Raymond Jones Gunter (30 August 1909 – 12 April 1977) was a British Labour Party politician. He was born in

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

and had a background in the railway industry and the British trade union movement – specifically his union, the

Transport Salaried Staffs' Association The Transport Salaried Staffs' Association (TSSA) is a trade union for workers in the transport and travel industries in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Its head office is in London, and it has regional offices in Bristol, ...

(TSSA).

Early political career

After seeing active service in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, enlisting in the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is the engineering arm of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces ...

in 1941 and later being commissioned and reaching the rank of

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

, Gunter entered

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

in the 1945 general election for the previously

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

seat of South East Essex. He was a backbencher throughout the six-year Labour Government of

Clement Attlee Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee (3 January 18838 October 1967) was a British statesman who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955. At ...

. The Labour

Home Secretary The secretary of state for the Home Department, more commonly known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom and the head of the Home Office. The position is a Great Office of State, maki ...

James Chuter Ede James Chuter Chuter-Ede, Baron Chuter-Ede, (; 11 September 1882 – 11 November 1965), was a British teacher, trade unionist and Labour Party politician. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) for 32 years, and served as the sole Home Secretary u ...

, presided over a redistribution of seats in the late 1940s; as a result of that, Gunter's Essex seat was broken up, so he switched to the seat of

Doncaster Doncaster ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don, it is the administrative centre of the City of Doncaster metropolitan borough, and is the second largest se ...

in Yorkshire for the 1950 general election. But even at that election he won his seat by a majority of only 878 over his Conservative opponent,

Anthony Barber Anthony Perrinott Lysberg Barber, Baron Barber, (4 July 1920 – 16 December 2005) was a British Conservative politician who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1970 to 1974. After serving in both the Territorial Army and the Royal A ...

(future cabinet minister). Barber went on to unseat Gunter by 384 votes in the 1951 general election that saw the return of a Conservative Government under

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...

Rise to ministerial office

Gunter was associated with the right wing of the Labour Party and was a member of the Labour Party's National Executive Committee (NEC) from 1955 to 1966 and was president of his union, TSSA, 1956–64. When

George Isaacs George Alfred Isaacs JP DL (28 May 1883 – 26 April 1979) was a British politician and trades unionist who served in the government of Clement Attlee. Isaacs was born in Finsbury to a Methodist family. He married Flora Beasley (1884–19 ...

(aged 76) announced his decision not to stand for re-election in the strongly Labour constituency of

Southwark Southwark ( ) is a district of Central London situated on the south bank of the River Thames, forming the north-western part of the wider modern London Borough of Southwark. The district, which is the oldest part of South London, developed ...

South London South London is the southern part of Greater London, England, south of the River Thames. The region consists of the Districts of England, boroughs, in whole or in part, of London Borough of Bexley, Bexley, London Borough of Bromley, Bromley, Lon ...

, Gunter secured the nomination in time for the 1959 general election. He was returned to the

Commons The commons is the cultural and natural resources accessible to all members of a society, including natural materials such as air, water, and a habitable Earth. These resources are held in common even when owned privately or publicly. Commons ...

as a TSSA-sponsored Member of Parliament, with a majority of 12,340. Following Labour's heavy defeat in the 1959 election, its then leader,

Hugh Gaitskell Hugh Todd Naylor Gaitskell (9 April 1906 – 18 January 1963) was a British politician who was Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition (United Kingdom), Leader of the Opposition from 1955 until ...

, sought to revise and moderate Labour's constitution – the so-called

Clause IV Clause IV is part of the Labour Party Rule Book which sets out the aims and values of the British Labour Party. The original clause, adopted in 1918, called for common ownership of industry, and proved controversial in later years; Hugh Gaitskel ...

dispute. The trade union leaders overwhelmingly disliked this shift and Gunter was one of the opponents. In 1963 Gaitskell died suddenly, the Clause IV conflict still unresolved.

Harold Wilson James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx (11 March 1916 – 23 May 1995) was a British statesman and Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, from 1964 to 1970 and again from 197 ...

was elected the new leader of the Labour Party, and Gunter continued to be a Labour shadow cabinet member.

