Trade union sponsorship of UK Members of Parliament was a phenomenon whereby a union supported a member of the House of Commons with financial contributions.

Background

Until 1996, all Labour parliamentary candidates had to have their candidatures supported by one of the organisations affiliated to the Labour Party, principally the constituency Labour Parties and trade unions. Those supported by the trade unions were conventionally referred to as "sponsored MPs" and, pejoratively, as "kept men", a phrase first used by the Conservative Walter Elliot. MPs were asked to declare their interests, and were not allowed to sign contracts which compelled them to achieve specific goals while in the Commons. However, many wished to speak on behalf of the union in debates and ask questions on topics of interest to the union, obtaining responses even when a union might be ignored. They could also keep unions informed of government or other public plans. If a union was unhappy with the position its sponsored MP took, it could speak out against them, or withdraw sponsorship. However, the sudden withdrawal of sponsorship was almost unknown; instead, an MP might be dropped at the next general election. Throughout the history of sponsorship, the unions themselves made all decisions as to which candidates to support. Some held internal elections, at which members could select which candidates would receive sponsorship, while others allowed their executives to make a decision, usually on the back of interviews with prospective candidates. Some unions set tests for potential candidates. Sponsored MPs tended to regard the Labour Party as the party of the trade unions, and resisted the efforts of some other MPs to break those links.

Liberal-Labour MPs

Early sponsored MPs aligned themselves with the

Radical Radical may refer to: Politics and ideology Politics *Radical politics, the political intent of fundamental societal change *Radicalism (historical), the Radical Movement that began in late 18th century Britain and spread to continental Europe and ...

section of the Liberal Party. The actual sponsorship in these years was not necessarily formal, the

Lib-Lab The Liberal–Labour movement refers to the practice of local Liberal associations accepting and supporting candidates who were financially maintained by trade unions. These candidates stood for the British Parliament with the aim of representing ...

MPs including some sponsored by local committees. There were also some Lib-Lab MPs who were only elected after they had ceased involvement in a trade union, such as Cremer or Hardie. However, sixty MPs between 1874 and 1910 had clear links. The Lib-Labs were broadly accepted in the Liberal Party, although slightly marginalised due to their lack of personal wealth; for example, Charles Fenwick was not invited to the Speakers' dinner in 1892 because he did not own formal clothes. Burns and Hardie emphasised their working class membership, and were considered more controversial. Some stood as Lib Labs up to 1918, including Burt, Brace, Kenyon, Galbraith and A. J. Bailey of the General Workers(?)

The early Labour Party

Until 1911, Member of Parliament were not paid, and so workers could not afford to take up a seat in the Commons without sponsorship. Unions covered both electoral expenses and maintenance payments, to fund the living costs of an MP. Those Labour MPs who did not receive union sponsorship were instead paid from the Parliamentary Fund of the Labour Party, which was raised in part from unions. Even after salaries were introduced, they were low, and made it difficult for MPs to survive entirely on them, so the maintenance element endured for many years. In the early years, they provided trade unions with access to Parliament, and many were senior union officials.

Sponsorship of MPs from other parties

Although the large majority of trade unions sponsored MPs initially from the Liberal Party, and later from the Labour Party, a few tried to spread their sponsorship between different parties.

James Mawdsley James Rupert Russell Mawdsley is a traditionalist Catholic priest who before seminary was a prisoner of conscience in Burma. He is a dual citizen of the United Kingdom and Australia. Early life Mawdsley was born in 1973. His parents are David a ...

stood as a Conservative-Labour candidate in 1899, as did

Fortescue Flannery Sir James Fortescue Flannery, 1st Baronet (16 December 1851 – 5 October 1943) was an English engineer and naval architect, and Liberal Unionist (later Conservative Party) politician. Flannery was born in Liverpool, the son of Capt. John Flann ...

of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers in 1906, but neither was elected. From 1895 on, the National Union of Teachers sponsored candidates. It did not affiliate to any party, but attempted to balance the number of candidates between the Liberal, Labour and Conservative parties. From 1922 onwards, the majority of successful candidate were from the Labour Party, and although it continued to sponsor member of the other parties, it sometimes failed to interest candidates in standing for the other parties. The

