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Smethwick (UK Parliament Constituency)
Smethwick is a United Kingdom constituencies, parliamentary constituency, centred on the town of Smethwick in the Sandwell, Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell. It returns one Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post voting system. The constituency was created for the 1918 United Kingdom general election, 1918 general election, abolished for the February 1974 United Kingdom general election, February 1974 general election, and re-established for the 2024 United Kingdom general election, 2024 general election, when it was formed from the abolished Warley (UK Parliament constituency), Warley constituency, with the addition of most of the Blackheath, West Midlands, Blackheath ward. It is currently represented by Gurinder Josan of the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party. Boundaries 19181974 The County Borough of Smethwick. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
West Midlands - Smethwick Constituency
West is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sunset, Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic languages, Germanic word passed into some Romance languages (''ouest'' in French, ''oest'' in Catalan, ''ovest'' in Italian, ''vest'' in Romanian, ''oeste'' in Spanish and Portuguese). As in other languages, the word formation stems from the fact that west is the direction of the setting sun in the evening: 'west' derives from the Indo-European root ''*wes'' reduced from ''*wes-pero'' 'evening, night', cognate with Ancient Greek ἕσπερος Hesperus, hesperos 'evening; evening star; western' and Latin vesper 'evening; west'. Examples of the same formation in other languages include Latin Occident, occidens 'west' from occidō 'to go down, to set' and Hebrew מַעֲרָב (maarav) 'west' from עֶרֶב (erev) 'evening'. West is sometimes abbreviated as W. Naviga ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
First Past The Post
First-past-the-post (FPTP)—also called choose-one, first-preference plurality (FPP), or simply plurality—is a single-winner voting rule. Voters mark one candidate as their favorite, or First-preference votes, first-preference, and the candidate with more first-preference votes than any other candidate (a Plurality (voting), ''plurality'') is elected, even if they do not have more than half of votes (a ''majority''). FPP has been used to elect part of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, British House of Commons since the Middle Ages before spreading throughout the British Empire. Throughout the 20th century, many countries that previously used FPP have abandoned it in favor of other electoral systems, including the former British colonies of Australia and New Zealand. FPP is still De jure, officially used in the majority of U.S. state, US states for most elections. However, the combination of Partisan primary, partisan primaries and a two-party system in these jurisd ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Official Opposition (United Kingdom)
His Majesty's Most Loyal Opposition (or Her Majesty's Most Loyal Opposition when a queen reigns), commonly known as the Official Opposition (or colloquially The Opposition) in the United Kingdom, is the main political opposition to His Majesty's Government. This is usually the largest political party in the House of Commons that does not form part of the government or a governing coalition. Since July 2024, the Official Opposition has been the Conservative Party, with outgoing prime minister Rishi Sunak serving as Leader of the Opposition until the Conservative Party leadership election in November 2024 when newly elected party leader Kemi Badenoch took over the position. Origins The phrase ''His Majesty's Opposition'' was coined in 1826, before the advent of the modern two-party system, when Parliament consisted more of interests, relationships and factions rather than the highly coherent political parties of today (although the Whigs and Tories were the two main parti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Front Bench
In many parliaments and other similar assemblies, seating is typically arranged in banks or rows, with each political party or caucus grouped together. The spokespeople for each group will often sit at the front of their group, and are then known as being on the frontbench (or front bench) and are described as frontbenchers. Those sitting behind them are known as backbenchers. Independent and minority parties sit to the side or on benches between the two sides, and are referred to as crossbenchers. Frontbenchers may be part of a Frontbench Team with other members of their political party. United Kingdom In the House of Commons, the Government frontbench is traditionally called the Treasury bench (HM Treasury is the oldest government department). The government frontbench is on the right hand side as seen by the Chairman (typically the Speaker of the House of Commons or the Lord Speaker), and is occupied by Government ministers. The opposition frontbench is occupied by '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Patrick Gordon Walker
Patrick Chrestien Gordon Walker, Baron Gordon-Walker, (7 April 1907 – 2 December 1980) was a British Labour Party politician. He was a Member of Parliament for nearly 30 years and twice a cabinet minister. He lost his Smethwick parliamentary seat at the 1964 general election in a bitterly racial campaign conducted in the wake of local factory closures. Early life Born in Worthing, Sussex, Gordon Walker was the son of Alan Lachlan Gordon Walker, a Scottish judge in the Indian Civil Service. He was educated at Wellington College and at Christ Church, Oxford, where he took a second in modern history in 1928 and subsequently gained a B. Litt. He was a student (fellow) in history at Christ Church from 1931 until 1941.''The Times'', 3 December 1980, p.19 col.6 From 1940 to 1944, Gordon Walker worked for the BBC's European Service, where from 1942 he arranged the BBC's daily broadcasts of the BBC German Service. In 1945, he worked as assistant director of the BBC's German Se ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Smethwick In The 1964 General Election
