Herbert John Harvey Parker (15 July 1906 – 24 November 1987) was a British Labour Party politician. He was the longest-serving Labour Party

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 ...

(MP), retaining his seat in 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 over 47 years, until being overtaken by

Dennis Skinner Dennis Edward Skinner (born 11 February 1932) is a British former politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Bolsover for 49 years, from 1970 to 2019. He is a member of the Labour Party. Known for his left-wing views and acerbic w ...

on 15 December 2017. He was first elected to represent

Romford Romford is a large town in east London and the administrative centre of the London Borough of Havering. It is located northeast of Charing Cross and is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. Historically, Romford ...

in November 1935. After boundary changes, he continued as MP for

Dagenham Dagenham () is a town in East London, England, within the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. Dagenham is centred east of Charing Cross. It was historically a rural parish in the Becontree Hundred of Essex, stretching from Hainault Forest ...

from 1945, remaining in the House of Commons until he retired in June 1983. As the longest-serving MP, he was the

Father of the House of Commons Father of the House is a title that has been traditionally bestowed, unofficially, on certain members of some legislatures, most notably the House of Commons in the United Kingdom. In some legislatures the title refers to the longest continuously- ...

from 1979 to 1983. When he left parliament in 1983, he was the last serving Member of Parliament to have served in the Commons before or 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 opposin ...

Early and private life

Parker was raised in Liverpool. He was educated at

Marlborough College Marlborough College is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English Independent school (United Kingdom), independent boarding school) for pupils aged 13 to 18 in Marlborough, Wiltshire, England. Founded in 1843 for the sons of Church ...

and St John's College,

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, where he was Chair of the

Oxford University Labour Club Oxford University Labour Club (OULC) was founded in 1919 to promote democratic socialism and is today the home of the Labour Party and of social democracy at Oxford University. OULC is the largest and oldest university Labour club in the count ...

. He married Zena Mimardiere in 1943; the couple had one son.

Political career

He contested the seat of

Holland with Boston Holland with Boston was a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1918 to 1997. It elected one Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of ...

in Lincolnshire in the 1931 general election, but the sitting

National Liberal National liberalism is a variant of liberalism, combining liberal policies and issues with elements of nationalism. Historically, national liberalism has also been used in the same meaning as conservative liberalism (right-liberalism). A seri ...

James Blindell Sir James Blindell (1884 – 10 May 1937) was an English Liberal Party politician in the United Kingdom, who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Holland with Boston from 1929 until his death. Born in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, Blindell w ...

was reelected. In the 1935 general election, Parker was elected as MP for

in Essex, which he represented until

1945 1945 marked the end of World War II and the fall of Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan. It is also the only year in which nuclear weapons have been used in combat. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. Januar ...

. He was elected as MP for

at the 1945 general election, a new seat carved out of the Romford constituency. (His Labour colleague Thomas Macpherson was elected in Romford in 1945, but lost the seat to the Conservative John Lockwood in 1950). Parker was briefly a junior minister from 1945 to 1946, serving as

Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (or just Parliamentary Secretary, particularly in departments not led by a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), Secretary of State) is the lowest of three tiers of Minister (government), government minist ...

in the

Dominions Office The position of Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs was a British cabinet-level position created in 1925 responsible for British relations with the Dominions – Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa South Africa, officially t ...

, with future

prime minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

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 ...

as his

Parliamentary Private Secretary A Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) is a Member of Parliament (MP) in the United Kingdom who acts as an unpaid assistant to a minister or shadow minister. They are selected from backbench MPs as the 'eyes and ears' of the minister in the H ...

(PPS). He lost this position as a result of the strong views he held regarding South Africa. He remained a backbencher afterwards, serving on several Parliamentary committees, including the Procedure Committee from 1966 to 1973. His

private member's bill A private member's bill is a bill (proposed law) introduced into a legislature by a legislator who is not acting on behalf of the executive branch. The designation "private member's bill" is used in most Westminster system jurisdictions, in whi ...

introduced in 1952 to repeal the Sunday Observance Act 1780 was rejected; however, another private member's bill of his became the

Legitimacy Act 1959 The Legitimacy Act 1959 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was repealed by the Family Law Reform Act 1987. Act Prior to the passing of the Act, legitimacy was governed by the Legitimacy Act 1926. Under that act, the marriage ...

, dealing with the legitimacy of children from

void marriage A void marriage is a marriage that is unlawful or invalid under the laws of the jurisdiction where it is entered. A void marriage is invalid from its beginning, and is generally treated under the law as if it never existed and requires no formal ...

s and that of children whose parents married after their birth. He also shepherded a ten-minute rule bill into law, the British Nationality (No 2) Act 1964, which implemented into British law the United Nations

Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness The Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness is a 1961 United Nations multilateral treaty whereby sovereign states agree to reduce the incidence of statelessness. The Convention was originally intended as a Protocol to the Convention Relat ...

. He remained MP for Dagenham until he retired at the 1983 general election. He was the last serving MP to have been elected before the

, and he was the

from 1979 to 1983. His former PPS, Callaghan, was the next MP to hold this honorary title. Parker was associated with the

Fabian Society The Fabian Society is a British socialist organisation whose purpose is to advance the principles of social democracy and democratic socialism via gradualist and reformist effort in democracies, rather than by revolutionary overthrow. The Fa ...

throughout his political career. He became General Secretary of the New Fabian Research Bureau in 1933 and was General Secretary of the Fabian Society from 1939 to 1945. He was subsequently its Vice-Chairman and Chairman. He became President of the Fabian Society in 1980. He wrote several books, including ''42 Days in the Soviet Union'' (1946) and ''Labour Marches On'' (1947), and his memoirs, ''Father of the House'' (1982). His archive of papers, spanning nearly 40 years of public office from 1943 to 1982, are held by 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 ...

as part of the

British Library of Political and Economic Science The British Library of Political and Economic Science, commonly referred to as "LSE Library", is the main library of the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). It is one of the largest libraries in the world devoted to the eco ...

References

External links

* *
Catalogue of the Parker papers held at LSE Archives
*
The Parliamentary Archives holds correspondence sent from John Parker to Philip Fanner
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parker, John 1906 births 1987 deaths Chairs of the Fabian Society General Secretaries of the Fabian Society Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies People educated at Marlborough College UK MPs 1935–1945 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 Presidents of the Fabian Society Foreign Office personnel of World War II Ministers in the Attlee governments, 1945–1951