Trade union sponsorship of UK members of Parliament explained

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.[1] 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.[2] However, many wished to speak on behalf of the union in debates and ask questions on topics of interest to the union,[3] 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.[4]

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.[5]

Liberal-Labour MPs

See main article: Liberal-Labour (UK). Early sponsored MPs aligned themselves with the Radical section of the Liberal Party. The actual sponsorship in these years was not necessarily formal, the Lib-Lab MPs including some sponsored by local committees.[6] 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.[7] 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.[8] Burns and Hardie emphasised their working class membership, and were considered more controversial.[9] 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. [10]

Union1900[11] 1906[12] 1910 Jan1910 Dec[13]
CandidatesMPsCandidatesMPsCandidatesMPsCandidatesMPs
ASC&J00213121
ASE00525222
ASLP00110000
ASPD00001000
ASRS11323333
ASS10222111
ASLEF00100000
BSSA10223121
DWR00100000
FTU00001000
FSIF00111111
LSC00111111
MFGB002[14] 2271723[15] 17
NAFTA00111111
NAUSAWC00211110
NAC0000101[16] 1
NUB00001000
NUBSO00112000
NUDL00101000
NUGW102[17] 12111
NUT00000010
OSM00100000
Postmen00101000
TA00111111
UPA00001111
USB00200000
UTFWA00222232
Trades councils10310000
Total51372262344233

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 stood as a Conservative-Labour candidate in 1899, as did Fortescue Flannery 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.[18]

The Scottish Miners' Federation did not develop a relationship with the Liberal Party. It initially sponsored candidates from the Scottish United Trades Councils Labour Party, then the Independent Labour Party, followed by the Scottish Workers' Representation Committee. The Durham Colliery Mechanics' Association stood John Wilkinson Taylor in 1906 as an independent candidate, and Ebby Edwards 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.[19] [20]

The National Farmers' Union sponsored a National Party candidate and five independents at the 1918 UK general election, 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, the National Farmers' Union 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.[21]

The United Patternmakers' Association'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.[22]

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.[23] Increasingly, sponsored MPs were retired officials, or those who had been defeated in elections but the union still wished to maintain.[24] 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 seats, and so the majority were successful in winning election.[25]

Some MPs were not sponsored by their union. In the case of the Union of Post Office Workers, 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.[26] Some candidates sponsored by Divisional Labour Parties received small payments from the unions of which they held membership, such as Emmanuel Shinwell, or those backed by the National Union of Agricultural Workers. Other trade union members received no support at all from their union, such as F. W. Jowett.[27]

The sponsorship of candidates and MPs in this period was not always clearly recorded until the 1929 UK general election. 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, 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, of the National Union of Distributive and Allied Workers.

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 agent, that unions could cover.

Union1918[28] 1922192319241929[29] 19311935
CandMPsCandMPsCandMPsCandMPsCandMPsCandMPsCandMPs
ABFSWS00000000100000
ASC&J/ASW5[30] 16[31] 1636[32] 2665142
ASDFKT00000000111011
ASE/AEU17115[33] 774333233
ASLEF3[34] 0101011110011
ASPD00000000101010
AUBTWN/AN/A000000001010
AUCE/NUDAW014[35] 14645195
BFAWU00100000000011
BISAKTA424[36] 24133543121
CIOM&KTA10111110N/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/A
CMSA11111111111000
FSIF/NUFW21101011111000
LSC11[37] 222222222022
MFGB5125524147434740424243263832
NAFTA21001110110000
NAOP00000000100000
NATSOPA10101110111010
NAULAWN/AN/A000000001000
NSPW00000011111011
NUAW20302120304000
NUB10101110100000
NUBSO114[38] 23120525030
NUGW/NUGMW74457[39] 486112116
NUR6112[40] 3537[41] 3118100125
NUS00000000000010
NUTW00111011101010
NUVB10101111111011
OBDFA00000000001010
PSU00101110110000
RCA608[42] 051708770106
TA11211111111021
TGWUN/AN/A710101713161117
UPA00111111112111
UPWN/AN/A6[43] 26362665030
USB5[44] 1515262415121
UTFWA10[45] 4103737[46] 2648060
WU2[47] 062626566N/AN/AN/AN/A
Other unions5968168040003
Total1634915786129102144881391141383512978

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.[48] 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.

