Ronald George Hayward, (27 June 1917 – 22 March 1996), was a leading activist in the British Labour Party.

Early life

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

, Hayward served 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) an ...

during

World War II 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 opposing ...

Labour Party

At the end of the war, Hayward became the Labour Party's secretary and agent in

Banbury Banbury is a historic market town on the River Cherwell in Oxfordshire, South East England. It had a population of 54,335 at the 2021 Census. Banbury is a significant commercial and retail centre for the surrounding area of north Oxfordshir ...

. In 1949 he moved to Kent, where he began a friendship with local MP

Arthur Bottomley Arthur George Bottomley, Baron Bottomley, OBE, PC (7 February 1907 – 3 November 1995) was a British Labour politician, Member of Parliament and minister. Early life Before entering parliament he was a trade union organiser of the Nationa ...

. The following year, Bottomley ensured his appointment as the party's London assistant regional organiser, and in 1959 he became organiser for the Southern region. He served in this role until 1969, when he became a National Agent. In 1972, he narrowly defeated

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to become

General Secretary of the Labour Party The General Secretary of the Labour Party is the most senior employee of the British Labour Party, and acts as the non-voting secretary to the National Executive Committee. When there is a vacancy the National Executive Committee selects a provi ...

.Tam Dalyell,
Obituary: Ron Hayward
, ''The Independent'', 27 March 1996 As General Secretary, Hayward opposed entry to the

Common Market 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 Lisbo ...

and supported unilateral nuclear disarmament. He strongly supported the

Presidency of Salvador Allende Salvador Allende was the president of Chile from 1970 until his 1973 suicide, and head of the Popular Unity government; he was a Socialist and Marxist elected to the national presidency of a liberal democracy in Latin America.Don MabryAllend ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

, and after its overthrow became friends with

Hortensia Bussi Mercedes Hortensia Bussi Soto (22 July 1914 – 18 June 2009) was the wife of Chilean President Salvador Allende. She was married to him from 1940 until he committed suicide during the 1973 Chilean coup d'état, serving as First Lady of Chil ...

, Allende's former wife. Privately, he was very critical of the Labour Party leadership's lack of response to the Chilean Coup. In the 1980s he opposed the

Militant Tendency , native_name_lang = cy , logo = , colorcode = , leader = collective leadership(''Militant'' editorial board) , leader1_name = Ted Grant , leader1_title = Political Secretary , leader2_name = Pet ...

, but was reluctant to expel its supporters from the party. He was fiercely opposed to the Gang of Four, who led the split which formed the

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 Fo ...

Retirement

In 1982, Hayward retired from his Labour Party positions.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hayward, Ron 1917 births 1996 deaths Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Labour Party (UK) officials People from Chipping Sodbury Royal Air Force personnel of World War II