John "Jack" Kinley (2 November 1878 – 13 January 1957) was a British Labour Party politician. Born in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

, Kinley became a hairdresser in nearby

Bootle Bootle (pronounced ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England, which had a population of 51,394 in 2011; the wider Bootle (UK Parliament constituency), Parliamentary constituency had a population of 98,449. Histo ...

. He joined the

Independent Labour Party The Independent Labour Party (ILP) was a British political party of the left, established in 1893 at a conference in Bradford, after local and national dissatisfaction with the Liberals' apparent reluctance to endorse working-class candidates ...

(ILP) and in 1910 was elected to Bootle Council in the Orrell ward as a Labour councillor, transferring to Knowsley ward in 1918. He became locally known as a popular speaker. He stood for

at the

1923 United Kingdom general election The 1923 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 6 December 1923. The Conservative Party (UK), Conservatives, led by Stanley Baldwin, won the most seats, but Labour Party (UK), Labour, led by Ramsay MacDonald, and H. H. Asquith's re ...

, sponsored by the ILP, as a last-minute replacement for Simon Mahon. He only won 13.8% of the vote, but when another election was held the following year, he had the advantage of a longer campaigning period, and was able to take second place, with 34.7% of the votes cast.Keith Gildart, "Kinley, John ("Jack")", ''Dictionary of Labour Biography'', vol.XIII, pp.206–217 By the

1929 United Kingdom general election The 1929 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 30 May 1929 and resulted in a hung parliament. It stands as the fourth of six instances under the secret ballot, and the first of three under universal suffrage, in which a party ha ...

, Kinley was a popular figure, known for his consistent advocacy of socialist policies, and he was promoted as "Keep-at-it Kinley". He narrowly won the Bootle constituency, and in Parliament focused much of his time on speaking in support of unemployed and under-employed workers. He became the secretary of the ILP Parliamentary Group in 1931, replacing W. J. Brown, and he also served on the ILP's

National Administrative Council The National Administrative Council (NAC) was the executive council of the Independent Labour Party (ILP), a British socialist party which was active from 1893 until 1975. Creation The Independent Labour Party (ILP) was founded at a conference in ...

. He strongly opposed the manifesto put together by

Oswald Mosley Sir Oswald Ernald Mosley, 6th Baronet (16 November 1896 – 3 December 1980) was a British politician during the 1920s and 1930s who rose to fame when, having become disillusioned with mainstream politics, he turned to fascism. He was a member ...

, and also argued that the Labour government was too reluctant to take radical action. Like most Labour MPs at that time, he lost his seat at the

1931 United Kingdom general election Events January * January 2 – South Dakota native Ernest Lawrence invents the cyclotron, used to accelerate particles to study nuclear physics. * January 4 – German pilot Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Africa. * January 22 – Sir I ...

, but remained a member of the council in Bootle. He opposed the ILP's split from Labour in 1932, and stood as a Labour Party candidate at the

1935 United Kingdom general election The 1935 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 14 November 1935 and resulted in a large, albeit reduced, majority for the National Government now led by Stanley Baldwin of the Conservative Party. The greatest number of members, ...

, but finished in second place and failed to regain his seat. Kinley was made an

alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many Jurisdiction, jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council membe ...

in Bootle in 1936, remaining on the council until 1949. He regained Bootle at the

1945 United Kingdom general election The 1945 United Kingdom general election was a national election held on 5 July 1945, but polling in some constituencies was delayed by some days, and the counting of votes was delayed until 26 July to provide time for overseas votes to be bro ...

, and although he was less active in this term; he was consistent in supporting socialism and the unemployed. Kinley retained his seat at both the 1950 and 1951 general elections, and hoped to stand again in 1955, but was deselected by 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 ...

on the grounds of his age. He was succeeded by

Simon Mahon Simon Mahon (4 April 1914 – 19 October 1986) was a British Labour Party politician. Biography Simon Mahon was born into a prominent Roman Catholic family of Irish descent in Bootle. His father, Alderman Simon Mahon (1886–1961), was a ma ...

, son of Simon Mahon who had been expected to stand at the general election 32 years earlier.

References

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kinley, John 1878 births 1957 deaths Councillors in Merseyside Independent Labour Party MPs Labour Party (UK) councillors Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Politicians from Liverpool UK MPs 1945–1950 UK MPs 1950–1951 UK MPs 1951–1955 Politicians affected by a party expulsion process