Scottish Miners' Federation The National Union of Scottish Mineworkers (NUSW) is a trade union in Scotland, founded in 1894 as the Scottish Miners Federation. It joined the Miners' Federation of Great Britain, and in 1914 changed its name to National Union of Scottish Minew ...

did not develop a relationship with the Liberal Party. It initially sponsored candidates from the

Scottish United Trades Councils Labour Party The Scottish United Trades Councils Labour Party, also known as the Scottish Trades Councils Independent Labour Party, was a Scottish labour party. The party originated in a meeting held in Edinburgh on 8 August 1891 with representatives of var ...

, then the Independent Labour Party, followed by the

Scottish Workers' Representation Committee Scottish Workers' Representation Committee was the parliamentary outfit of the Scottish Trades Union Congress from 1899 until 1909. It was known as the Scottish Workers Parliamentary Elections Committee until 1903. In contrast to the Labour Repre ...

. The

Durham Colliery Mechanics' Association The Durham Colliery Mechanics' Association was a trade union representing mechanics working at coal mines in County Durham, in England. A predecessor of the union was founded in 1874 as the National Amalgamated Society of Colliery Mechanics, but i ...

stood John Wilkinson Taylor in 1906 as an independent candidate, and

Ebby Edwards Ebby is a given name. Notable people with the given name include: * Ebby DeWeese (1904–1942), American football player * Ebby Edwards (1884–1961), English trade unionist * Ebby Halliday (1911– 2015), American realtor * Ebby Nelson-Addy (born ...

was sponsored as an independent by the Northumberland Miners' Association in 1918. Of these, only Taylor was elected, and he later joined the Labour Party.

Frank Bealey Frank William Bealey (31 August 1922 – 18 January 2013) was a British political scientist who was a pioneering founder of the academic study of politics and was a campaigner for democracy in Eastern Europe. Life Born in Bilston, Bealey was edu ...

and Henry Pelling, ''Labour and Politics 1900-1906'', p.296 The National Farmers' Union sponsored a National Party candidate and five independents at the

1918 UK general election The 1918 United Kingdom general election was called immediately after the Armistice with Germany which ended the First World War, and was held on Saturday, 14 December 1918. The governing coalition, under Prime Minister David Lloyd George, sent ...

, none of whom were elected. At the 1922 election, it sponsored three independents and four Conservative party candidates, of whom only the Conservatives were elected, and it continued to sponsor Conservative candidates until 1935. However, it was not part of the trade union movement and the sponsored candidates did not have a similar status to sponsored MPs in the Labour Party. The

United Patternmakers' Association The United Patternmakers Association (UPA) was a trade union in the United Kingdom. History The association was founded in 1872 to represent skilled patternmakers in England, following a strike by patternmakers along the River Tyne and River Wea ...

's general secretary, George Buchanan, remained with the Independent Labour Party after it split from the Labour Party in 1931, and it sponsored him in that election. By 1935, the union withdrew official sponsorship for him, but it set up a voluntary fund to back him to which members could choose to donate. He subsequently returned to the Labour Party.

The Labour Party between the wars

Increasing responsibilities of both MPs and union leaders tended to prevent people from combining the two after World War I, although there were exceptions, principally in the

National Union of General and Municipal Workers The GMB is a general trade union in the United Kingdom which has more than 460,000 members. Its members work in nearly all industrial sectors, in retail, security, schools, distribution, the utilities, social care, the National Health Service (N ...

. Increasingly, sponsored MPs were retired officials, or those who had been defeated in elections but the union still wished to maintain. Even though some proved fairly ineffective as politicians, trade unions which sponsored them gained prestige in the movement. Trade unions often paid the large majority of expenses of their sponsored candidates, but their main influence lay in sending delegates to selection meetings to secure the adoption of their preferred candidate. They preferred to sponsor candidates in

safe seat A safe seat is an electoral district (constituency) in a legislative body (e.g. Congress, Parliament, City Council) which is regarded as fully secure, for either a certain political party, or the incumbent representative personally or a combinat ...

s, and so the majority were successful in winning election. Some MPs were not sponsored by their union. In the case of the

Union of Post Office Workers The Union of Communication Workers (UCW) was a trade union in the United Kingdom for workers in the post office and telecommunications industries. History The union was founded in 1919 as the Union of Post Office Workers (UPW) by the merger ...

