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Title: Douglas Houghton, M.P. for the Sowerby Constituency - DEF00296
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Title
Douglas Houghton, M.P. for the Sowerby Constituency - DEF00296
Description
Douglas Houghton, M.P., at the opening of Park Fold Wood.
Douglas Houghton, (11 August 1898 – 2 May 1996) was a British Labour politician. He was the last British Cabinet minister born in the 19th century.
Houghton was a great believer in equality of opportunity. He was a panel member of a BBC radio programme Can I help You? between 1941 and 1964. After John Belcher quit the House of Commons over accusations of minor dishonesty, Houghton was persuaded to seek nomination for the subsequent by-election. He secured this and on 16 March 1949 was elected to Parliament for the Yorkshire constituency of Sowerby with a majority of 2,152. He was re-elected in the subsequent general elections of 1950, 1951, 1955, 1959, 1964, 1966 and 1970. His head for figures and tenacity made him a good candidate for Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee in the House of Commons, succeeding Harold Wilson in this post after Wilson was elected Leader of the Labour Party in 1963. When, after 13 years in government, the Conservative Party was defeated in October 1964, Houghton became a cabinet minister in Wilson's first government and was appointed a Privy Counsellor.
The post of Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster after 1964 gave Houghton a position in the cabinet and special responsibility for Social Services but not an actual department over which he could preside. This made it hard to be particularly effective as a minister, and in a 1966 reshuffle, Wilson made him Minister without Portfolio.
Houghton became a Companion of Honour on 5 January 1967 and was dropped from government in 1967 and became Chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) which is a post designed to help shape and reflect the backbench Labour MPs' views but keep them in dialogue with the Labour leadership. His predecessor, Emmanuel Shinwell, could be rather fiery and unpredictable. By contrast, Houghton had a tenacity and command of detail that made him a highly suitable person for the task, given there was perceived to be quite a lot of factionalism in the party at the time. He retired from the House of Commons at the February 1974 General Election and was elevated to the House of Lords as Baron Houghton of Sowerby, of Sowerby in the County of West Yorkshire a few months later on 20 June.
Lord Houghton was passionate about the subject of animal welfare and spoke in the House of Lords on the subject a number of times. Shortly before he died in 1996, he was the last member of the House of Lords to have fought in the First World War, and at 97, was then its oldest serving member
Douglas Houghton, (11 August 1898 – 2 May 1996) was a British Labour politician. He was the last British Cabinet minister born in the 19th century.
Houghton was a great believer in equality of opportunity. He was a panel member of a BBC radio programme Can I help You? between 1941 and 1964. After John Belcher quit the House of Commons over accusations of minor dishonesty, Houghton was persuaded to seek nomination for the subsequent by-election. He secured this and on 16 March 1949 was elected to Parliament for the Yorkshire constituency of Sowerby with a majority of 2,152. He was re-elected in the subsequent general elections of 1950, 1951, 1955, 1959, 1964, 1966 and 1970. His head for figures and tenacity made him a good candidate for Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee in the House of Commons, succeeding Harold Wilson in this post after Wilson was elected Leader of the Labour Party in 1963. When, after 13 years in government, the Conservative Party was defeated in October 1964, Houghton became a cabinet minister in Wilson's first government and was appointed a Privy Counsellor.
The post of Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster after 1964 gave Houghton a position in the cabinet and special responsibility for Social Services but not an actual department over which he could preside. This made it hard to be particularly effective as a minister, and in a 1966 reshuffle, Wilson made him Minister without Portfolio.
Houghton became a Companion of Honour on 5 January 1967 and was dropped from government in 1967 and became Chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) which is a post designed to help shape and reflect the backbench Labour MPs' views but keep them in dialogue with the Labour leadership. His predecessor, Emmanuel Shinwell, could be rather fiery and unpredictable. By contrast, Houghton had a tenacity and command of detail that made him a highly suitable person for the task, given there was perceived to be quite a lot of factionalism in the party at the time. He retired from the House of Commons at the February 1974 General Election and was elevated to the House of Lords as Baron Houghton of Sowerby, of Sowerby in the County of West Yorkshire a few months later on 20 June.
Lord Houghton was passionate about the subject of animal welfare and spoke in the House of Lords on the subject a number of times. Shortly before he died in 1996, he was the last member of the House of Lords to have fought in the First World War, and at 97, was then its oldest serving member
Creator
Alan Greenwood
Source
Pennine Horizons Digital Archive
Date
1966, 1960s
Rights
PHDA - David Fletcher Collection
Relation
Pennine Horizons Digital Archive
Identifier
DEF00296.tif
Collection
Citation
Alan Greenwood, “Douglas Houghton, M.P. for the Sowerby Constituency - DEF00296,” Pennine Horizons Digital Archive, accessed April 25, 2024, https://penninehorizons.org/items/show/23213.
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