The constituency of Smethwick in the West Midlands of England gained national media coverage at the 1964 general election, when Peter Griffiths of the Conservative Party gained the seat against the national trend, amidst controversy concerning racism. Background Following the Second World War, Smethwick attracted a significant number of immigrants from Commonwealth countries, the largest ethnic group being Sikhs from the Punjab in India. There was also a background of factory closures, and a growing waiting list for local council housing. Griffiths ran a campaign critical of both the opposition, and the government's, immigration policies. Labour activists claimed that supporters of the Conservative candidate had used the slogan "if you want a nigger for a neighbour, vote Labour", but Colin Jordan, leader of the neo-Nazi British Movement, claimed that his members had produced the initial slogan, as well as spread the poster and sticker campaign; Jordan's group in the pa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative and Unionist Party, commonly the Conservative Party and colloquially known as the Tories, is one of the two main political parties in the United Kingdom, along with the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party. The party sits on the Centre-right politics, centre-right to Right-wing politics, right-wing of the Left–right political spectrum, left-right political spectrum. Following its defeat by Labour at the 2024 United Kingdom general election, 2024 general election it is currently the second-largest party by the number of votes cast and number of seats in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons; as such it has the formal parliamentary role of His Majesty's Most Loyal Opposition. It encompasses various ideological factions including One-nation conservatism, one-nation conservatives, Thatcherism, Thatcherites and Traditionalist conservatism, traditionalist conservatives. There have been 20 Conservative Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, prime minis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peter Griffiths
Peter Harry Steve Griffiths (Not to be confused with Peter Griffin) (24 May 1928 – 20 November 2013) was a British Conservative politician best known for gaining the Smethwick seat by defeating the Shadow Foreign Secretary Patrick Gordon Walker in the 1964 general election, against the national trend, by using anti-immigrant and racist rhetoric. Early life Griffiths was born in West Bromwich, Staffordshire, and attended West Bromwich Grammar School. He was educated at Leeds Teacher Training College and, after his National Service, studied for an external London University economics degree and a master's degree in education at Birmingham University, while teaching in West Bromwich. From 1962, he was the head of Hall Green Road primary school, West Bromwich. Griffiths was elected to Smethwick County Borough Council in 1955.''Who's Who 2007'' At the 1959 election, he stood against Smethwick's sitting Member of Parliament (MP) Patrick Gordon Walker for the first time, and suc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1964 United Kingdom General Election
The 1964 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 15 October 1964. It resulted in the Conservatives, led by Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Alec Douglas-Home, narrowly losing to the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party, led by Harold Wilson; Labour secured a parliamentary majority of four seats and ended its thirteen years in opposition since the 1951 United Kingdom general election, 1951 election. At age 47, Wilson became the youngest Prime Minister since Lord Rosebery in 1894. Background Both major parties had changed leadership in 1963. Following the sudden death of Labour leader Hugh Gaitskell early in the year, the party chose Harold Wilson (at the time, thought of as being on the party's centre-left), while Alec Douglas-Home, at the time the Earl of Home, had taken over as Conservative leader and Prime Minister in October after Harold Macmillan announced his resignation in the wake of the Profumo affair. Douglas-Home shortly afterward discla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alfred Dobbs
Alfred James Dobbs (18 June 1882 – 27 July 1945) was a British Labour Party politician and trade unionist. He died in a car accident the day after he had been elected as a Member of Parliament (MP) for Smethwick. His one day as an MP remains the shortest term in the era after the Second World War. Local politics and union career Dobbs was born in Bozeat, Northamptonshire. He served as a Rushden Urban District Councillor between 1906 and 1910, although he moved to Leeds in 1909. There, he immediately took an interest in the Leeds branch of the National Union of Boot and Shoe Operatives, becoming president of the branch in 1917. In March, 1919, he was elected to the Executive Committee of the Union. In local politics, Dobbs was elected as a Leeds City Councillor from 1923 to 1929, then as Alderman in Leeds 1929–1936 and was chairman the Housing Committee. Dobbs was Leader of Labour Group on Leeds City Council between 1931 and 1936 as well as a magistrate. After his ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Christabel Pankhurst
Dame Christabel Harriette Pankhurst (; 22 September 1880 – 13 February 1958) was a British suffragette born in Manchester, England. A co-founder of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), she directed Suffragette bombing and arson campaign, its militant actions from exile in France from 1912 to 1913. In 1914, she supported the war against Germany. After the war, she moved to the United States, where she worked as an evangelist for the Second Adventist movement. Early life Christabel Pankhurst was the daughter of women's suffrage movement leader Emmeline Pankhurst and radical socialist Richard Pankhurst (politician), Richard Pankhurst and sister to Sylvia Pankhurst, Sylvia and Adela Pankhurst. Her father was a barrister and her mother owned a small shop. Christabel assisted her mother, who worked as the Registrar of Births and Deaths in Manchester. Despite financial struggles, her family had always been encouraged by their firm belief in their devotion to causes rathe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Halesowen And Rowley Regis (UK Parliament Constituency)
Halesowen and Rowley Regis was a House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, constituency in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands represented in the UK Parliament from 1997 United Kingdom general election, 1997 until 2024 United Kingdom general election, 2024. By the decision of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the seat was abolished and replaced by the new Halesowen (UK Parliament constituency), Halesowen constituency with similar boundaries except for Rowley Regis and Blackheath, West Midlands, Blackheath transferred to the new seats of West Bromwich (UK Parliament constituency), West Bromwich and Smethwick (UK Parliament constituency), Smethwick respectively. All new seats were contested for the first time at the 2024 United Kingdom general election, 2024 general election. Members of Parliament Boundaries Halesowen and Rowley Regis straddled the borders of Metropolitan Boro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