, from 1927, the union was barred from affiliating to the Labour Party. Instead, its candidates were sponsored by a Direct Parliamentary Representation Society, with the same membership as the union. Some candidates sponsored by Divisional Labour Parties received small payments from the unions of which they held membership, such as

Emmanuel Shinwell Emanuel Shinwell, Baron Shinwell, (18 October 1884 – 8 May 1986) was a British politician who served as a government minister under Ramsay MacDonald and Clement Attlee. A member of the Labour Party, he served as a Member of Parliament (MP) f ...

, or those backed by the

National Union of Agricultural Workers The National Union of Agricultural and Allied Workers (NUAW) was a trade union in the United Kingdom which existed between 1906 and 1982. It represented farmworkers. History The union was established as the Eastern Counties Agricultural Labou ...

. Other trade union members received no support at all from their union, such as F. W. Jowett. The sponsorship of candidates and MPs in this period was not always clearly recorded until the

1929 UK 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 has ...

. However, it is clear the large majority of trade union-sponsored candidates were in urban areas, with most of the remainder in coalfield seats. Following the Labour Party's landslide defeat in the

1931 UK 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 ...

, although a lower percentage of trade union candidates won their seats, they represented a record high proportion of the much smaller parliamentary party. During this period, only one trade union-sponsored MP was a woman:

Ellen Wilkinson Ellen Cicely Wilkinson (8 October 1891 – 6 February 1947) was a British Labour Party politician who served as Minister of Education from July 1945 until her death. Earlier in her career, as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Jarrow, s ...

, of the

National Union of Distributive and Allied Workers The National Union of Distributive and Allied Workers (NUDAW) was a trade union in the United Kingdom. History The union was founded in 1921, when the Amalgamated Union of Co-operative Employees merged with the National Union of Warehouse and ...

. With the 1933 Hastings Agreement, for the first time, the Labour Party regulated trade union sponsorship, limiting the amount of election and organisational expenses, and costs of an

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, that unions could cover. :Others in 1918: Dockers: 4, Postmen: 4, Fawcett Assoc: 1, P&TCA: 4

The Labour Party after World War II

The maintenance payments made by unions tended not to be increased, so by the 1950s, they formed a less significant portion of MP's income, and many unions phased them out. However, the payment of election and organisation expenses remained significant. By 1983, the GMB, AEU, NUM and NUR all paid the maximum amounts permitted under the revised Hastings agreement, but other unions, such as the TGWU and ASTMS, paid less than half of this. Constituencies were more likely to select candidates with union sponsorship, but from the late 1950s, this effect weakened, as the local dominance of individual industries, such as mining, declined, and in many cases, unions were less likely to affiliate to constituency labour parties. By the 1960s, unions increasingly saw the role as symbolic, and the sponsorship as a way of more broadly supporting the Labour Party, many sponsored MPs having little or no previous activity in the union. Sponsored MPs usually met with union officials, sometimes on a quarterly basis, but often felt that the relationship with their union suffered from poor communication and a lack of more regular contact. In some cases, MPs gave regular reports to a union's executive, conference or journal. By the 1970s, manufacturing unions were in decline, and far more MPs were sponsored by white collar unions. The National Union of Mineworkers, in particular, saw a big decline in the number of MPs it sponsored, while the ASTMS, NUPE and TASS greatly increased their representation. The major general unions, the TGWU and GMB, also increased their representation, and the TGWU over took the NUM as the union sponsoring the most MPs.

End of the system

By the 1980s, many unions had moved from holding elections to identify candidates, to setting tests. Another trend was to co-opt existing MPs, with their agreement, who may have had no previous link with the union, but were willing to work with it in exchange for sponsorship. Most unions removed any requirement to have worked in the industry they represented, although the NUM and ASE continued to only sponsor candidates with trade experience. In some cases, such as that of

Frank Dobson Frank Gordon Dobson (15 March 1940 – 11 November 2019) was a British Labour Party politician. As Member of Parliament (MP) for Holborn and St. Pancras from 1979 to 2015, he served in the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Health from 1997 ...

, this was deemed a success; he was the son of a railway worker and regularly spoke up on issues of interest to the National Union of Railwaymen. However, in other cases, such as that of the

Confederation of Health Service Employees The Confederation of Health Service Employees (COHSE) was a United Kingdom trade union representing workers primarily in the National Health Service. History The union was founded in 1946 with the merger of the Mental Hospital and Institutional ...

, many sponsored MPs had little connection with union and did little to represent its interests. Some MPs hoped to receive a front-bench portfolio and focus on that, rather than union matters. Even where trade unions still sponsored members to stand for election, many introduced bans on salaried officials doing so, not wanting to lose their expertise. The

Post Office Engineering Union The Post Office Engineering Union (POEU) was a trade union in the United Kingdom. It represented engineering staff in the Post Office, mostly working in telecommunications. History The union was founded in 1915 when the Post Office Enginee ...

took a different approach, and instead required John Golding to stand down as an MP on his election as general secretary of the union. The NUR attempted to reform its relationship with its sponsored MPs in 1976, by appointing Keith Hill as Political Liaison Officer, based in Westminster, and focusing on communicating with, researching for, and giving Parliamentary Questions to, the MPs. This practice was copied first by the TGWU, which appointed Jenny Pardington as Parliamentary Liaison Assistant, and then Alan Meale of ASLEF,

Roger Godsiff Roger Duncan Godsiff (born 28 June 1946) is a British former politician who served as the Labour Member of Parliament (MP) from 1992 to 2019, for the seats of Birmingham Small Heath, Birmingham Sparkbrook and Small Heath, and Birmingham Hall ...

of APEX, Bill Gilby of NUPE,

Angela Eagle Dame Angela Eagle DBE (born 17 February 1961) is a British Labour Party politician serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Wallasey since 1992. Eagle was born in Yorkshire and studied PPE at the University of Oxford, before working for t ...

of COHSE, and John Starmer of the NCU. The officers began working together through Trade Unionists for a Labour Victory, which broadened into the TUCC and then TUFL, campaigning for a stronger trade union role in political matters. Despite these changes, the proportion of sponsored MPs rose through the 1980s, largely because of the smaller number of Labour MPs. By 1990, more than 60% of the party's MPs were sponsored. There was also a slow growth in the number of women who were sponsored, although their numbers remained small. Another major change was the proportion of the frontbench which was sponsored; by 1989, all but two Shadow Cabinet members were sponsored, and they were given limited assistance by the GMB. However, some unions felt that they were better off sponsoring backbenchers, as they would have more time to devote to union interests, and would be less sensitive to any press criticisms of union influence over their activities. The system led to a poor distribution of resources, with most union funds supporting MPs in

s, who were least in need of the election and agent expenses. In addition, some unions became frustrated that they could not get candidates adopted in seats where they had traditionally sponsored the MP, and in some cases, struggled to get them adopted in any winnable seats. The system for adopting candidates was changed in the 1980s, with an electoral college system created, giving affiliated unions a fixed but minority say in decisions. In 1990, it was changed again to a one member one vote system, despite the concerns of many unions that the party leadership was seeking to reduce their influence in the party. The Committee on Standards in Public Life issued the Nolan Report in 1995, which expressed concerns that the sponsorship system could be abused. In response, the following year, the Labour Party abolished the system. Thereafter, trade unions were invited to sponsor constituencies, rather than MPs, enabling the party to direct funding to marginal seats, and reduce the ability of unions to put forward preferred candidates. {, class="wikitable sortable" !rowspan=2, Union !colspan=2, 1979 !colspan=2, 1983 !colspan=2, 1987 !colspan=2, 1992 , - ! Cand ! MPs ! Cand ! MPs ! Cand ! MPs ! Cand ! MPs , - , AEU , 18 , style="background: silver;" , 16 , 27 , style="background: silver;" , 13 , 15 , style="background: silver;" , 12 , 15 , style="background: silver;" , 13 , - , APEX , 6 , style="background: silver;" , 5 , 3 , style="background: silver;" , 3 , 3 , style="background: silver;" , 3 , ''N/A'' , style="background: silver;" , ''N/A'' , - , ASLEF , 1 , style="background: silver;" , 0 , 2 , style="background: silver;" , 0 , 0 , style="background: silver;" , 0 , 2 , style="background: silver;" , 1 , - , ASTMS/ MSF , 12 , style="background: silver;" , 8 , 11 , style="background: silver;" , 10 , 9 , style="background: silver;" , 8 , 13 , style="background: silver;" , 13 , - , BISAKTA , 2 , style="background: silver;" , 2 , 3 , style="background: silver;" , 1 , 3 , style="background: silver;" , 1 , 1 , style="background: silver;" , 0 , - , CEU , 1 , style="background: silver;" , 1 , , style="background: silver;" , , ''N/A'' , style="background: silver;" , ''N/A'' , ''N/A'' , style="background: silver;" , ''N/A'' , - , COHSE , 6 , style="background: silver;" , 3 , 3 , style="background: silver;" , 3 , 8 , style="background: silver;" , 4 , 6 , style="background: silver;" , 6 , - , ETU/

EETPU The Electrical, Electronic, Telecommunications and Plumbing Union, known as the EETPU, was a British trade union formed in 1968 as a union for electricians and plumbers, which went through three mergers from 1992 to now be part of Unite the Un ...

, 4 , style="background: silver;" , 4 , 7 , style="background: silver;" , 3 , 3 , style="background: silver;" , 3 , 10 , style="background: silver;" , 3 , - , FBU , 0 , style="background: silver;" , 0 , , style="background: silver;" , , 1 , style="background: silver;" , 1 , 0 , style="background: silver;" , 0 , - , GMB , 14 , style="background: silver;" , 14 , 14 , style="background: silver;" , 11 , 12 , style="background: silver;" , 11 , 22 , style="background: silver;" , 17 , - , NACODS , 0 , style="background: silver;" , 0 , 1 , style="background: silver;" , 1 , 2 , style="background: silver;" , 1 , 1 , style="background: silver;" , 1 , - , NATSOPA/

SOGAT The Society of Graphical and Allied Trades (SOGAT) was a British trade union in the printing industry. History SOGAT was formed in 1966 by the National Union of Printing, Bookbinding and Paper Workers and the National Society of Operative Pr ...

, 0 , style="background: silver;" , 0 , 2 , style="background: silver;" , 2 , 2 , style="background: silver;" , 2 , ''N/A'' , style="background: silver;" , ''N/A'' , - , NCU , 4 , style="background: silver;" , 3 , 3 , style="background: silver;" , 3 , 2 , style="background: silver;" , 2 , 4 , style="background: silver;" , 3 , - , NGA/ GPMU , 1 , style="background: silver;" , 0 , 1 , style="background: silver;" , 0 , 2 , style="background: silver;" , 0 , 7 , style="background: silver;" , 5 , - , NUAW , 1 , style="background: silver;" , 1 , ''N/A'' , style="background: silver;" , ''N/A'' , ''N/A'' , style="background: silver;" , ''N/A'' , ''N/A'' , style="background: silver;" , ''N/A'' , - , NUB , 1 , style="background: silver;" , 1 , 1 , style="background: silver;" , 1 , ''N/A'' , style="background: silver;" , ''N/A'' , ''N/A'' , style="background: silver;" , ''N/A'' , - , NUFLAT , 1 , style="background: silver;" , 0 , , style="background: silver;" , , 0 , style="background: silver;" , 0 , ''N/A'' , style="background: silver;" , ''N/A'' , - , NUFTO/ FTAT , 1 , style="background: silver;" , 1 , , style="background: silver;" , , 0 , style="background: silver;" , 0 , 0 , style="background: silver;" , 0 , - ,

NUM Num may refer to: * Short for number * Num (god), the creator and high god of the Nenets people of Siberia * Short for the Book of Numbers of the Hebrew Bible * Khnum, a god of Egyptian mythology * Mios Num, an island of western New Guinea * Num, ...

