William Warbey Explained

William Warbey
Office:Member of Parliament
for Ashfield
Term Start:26 May 1955
Term End:10 March 1966
Predecessor:Constituency created
Successor:David Marquand
Office1:Member of Parliament
for Broxtowe
Term Start1:17 September 1953
Term End1:6 May 1955
Predecessor1:Seymour Cocks
Successor1:Constituency abolished
Office2:Member of Parliament
for Luton
Term Start2:5 July 1945
Term End2:3 February 1950
Predecessor2:Leslie Burgin
Successor2:Charles Hill
Birth Date:1903 8, df=yes
Birth Place:Hackney, London, England
Death Place:Eastbourne, East Sussex, England
Party:Labour

William Noble Warbey (16 August 1903 – 6 May 1980) was a Labour Party politician in the United Kingdom.

He was born in the then newly created Metropolitan Borough of Hackney in London, and was educated at Hackney Downs School, King's College London and the London School of Economics. As a young man he was an interpreter in France and Germany, a secondary school teacher in Derby, and a tutor at the University Tutorial College in London. He first entered the House of Commons at the 1945 general election, as the Member of Parliament for Luton in Bedfordshire. However, at the 1950 general election, he lost his seat to the Conservative Party candidate Charles Hill, the former "radio doctor".

Warbey re-entered Parliament at a 1953 by-election for the Nottinghamshire constituency of Broxtowe, following the death of sitting Labour MP Seymour Cocks. However, that constituency was abolished for the 1955 general election, at which Warbey was returned for the new Ashfield constituency. He held the seat until his retirement at the 1966 general election.Thereafter, he was employed as Executive Director of the Organisation for World Political and Social Studies.

He was known for his strong opposition to British support for the United States in the Vietnam War, resigning the Labour whip in protest in September 1965, and "subsequently wrote a scathing book about [Harold] Wilson's support for the United States" entitled Vietnam: The Truth.[1]

He died in Eastbourne aged 76.

Notes and References

  1. Rhiannon Vickers, "Harold Wilson, the British Labour Party, and the War in Vietnam." Journal of Cold War Studies 10:2 (2008), p. 54.