The Liberal–Labour movement was the practice of local Liberal associations accepting and supporting candidates who were financially maintained by trade unions. These candidates stood for the British Parliament with the aim of representing the working classes, while remaining supportive of the Liberal Party in general.

The first Lib–Lab candidate to stand was George Odger in the 1870 Southwark by-election. The first Lib–Lab candidates to be elected were Alexander MacDonald and Thomas Burt, both members of the Miners' Federation of Great Britain (MFGB), in the 1874 general election. In 1880, they were joined by Henry Broadhurst of the Operative Society of Masons and the movement reached its peak in 1885, with twelve MPs elected. These include William Abraham (Mabon) in the Rhondda division whose claims to the Liberal nomination were essentially based on his working class credentials.

The candidates generally stood with the support of the Liberal Party, the Labour Representation League and one or more trade unions. After 1885, decline set in. Disillusion grew from the defeat of the Manningham Mills Strike, a series of decisions restricting the activity of unions, culminating in the Taff Vale Case and largely unchallenged by the Liberal Party, and the foundation of the Independent Labour Party in 1893 followed by its turn towards trade unionism.

The formation of the Labour Representation Committee in 1900, followed by the Labour Party in 1906, meant that in the House of Commons, there were two groups of MPs containing trade union–sponsored MPs, sitting on either side of the chamber (about 28 took the Labour whip and about 23 took the Liberal whip). The Trades Union Congress decided to instruct its affiliate unions to require their MPs to stand at the next election as Labour Party candidates and take the Labour whip. Of the 23 trade union–sponsored Liberal MPs, 15 were sponsored by unions affiliated to the Miners Federation of Great Britain (MFGB). When the MFGB affiliated to the Labour Party in 1909, most of their MPs joined Labour after the January 1910 general election.

The Liberal-Labour group finally died out at the 1918 general election, when Thomas Burt (by then Father of the House) and Arthur Richardson stood down.

List of Liberal-Labour MPs NameConstituencyUnionFromToNotesWilliam AbrahamRhonddaSWMF/MFGB"The labour members and the Labour Party", The Times, 30 January 190618851910 JanJoined the Labour Party in 1910Joseph ArchNorth West NorfolkNALU18851886Joseph ArchNorth West NorfolkNALU/None18921900William BraceGlamorganshire, SouthMFGB19061909Joined the Labour Party in 1909Henry BroadhurstStoke-upon-TrentMasons18801885Henry BroadhurstBirmingham BordesleyMasons18851886Henry BroadhurstNottingham WestMasons18861892Henry BroadhurstLeicesterMasons18941906John BurnsBatterseaLocal committee18921905Sat as a Liberal after joining the Henry Campbell-Bannerman cabinet. Retires as MP in 1918.Thomas BurtMorpethNMA/MFGB18741918William Pollard BylesShipleyNone18921895Herbert James CraigTynemouthNone19061918William CrawfordMid DurhamDMA18851890Randal CremerHaggerstonASCJ18851895Randal CremerHaggerstonASCJ19001908John Charles DurantStepneyNone18851886Enoch EdwardsHanleyMFGB19061909Joined the Labour Party in 1909Charles FenwickWansbeckNMA/MFGB18851918Frederick HallNormantonMFGB19051909Joined the Labour Party in 1909William Edwin HarveyNorth East DerbyshireMFGB19071910 JanJoined the Labour Party in 1910John George HancockMid DerbyshireMFGB19091918Joined Labour Party 1910. Re-joined Liberal Party 1915.John George HancockBelperMFGB1918 1923Sat as a Liberal.George HowellBethnal Green North EastOperative Bricklayers18851895John Hagan JenkinsChathamAssociated Shipwrights19061906Joined the Labour Party soon after electionJohn JohnsonGatesheadMFGB19041910 JanWilliam JohnsonNuneatonMFGB19061909Joined the Labour Party in 1909; Liberal from 1914Barnet KenyonChesterfieldMFGB19131929Broadly a Liberal after 1918Joseph LeicesterWest Ham SouthGlassmakers18851886Alexander MacdonaldStaffordMNA18741881Fred MaddisonSheffield BrightsideTypographical Association18981900Fred MaddisonBurnleyTypographical Association19061910 JanGeorge NichollsNorth NorthamptonshireNUAW19061910 JanWilliam ParrottNormantonMFGB19041905Ben PickardNormantonYMA/MFGB18851904Arthur RichardsonNottingham SouthLocal committee19061910 JanArthur RichardsonRotherham19171918Thomas RichardsWest MonmouthshireMFGB19041909Joined the Labour Party in 1909James RowlandsFinsbury EastNone18861895Albert StanleyNorth West StaffordshireMFGB19071910 JanJoined the Labour Party in 1910W. C. SteadmanStepneyBarge Builders18981900W. C. SteadmanFinsbury CentralBarge Builders19061910 JanHenry Harvey VivianBirkenheadASCJ19061910 DecJohn WadsworthHallamshireMFGB19061910 JanJoined the Labour Party in 1910John WilliamsGowerMFGB19061909Joined the Labour Party in 1909Havelock WilsonMiddlesbroughSailors and Firemen18921900Havelock WilsonMiddlesbroughSailors and Firemen19061910 JanJohn WilsonHoughton-le-SpringDMA18851886John WilsonMid DurhamDMA/MFGB18901915Sam WoodsInceMFGB18921895Sam WoodsWalthamstowMFGB18971900

See also :Category:Liberal-Labour (UK) politicians :Category:Liberal-Labour (UK) MPs

References