William Stones (2 October 1904 – 2 July 1969) was a Labour Party politician in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

Biography

Stones was a member of the National Union of Mineworkers and worked as a mine inspector. At the 1955 general election, he was elected as

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 ...

for

Consett Consett is a town in County Durham, England, about south-west of Newcastle upon Tyne. It had a population of 27,394 in 2001 and an estimate of 25,812 in 2019. History Consett sits high on the edge of the Pennines. Its' name originates in the ...

County Durham County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly �About North East E ...

. He held the seat until he retired from 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. ...

at the 1966 general election. Stones' name is attached to a celebrated Parliamentary anecdote. On being challenged that he was a "bleeding idiot", he is said to have responded "There's an awful lot of bleeding idiots out there among the voters, and they deserve some representation too."

Sources

* *
Friendly Folkestone
by

Robin Oakley Robin Francis Leigh Oakley, OBE (born 20 August 1941) is a British journalist from Kidderminster in Worcestershire. From 2000 to 2008 he was European Political Editor at CNN International. From 1992 to 2000 he was Political Editor at the BBC. ...

, ''

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world. It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''The ...

'', 4 July 1998.

External links

* 1904 births 1969 deaths Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies National Union of Mineworkers-sponsored MPs UK MPs 1955–1959 UK MPs 1959–1964 UK MPs 1964–1966 {{England-Labour-UK-MP-stub