Alfred Barnes (Labour politician)

For other people named Alfred Barnes, see Alfred Barnes (disambiguation).

The Right Honourable Alfred Barnes
Minister of Transport
In office 3 August 1945 – 26 October 1951
Prime Minister	Clement Attlee
Preceded by	The Lord Leathers
Succeeded by	John Maclay
Chair of the Co-operative Party
In office 1924–1945
Preceded by	William Henry Watkins
Succeeded by	William Coldrick
Member of Parliament for East Ham South
In office 14 November 1935 – 26 May 1955
Preceded by	Malcolm Campbell-Johnston
Succeeded by	Albert Oram
In office 15 November 1922 – 27 October 1931
Preceded by	Clement Edwards
Succeeded by	Malcolm Campbell-Johnston
Personal details
Born	(1887-07-17)17 July 1887 Plaistow, Newham, England
Died	26 November 1974(1974-11-26) (aged 87) Walton-on-the-Naze, Essex, England
Political party	Labour and Co-operative
Alma mater	Northampton Institute Central School of Arts and Crafts

Alfred John Barnes (17 July 1887 – 26 November 1974) was a British Labour and Co-operative politician.

Born in North Woolwich, he was the youngest child of William Barnes, a docker. His brother Billy became a professional footballer. Barnes lost a leg in a fairground accident at the age of 8. He was educated at the Northampton Institute and the Central School of Arts and Crafts.

Barnes worked originally as an artist in gold and silver. He was an early member of the Independent Labour Party and was heavily involved in the co-operative movement. He was chairman of the London Co-operative Society for nine years until 1923 and was a founder of the Co-operative Party. He became the Party's chairman in 1924 and served until 1945. He was also a director and President of the National Cooperative Publishing Society.

In November 1922, Barnes was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for East Ham South. In 1925, he was appointed a Labour Whip and served as a whip in Government, as Junior Lord of the Treasury. However, he was forced to resign in October 1930 - although his position as a director of the National Cooperative Publishing Society was unpaid, parliamentary rules dictated that a minister cannot be a director of a public company (although they could be of a private company): Barnes chose to remain on the co-op board rather than as a whip. Like many Labour MPs, he lost his seat in the 1931 general election but regained it in 1935.

In 1945, Barnes was made a Privy Counsellor and Minister of War Transport, later Minister of Transport, serving until the fall of the Labour government in 1951. He stood down as a Member of Parliament at the 1955 general election.

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Alfred Barnes
• The Times Guides to the House of Commons, Times Newspapers Ltd, 1945, 1950, 1951
• (2003) The Times Guides to the House of Commons, 1929, 1931, 1935, Politico's Publishing (reprint). ISBN 1-84275-033-X
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs