Neville Devonshire Sandelson (27 November 1923 – 12 January 2002) was a British politician.
Early life
Sandelson was educated at
Westminster School
(God Gives the Increase)
, established = Earliest records date from the 14th century, refounded in 1560
, type = Public school Independent day and boarding school
, religion = Church of England
, head_label = Hea ...
and
Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...
. He was a barrister, called to the bar by
Inner Temple
The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wal ...
in 1946,
and director of a publishing company. He was elected to the
London County Council
London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today kno ...
in 1952, representing
Stoke Newington and Hackney North and was a council member of
Toynbee Hall
Toynbee Hall is a charitable institution that works to address the causes and impacts of poverty in the East End of London and elsewhere. Established in 1884, it is based in Commercial Street, Spitalfields, and was the first university-affiliat ...
and 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 ...
.
Parliamentary career
Sandelson unsuccessfully attempted to enter Parliament many times before he finally gained election. He contested
Ashford in
1950
Events January
* January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed.
* January 5 – 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash, Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 cr ...
,
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
1955
Events January
* January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama.
* January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut.
* January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijian ...
, the
Beckenham by-election in 1957 and
Rushcliffe
Rushcliffe is a local government district with borough status in Nottinghamshire, England. The population of the Local Authority at the 2011 Census was 111,129. Its councilRushcliffe Borough Council1959
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 might have won the seat of
Heston and Isleworth at the
1966 general election from
Reader Harris, its
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 ...
MP, had it not been for a strong
Liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
vote. Additionally he also lost the
Leicester South West
Leicester South West was a borough constituency in the city of Leicester. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legi ...
seat in
a 1967 by-election, and finally fought
Chichester
Chichester () is a cathedral city and civil parish in West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton B2 edition. Publishing Date:2009. It is the only ci ...
at the
subsequent election.
He was elected
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) for
Hayes and Harlington in
a 1971 by-election. Later in the decade he survived a number of attempts to de-select him and seemed to relish the role of the beleaguered right wing Labour MP. In October 1980 he was so unhappy at the Labour Party Conference's support for unilateral disarmament that he announced that he would vote with the Tories on all defence issues.
In 1981, he was among the Labour MPs who defected to the new
Social Democratic Party
The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology.
Active parties
For ...
. Sandelson later said that he had decided to join the party months before, and had voted for
Michael Foot
Michael Mackintosh Foot (23 July 19133 March 2010) was a British Labour Party politician who served as Labour Leader from 1980 to 1983. Foot began his career as a journalist on ''Tribune'' and the ''Evening Standard''. He co-wrote the 1940 p ...
in the
Labour leadership election in order to ensure Labour had an unelectable leader.
After Parliament
In 1983 he lost his seat, polling 29% of the vote - although he almost pushed Labour into third place which allowed the Conservative candidate
Terry Dicks
Terence Patrick "Phil" Dicks (17 March 1937 – 17 June 2020) was a British Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party politician. He was MP for the constituency of Hayes and Harlington (UK Parliament constituency), Hayes and Harlington from ...
to win. When the
1987 general election came round he did not stand and endorsed a number of Conservative candidates as a means of defeating Labour though the list included
Chris Patten
Christopher Francis Patten, Baron Patten of Barnes, (; born 12 May 1944) is a British politician who was the 28th and last Governor of Hong Kong from 1992 to 1997 and Chairman of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1992. He was made a life pe ...
whose seat was a prime
SDP-Liberal Alliance target which Labour had no chance of winning. Despite the above activities he was allowed to rejoin the Labour Party in 1996, then under the leadership of
Tony Blair
Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of th ...
, who appealed to Sandelson's centrist values. He stayed with Labour until his death in 2002 aged 78.
References
Bibliography
*''Times Guide to the House of Commons'', 1955, 1966 & 1983
*
*Obituary, ''The Independent'', 16 January 2002.
External links
*
Catalogue of the Sandelson papers held at LSE Archives
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sandelson, Neville
1923 births
2002 deaths
Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
Social Democratic Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
Members of London County Council
UK MPs 1970–1974
UK MPs 1974
UK MPs 1974–1979
UK MPs 1979–1983
People educated at Westminster School, London
Jewish British politicians
Presidents of the Cambridge Union