, 18 , style="background: silver;" , 16 , 14 , style="background: silver;" , 14 , 13 , style="background: silver;" , 13 , 14 , style="background: silver;" , 14 , - , NUPE , 8 , style="background: silver;" , 7 , 10 , style="background: silver;" , 10 , 16 , style="background: silver;" , 8 , 15 , style="background: silver;" , 12 , - , NUR/ RMT , 13 , style="background: silver;" , 12 , 12 , style="background: silver;" , 10 , 9 , style="background: silver;" , 8 , 13 , style="background: silver;" , 12 , - ,

NUS NUS or Nus may refer to: * National University of Singapore * Nus, a town in the Aosta Valley of Italy * Neglected and Underutilized Species, or Neglected and Underutilized Crops * National Union of Students (Australia) * National Union of Students ...

, 1 , style="background: silver;" , 1 , 1 , style="background: silver;" , 1 , 1 , style="background: silver;" , 1 , ''N/A'' , style="background: silver;" , ''N/A'' , - , NUSMWCHDE , 1 , style="background: silver;" , 0 , , style="background: silver;" , 0 , ''N/A'' , style="background: silver;" , ''N/A'' , ''N/A'' , style="background: silver;" , ''N/A'' , - ,

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TASS The Russian News Agency TASS (russian: Информацио́нное аге́нтство Росси́и ТАСС, translit=Informatsionnoye agentstvo Rossii, or Information agency of Russia), abbreviated TASS (russian: ТАСС, label=none) ...

, 5 , style="background: silver;" , 4 , ''N/A''Included in AEU figure , style="background: silver;" , 5 , 7 , style="background: silver;" , 5 , ''N/A'' , style="background: silver;" , ''N/A'' , - ,

TGWU The Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU or T&G) was one of the largest general trade unions in the United Kingdom and Ireland – where it was known as the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers' Union (ATGWU) to differentiate its ...

, 29 , style="background: silver;" , 20 , 30 , style="background: silver;" , 26 , 44 , style="background: silver;" , 33 , 44 , style="background: silver;" , 38 , - ,

TSSA TSSA may refer to: * Transport Salaried Staffs' Association * Technical Standards and Safety Authority The Technical Standards and Safety Authority (TSSA) is a regulatory authority that administers and enforces technical standards in the province ...

, 3 , style="background: silver;" , 3 , 1 , style="background: silver;" , 0 , 2 , style="background: silver;" , 2 , 2 , style="background: silver;" , 2 , - , UCATT , 4 , style="background: silver;" , 2 , 2 , style="background: silver;" , 1 , 1 , style="background: silver;" , 1 , 0 , style="background: silver;" , 0 , - , UPW , 2 , style="background: silver;" , 2 , 1 , style="background: silver;" , 1 , 1 , style="background: silver;" , 1 , 1 , style="background: silver;" , 0 , - ,

USDAW The Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (Usdaw) is a trade union in the United Kingdom, consisting of around 360,000 members. Usdaw members work in a variety of occupations and industries including: shopworkers, factory and warehouse wo ...

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, 2 , style="background: silver;" , 2 , ''N/A'' , style="background: silver;" , ''N/A'' , ''N/A'' , style="background: silver;" , ''N/A'' , ''N/A'' , style="background: silver;" , ''N/A'' , - , Other unions , 0 , style="background: silver;" , 0 , 1 , style="background: silver;" , 1 , 0 , style="background: silver;" , 0 , 0 , style="background: silver;" , 0 , - ! Total ! 159 ! style="background: silver;" , 132 ! 153 ! style="background: silver;" , 114 ! 146 ! style="background: silver;" , 130 ! 199 ! style="background: silver;" , 157

References

British MPs sponsored by trade unions Labour Party (UK)