Minister of Labour

Labour narrowly won the 1964 general election and Harold Wilson made Gunter

Minister of Labour Minister of labour (in British English) or labor (in American English) is typically a cabinet-level position with portfolio responsibility for setting national labour standards, labour dispute mechanisms, employment, workforce participation, traini ...

. The dilemma Gunter faced was this: as a union leader he believed that trade unions should be able to negotiate responsible pay rates for their members through "free collective bargaining"; on the other hand, the wildcat strikes in some parts of British industry were often seen as damaging to the economy, and "

wage restraint Incomes policies in economics are economy-wide wage and price controls, most commonly instituted as a response to inflation, and usually seeking to establish wages and prices below free-market level. Incomes policies have often been resorted to ...

" was the alternative. Soon after Labour's landslide victory at the 1966 general election, the seamen's strike was a particularly important factor in the conflict. On that issue, Gunter took the same tough line as Wilson. Looking back, he described his stint as

as a "bed of nails". He sought to complete his work by bringing in a new bill drawn from the findings of the Donovan Commission report on trade union power, but Wilson reshuffled him to the post of Minister for Power in April 1968. Gunter was rumoured to have been the source of leaks to the media which put the cabinet in a negative light. In any event he resigned from government on 1 July, stating that he could no longer work in a Wilson government. Meanwhile, Gunter's successor in labour affairs,

Barbara Castle Barbara Anne Castle, Baroness Castle of Blackburn, (''née'' Betts; 6 October 1910 – 3 May 2002) was a British Labour Party politician who was a Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament from 1945 United Kingdom general elec ...

, saw her proposals to reduce trade union powers in her 1969 white paper, '

In Place of Strife ''In Place of Strife'' ( Cmnd 3888) was a UK Government white paper written in 1969. It was a proposed act to use the law to reduce the power of trade unions in the United Kingdom, but was never passed into law. The title of the paper was a rewor ...

' fail in the teeth of concerted Trade Union opposition.

Later political life and legacy

Gunter was re-elected in his Southwark constituency at the 1970 general election that saw the Labour government replaced by a Conservative one led by

Edward Heath Sir Edward Richard George Heath (9 July 1916 – 17 July 2005) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1974 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1965 ...

. He was by now a senior opposition backbencher and resigned from Parliament in 1972 and was succeeded by Harry Lamborn. Gunter died in 1977 and was buried at St. Mary's Old Church, St. Mary's on the

Isles of Scilly The Isles of Scilly ( ; ) are a small archipelago off the southwestern tip of Cornwall, England. One of the islands, St Agnes, Isles of Scilly, St Agnes, is over farther south than the most southerly point of the Great Britain, British mainla ...

. For many years he had a house on the Isles of Scilly, located in Launceston Close, Old Town, and called ''Y Bwythen Bach''. His name lives on in a block of sheltered flats for the elderly built by Southwark Council in

Walworth Walworth ( ) is a district of South London, England, within the London Borough of Southwark. It adjoins Camberwell to the south and Elephant and Castle to the north, and is south-east of Charing Cross. Major streets in Walworth include the ...

References

Richard Crossman Richard Howard Stafford Crossman (15 December 1907 – 5 April 1974) was a British Labour Party politician. A university classics lecturer by profession, he was elected a Member of Parliament in 1945 and became a significant figure among the ...

Backbench diaries, Hamish Hamilton & Jonathan Cape 1981 London p. 803 * The Labour Government 1964 – 70 by

, London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson and Michael Joseph (1971) pp. 541/2

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gunter, Ray 1909 births 1977 deaths Welsh military personnel British trade unionists Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1945–1950 UK MPs 1950–1951 UK MPs 1959–1964 UK MPs 1964–1966 UK MPs 1966–1970 UK MPs 1970–1974 Politics of the London Borough of Southwark Presidents of the Transport Salaried Staffs' Association Royal Engineers soldiers Royal Engineers officers British Army personnel of World War II Chairs of the Labour Party (UK) Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Transport Salaried Staffs' Association-sponsored MPs Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for South East Essex Ministers in the Wilson governments, 1964–1970