John Ernest Silkin (18 March 1923 – 26 April 1987) was a British left-wing

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 solicitor.

Early life

He was the third son of

Lewis Silkin, 1st Baron Silkin Lewis Silkin, 1st Baron Silkin CH (14 November 1889 – 11 May 1972), was a British Labour Party politician. Career Lewis Silkin was born on 14 November 1889 to Abraham and Fanny Silkin, who were Litvak Jews from what was then the Lithuanian ...

, and a younger brother of

Samuel Silkin, Baron Silkin of Dulwich Samuel Charles Silkin, Baron Silkin of Dulwich, PC, QC (6 March 1918 – 17 August 1988) was a British Labour Party politician and cricketer. Early life He was the second son of Lewis Silkin (afterwards Baron Silkin), a Labour Member of Parl ...

. He was educated at

Dulwich College Dulwich College is a 2–19 independent, day and boarding school for boys in Dulwich, London, England. As a public school, it began as the College of God's Gift, founded in 1619 by Elizabethan actor Edward Alleyn, with the original purpose of ...

, the

University of Wales The University of Wales (Welsh language, Welsh: ''Prifysgol Cymru'') is a confederal university based in Cardiff, Wales. Founded by royal charter in 1893 as a federal university with three constituent colleges – Aberystwyth, Bangor and Cardiff � ...

and Trinity Hall,

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

. Silkin served in the

Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a cit ...

from 1942 to 1946. He was commissioned as a

sub-lieutenant Sub-lieutenant is usually a junior officer rank, used in armies, navies and air forces. In most armies, sub-lieutenant is the lowest officer rank. However, in Brazil, it is the highest non-commissioned rank, and in Spain, it is the second high ...

in 1943, serving in the East Indies Fleet, Eastern Fleet and Pacific Fleet aboard and , and ashore at Anderson, Ceylon (

FECB The Far East Combined Bureau, an outstation of the British Government Code and Cypher School, was set up in Hong Kong in March 1935, to monitor Japanese, and also Chinese and Russian (Soviet) intelligence and radio traffic. Later it moved to Singa ...

). He was later promoted lieutenant. He was demobilised in 1946 and returned to Cambridge. Silkin was admitted as a solicitor in 1950 and worked for his father's law practice in London.

Parliamentary career

He contested the seat of

St Marylebone Marylebone (usually , also , ) is a district in the West End of London, in the City of Westminster. Oxford Street, Europe's busiest shopping street, forms its southern boundary. An ancient parish and latterly a metropolitan borough, it merge ...

for the Labour Party at the 1950 general election, West Woolwich in

1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the United ...

and South Nottingham in

1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

. He served as a councillor in the

Metropolitan Borough of St Marylebone The Metropolitan Borough of St Marylebone was a metropolitan boroughs of the County of London, metropolitan borough of the County of London from 1900 to 1965. It was based directly on the previously existing civil parishes in England, civil par ...

(1962–63) and 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. ...

for the first time in July 1963. He served as the Labour Member of Parliament for

Deptford Deptford is an area on the south bank of the River Thames in southeast London, within the London Borough of Lewisham. It is named after a ford of the River Ravensbourne. From the mid 16th century to the late 19th it was home to Deptford Dock ...

(1963–74) and for Lewisham, Deptford (1974–87). He was appointed to the

Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

in 1966. He served as a Government Chief Whip (1966–69) and as the deputy leader of the House of Commons (1968–69). He was appointed as the Minister of Public Buildings and Works (1969–70) and the Minister for Planning and Local Government in the Department for the Environment (1974–76). He served as the

Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food was a United Kingdom cabinet position, responsible for the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. The post was originally named President of the Board of Agriculture and was created in 1889. ...

(1976–79). In opposition, Silkin was an unsuccessful candidate in the 1980 Labour leadership election following the resignation of

James Callaghan Leonard James Callaghan, Baron Callaghan of Cardiff, ( ; 27 March 191226 March 2005), commonly known as Jim Callaghan, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1976 to 1979 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1976 to 1980. Callaghan is ...

and in the deputy leadership election in 1981. He served as Opposition Spokesman on Industry (1979–80),

Shadow Leader of the House of Commons The Shadow Leader of the House of Commons is a member of the Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet (United Kingdom), Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet responsible for working with the Leader of the House of Commons, Leader of the House in arrangin ...

(1980–83), Shadow Defence Secretary (1981–83) and the Dairy Industry Arbitrator (1986–87). Silkin's publication, ''Changing Battlefields: The Challenge to the Labour Party'' appeared posthumously. His papers were given to the

Churchill Archives Centre The Churchill Archives Centre (CAC) at Churchill College at the University of Cambridge is one of the largest repositories in the United Kingdom for the preservation and study of modern personal papers. It is best known for housing the papers of ...

by his widow in February 1990. These cover his Parliamentary and Ministerial career, as well as his other public interests, such as the

Channel Tunnel The Channel Tunnel (french: Tunnel sous la Manche), also known as the Chunnel, is a railway tunnel that connects Folkestone (Kent, England, UK) with Coquelles ( Hauts-de-France, France) beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover. ...

, the

European Economic Community The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organization created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisb ...

and the dairy industry. There is material of particular interest concerning his relationship with his

Constituency Labour Party __NOTOC__ A constituency Labour Party (CLP) is an organisation of members of the British Labour Party who live in a particular parliamentary constituency. In England and Wales, CLP boundaries coincide with those for UK parliamentary constituenc ...

and on the Labour Party Leadership and Deputy Leadership Elections in 1980 and 1981.

Family

He was married to the actress

Rosamund John Rosamund John (19 October 1913 – 27 October 1998), born Nora Rosamund Jones, was an English film and stage actress. Early life She was born and brought up in Tottenham in North London, the daughter of Frederick Henry Jones, a wine merchant' ...

from 1950 until his death in 1987. Their son Rory L. F. Silkin was born in 1954. Rory has a daughter called Natasha Silkin, who also works in politics for Hanover Communications.

External links

*
The Papers of John Ernest Silkin
held at

References

, - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Silkin, John 1923 births 1987 deaths Agriculture ministers of the United Kingdom Alumni of the University of Wales Alumni of Trinity Hall, Cambridge European democratic socialists English Jews English people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Members of St Marylebone Metropolitan Borough Council People educated at Dulwich College Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve personnel of World War II Royal Navy officers of World War II Treasurers of the Household UK MPs 1983–1987 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 Younger sons of barons Jewish British politicians Ministers in the Wilson governments, 1964–1970