Union194519501951195519591964196619701974 Feb1974 Oct
CandMPsCandMPsCandMPsCandMPsCandMPsCandMPsCandMPsCandMPsCandMPsCandMPs
ACT00001000000000000000
AESD/DATA/TASS0020220203022444444
AEU4410813812615819171717211621171816
ASLEF12223232331111001000
ASSET/ASTMS00000000001122431491312
ASW4333332221101112N/AN/AN/AN/A
AUBTW/UCATT11101010001111113233
BISAKTA22222222221111223222
CAWU/APEX1121121213144336666
CEU00000000001111111111
ETU/EETPU11213120405121333333
FBU00000000001111100000
LSC/NGA22000000001122101000
MU00000000001111211010
NATSOPA1111111000000000000
NAULAW111100000000N/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/A
NUAW31212131423111200011
NUB00000010001111111111
NUBSO/NUFLAT44211100000010001000
NUDAW/USDAW8898109109109101088796655
NUDBTW00000010000000000000
NUFTO/FTAT0000000002000112121
NUFW/AUFW00101000000000000000
NUGMW1010106764464991010121213131313
NUM3434373737363534313129282827212021182018
NUPE0011322212255667676
NUR13121210109118957687657666
NUS00100000100010112111
NUTGW00000000110000000000
NUVB0000001011111111N/AN/AN/AN/A
POEU/NCU00000000000010313222
SCMU0000000000000010N/AN/AN/AN/A
SUBAW00100000000000000000
TA22211111110000000000
TGWU1817191617141614191423212727231923232321
TSSA99117117105857755445343
TWU00000000100000000000
UTFWA33323121211111100000
UPA2200111111100001000
UPW11314221223244315242
Total1261211401101371051299612993138120138132137114155127141129

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, 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, 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 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 of APEX, Bill Gilby of NUPE, Angela Eagle 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 safe seats, 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.[49] [50]

Union1979[51] 1983[52] 1987[53] 1992[54]
CandMPsCandMPsCandMPsCandMPs
AEU1816271315121513
APEX653333N/AN/A
ASLEF10200021
ASTMS/MSF1281110981313
BISAKTA22313110
CEU11N/AN/AN/AN/A
COHSE63338466
ETU/EETPU447333103
FBU001100
GMB1414141112112217
NACODS00112111
NATSOPA/SOGAT002222N/AN/A
NCU43332243
NGA/GPMU10102075
NUAW11N/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/A
NUB1111N/AN/AN/AN/A
NUFLAT1000N/AN/A
NUFTO/FTAT110000
NUM1816141413131414
NUPE8710101681512
NUR/RMT13121210981312
NUS111111N/AN/A
NUSMWCHDE100N/AN/AN/AN/A
SLADE0022N/AN/AN/AN/A
TASS54N/A[55] 575N/AN/A
TGWU2920302644334438
TSSA33102222
UCATT42211100
UPW22111110
USDAW65229833
USB22N/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/A
Other unions00110000
Total159132153114146130199157

