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. He attended Luton Grammar School. Having graduated from 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 ...

and completed National Service in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

, he trained as a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

priest and was ordained in 1958. In order to stand for Parliament in 1974, he had to renounce his orders. At the February 1974 general election, Clemitson was elected as

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 ...

for Luton East. He lived in the constituency and held his seat at the October 1974 election but, at the 1979 general election, lost by 847 votes 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 i ...

Graham Bright Sir Graham Frank James Bright (born 2 April 1942) is a British politician and businessman. A member of the Conservative Party, he served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1979 to 1997. He subsequently served as the Cambridgeshire Police and ...

. After this he worked for the

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. He stood again in the 1983 general election but was not successful. He moved to

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with his wife (Janet) and daughter (Suzannah) in the late 1990s and died at his home there, aged 66, just before Christmas 1997. Following his death, his sister, Jean, persuaded the

General Synod of the Church of England The General Synod is the tricameral deliberative and legislative organ of the Church of England. The synod was instituted in 1970, replacing the Church Assembly, and is the culmination of a process of rediscovering self-government for the Church ...

to permit a stained glass window to be installed in his memory at St Mary's Church in

Harlington, Bedfordshire Harlington is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish located in Bedfordshire, England, near the M1 motorway. The nearest town is Flitwick about to the north. Transport links Road The village is about from junction 12 of the M1 ...

, the village where they had lived for some time during childhood. The window, designed by Petri Anderson, was dedicated in May 2009. Clemitson co-wrote ''A Life to Live: Beyond Full Employment'' (Junction Books, 1981) with George Rogers MP.

William Howie, Baron Howie of Troon William Howie, Baron Howie of Troon (2 March 1924 – 26 May 2018), known as Will Howie, was a British Labour Party politician and Member of Parliament (MP). Howie was elected to the House of Commons at a 1963 by-election in the Luton consti ...

wrote that Clemitson was on the left of the Party, but "his leftishness was never, that I can recall, exaggerated: it was always moderate and well-mannered". Clemitson House, a municipal building in the centre of Luton, is named in memory of Clemitson and his father (Daniel), who had served as an alderman on the local council. Clemitson was a lifelong supporter of

Luton Town Football Club Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1 ...

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* * 1931 births 1997 deaths Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1974 UK MPs 1974–1979 {{England-Labour-UK-MP-stub

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