Michael Cliffe (6 March 19039 August 1964) was a British clothing industry worker and politician, who was a Member of Parliament in inner London for six years.

Working life

Cliffe, was born in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

and went to Holliscroft School, leaving to go into the clothing industry as a tailor's presser. He was active in the

National Union of Tailors and Garment Workers The National Union of Tailors and Garment Workers (NUTGW) was a trade union in the United Kingdom. History The union was founded as the Tailors and Garment Workers' Union (T&GWU) in 1920 with the merger of the Scottish Operative Tailors and T ...

and was elected to the Union's National Executive. He moved to London to live in

Finsbury Finsbury is a district of Central London, forming the southeastern part of the London Borough of Islington. It borders the City of London. The Manorialism, Manor of Finsbury is first recorded as ''Vinisbir'' (1231) and means "manor of a man c ...

where he became active in local politics as a member of the Labour Party; in 1949 he was elected to Finsbury Borough Council from West Finsbury ward, at the top of the poll in a six-member ward. On the last day of 1952 he formally adopted the first name 'Michael' by

deed poll A deed poll (plural: deeds poll) is a legal document binding on a single person or several persons acting jointly to express an intention or create an obligation. It is a deed, and not a contract, because it binds only one party. Etymology Th ...

Municipal experience

After local ward boundary changes, Cliffe was elected in Central ward from 1953, but then was elected an

Alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law with similar officials existing in the Netherlands (wethouder) and Belgium (schepen). The term may be titular, denotin ...

(his wife Sophia, née Whitesman, followed him onto the council); he remained an Alderman until his death. He was chairman of the Housing Committee, and when the building work was completed he was allocated a flat in the

Golden Lane Estate The Golden Lane Estate is a 1950s council housing complex in the City of London. It was built on the northern edge of the City, on a site devastated by bombing during the Second World War. Since 1997, the estate has been protected by a grade II ...

. He was chosen as Mayor of Finsbury for the year 1956-1957 and was then Chairman of the Policy and Resources Committee (the unofficial Leader of the Council).

Byelection

As Chairman of Shoreditch and Finsbury

Constituency Labour Party A constituency Labour Party (CLP) is an organisation of members of the British Labour Party who live in a particular parliamentary constituency. In England and Wales, CLP boundaries coincide with those for UK parliamentary constituencies. In Sc ...

when the local Member of Parliament Victor Collins took a

life peerage In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. Life peers are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister. With the exception of the D ...

in the first appointments in 1958, Cliffe was selected as his successor as Labour candidate for the constituency of Shoreditch and Finsbury. Despite a rumbustious campaign in which the police had to be called to one of his meetings and arrested four men, Cliffe comfortably retained the seat on a low turnout in the byelection.

Parliamentary life

A quiet and rare speaker in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, 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 ...

, Cliffe was active in supporting his constituents. He joined a delegation to the Home Secretary from the Street Bookmakers' Federation in 1960, saying he wanted to be better informed of their views in advance of the debate on a Gambling Bill. He was Chairman of the

Warsaw Ghetto Uprising The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was the 1943 act of Jewish resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto in German-occupied Poland during World War II to oppose Nazi Germany's final effort to transport the remaining ghetto population to the gas chambers of the ...

Memorial Committee and in 1961 called attention to increasing votes for fascist candidates, declaring "anything that spells Fascism must be rooted out and destroyed". When tension grew over the

Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (, ) was a guarded concrete Separation barrier, barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and the East Germany, German Democratic Republic (GDR; East Germany). Construction of the B ...

in 1961, Cliffe was one of four Labour MPs who demanded the recall of Parliament, and later wrote a letter to

President Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), also known as JFK, was the 35th president of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. He was the first Roman Catholic and youngest person elected p ...

and

Nikita Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and the Premier of the Soviet Union, Chai ...

urging hasty negotiations and a moratorium on nuclear testing. He had been intending to continue his Parliamentary career, but was taken ill and died in

St Bartholomew's Hospital St Bartholomew's Hospital, commonly known as Barts, is a teaching hospital located in the City of London. It was founded in 1123 by Rahere, and is currently run by Barts Health NHS Trust. History Early history Barts was founded in 1123 by ...

in August 1964, aged 61. Finsbury Metropolitan Borough Council named a 25-storey block of flats after him on the

Finsbury Estate Finsbury Estate is a large-scale housing estate in the Clerkenwell area of London, England (in the former Borough of Finsbury), comprising four purpose-built blocks of flats located on a level site, providing 451 residences. Patrick Coman House ...

simply named Michael Cliffe House.

References

*M. Stenton and S. Lees, "Who's Who of British MPs" Vol. IV (Harvester Press, 1981) *Obituary, ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'', 10 August 1964 *''Who Was Who'', A&C Black

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cliffe, Michael 1903 births 1964 deaths Trade unionists from Sheffield Jewish British politicians Councillors in the London Borough of Islington Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Politicians from Sheffield UK MPs 1955–1959 UK MPs 1959–1964 Hackney Members of Parliament Members of Finsbury Metropolitan Borough Council