See also

References

  1. Book: Muller . William D. . The 'Kept Men'? . 1977 . Harvester Press . Hassocks . 0855271841 . xiv.
  2. Book: Muller . William D. . The 'Kept Men'? . 1977 . Harvester Press . Hassocks . 0855271841 . xv.
  3. Book: Muller . William D. . The 'Kept Men'? . 1977 . Harvester Press . Hassocks . 0855271841 . xix.
  4. Book: Minkin . Lewis . The Contentious Alliance: Trade Unions and the Labour Party . 1992 . Edinburgh University Press . Edinburgh . 0748604049 . 241 - 279.
  5. Book: Muller . William D. . The 'Kept Men'? . 1977 . Harvester Press . Hassocks . 0855271841 . xviii.
  6. Book: Muller . William D. . The 'Kept Men'? . 1977 . Harvester Press . Hassocks . 0855271841 . 3.
  7. Book: Muller . William D. . The 'Kept Men'? . 1977 . Harvester Press . Hassocks . 0855271841 . 3 - 4.
  8. Book: Muller . William D. . The 'Kept Men'? . 1977 . Harvester Press . Hassocks . 0855271841 . 8 - 9.
  9. Book: Muller . William D. . The 'Kept Men'? . 1977 . Harvester Press . Hassocks . 0855271841 . 9.
  10. Book: Muller . William D. . The 'Kept Men'? . 1977 . Harvester Press . Hassocks . 0855271841 . xvii.
  11. [Frank Bealey]
  12. Frank Bealey and Henry Pelling, Labour and Politics, 1900-1906, pp.290-292
  13. Book: Tanner . Duncan . Political change and the Labour Party 1900-1918 . 1990 . Cambridge University Press . Cambridge . 0521329817 . 328.
  14. Sponsored by the Lancashire and Cheshire Miners' Federation, an affiliate of the MFGB
  15. One successful candidate jointly sponsored with the Independent Labour Party
  16. Jointly sponsored with the Fabian Society
  17. One successful candidate jointly sponsored by the National Union of General Workers and the West Ham Trades Council
  18. Book: Butler . David . Freeman . Jennie . British Political Facts: 1900-1968 . 1969 . Palgrave Macmillan . London . 9780333070796 . 3.
  19. Book: Howell . David . British Workers and the Independent Labour Party, 1888-1906 . 1983 . Manchester University Press . Manchester . 0719017912 . 16–51.
  20. [Frank Bealey]
  21. Book: Craig. F. W. S.. Minor Parties in British By-elections, 1885-1974. 1975. Macmillan Press. London. 56.
  22. Book: Parker . James . Trade unions and the political culture of the Labour Party, 1931-1940 . 2017 . University of Exeter . Exeter . 125 .
  23. Book: Muller . William D. . The 'Kept Men'? . 1977 . Harvester Press . Hassocks . 0855271841 . 28 - 29.
  24. Book: Muller . William D. . The 'Kept Men'? . 1977 . Harvester Press . Hassocks . 0855271841 . 32 - 33.
  25. Book: Parker . James . Trade unions and the political culture of the Labour Party, 1931-1940 . 2017 . University of Exeter . Exeter . 125 .
  26. Book: Muller . William D. . The 'Kept Men'? . 1977 . Harvester Press . Hassocks . 0855271841 . 29.
  27. Book: Muller . William D. . The 'Kept Men'? . 1977 . Harvester Press . Hassocks . 0855271841 . x32.
  28. Book: Cole . G. D. H. . History of the Labour Party from 1914 . 1948 . Routledge . 9781138333352 . 87, 130, 155 and 171.
  29. Book: Harrison . Martin . Trade unions and the Labour Party since 1945 . 1960 . Routledge . 9781138325050 . 265 - 267.
  30. Book: Higgenbottam . Samuel . Our Society's History . 1939 . Amalgamated Society of Woodworkers . 283 - 284.
  31. The Monthly Journal of the Amalgamated Society of Woodworkers for July 1921 lists seven candidates. W. T. Wilson died before the election could take place, but the other six candidates went to the poll.
  32. News: Woodworkers' six for Parliament . Manchester Guardian . 28 July 1924.
  33. Book: Jefferys . James B. . The Story of the Engineers . 1970 . Reprints in Social and Economic History . Edinburgh . 230.
  34. Book: McKillop, Norman . 1950 . The Lighted Flame; a History of the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen . London & Edinburgh . Thomas Nelson & Sons Ltd.
  35. News: Trade unions' "parliamentary panels" . Manchester Guardian . 19 September 1923.
  36. Book: Pugh . Arthur . Men of Steel . 1951 . Iron and Steel Trades Confederation . London.
  37. Book: Howe . Ellic . Waite . Harold E. . London Society of Compositors . 1948 . Cassell . London . 323 - 325.
  38. Book: Fox . Alan . A History of the National Union of Boot and Shoe Operatives . 1958 . Basil Blackwell . Oxford . 462.
  39. Book: Clegg . H. A. . General Union . 1954 . Basil Blackwell . Oxford . 304.
  40. News: Only five railway union candidates . Manchester Guardian . 19 November 1923.
  41. News: Labour's candidates . Manchester Guardian . 11 October 1924.
  42. Book: Wallace . Malcolm . Single or return . 1996 . Transport Salaried Staffs' Association.
  43. Book: Clinton . Alan . Post Office Workers: A Trade Union and Social History . 1984 . George Allen and Unwin . London . 9780043310861 . 672 - 676.
  44. Book: Mortimer . J. E. . History of the Boilermakers' Society . 2 . 1982 . George Allen and Unwin . London . 0043310850 . 116 - 220.
  45. Fowler . Alan . Lancashire to Westminster: a study of cotton trade union officials and British labour 1910-39 . Labour History Review . 1999 . 1 . 1 - 22.
  46. News: Seven textile workers' candidates . Manchester Guardian . 15 October 1924.
  47. Book: Hyman . Richard . The Workers' Union . 1971 . Clarendon Press . Oxford . 154 - 155.
  48. Book: Muller . William D. . The 'Kept Men'? . 1977 . Harvester Press . Hassocks . 0855271841 . 61.
  49. News: Brown . Colin . Labour to end union backing of MPs . 31 May 2021 . The Independent . 7 August 1995.
  50. News: Wintour . Patrick . Blair to end union sponsorship . The Guardian . 28 February 1996.
  51. Parliamentary Labour candidates and election results, 3 May 1979 . Report of the Seventy-Eighth Annual Conference of the Labour Party . 1979 . 406 - 431.
  52. Book: General Election Guide . 1983 . BBC Data Publications . 094635815X.
  53. David Butler and Dennis Kavanagh (1987), The British General Election of 1987, p.206
  54. David Butler and Dennis Kavanagh (1992), The British General Election of 1992, p.227
  55. Included in AEU figure