Arthur Latham

Arthur Charles Latham (14 August 1930 – 3 December 2016) was a British Labour Party politician, who was the MP for Paddington North from 1969 to 1974, and its successor seat, Paddington, from that year until 1979.^[1]

Early life and education

Latham was born in Leyton, Essex (now part of Greater London). He was educated at Garnett College of Education, the Royal Liberty School in Romford, Essex, and the London School of Economics.^[1]

Career

Latham worked as a methods consultant at an import-export firm. He became involved in politics whilst in his teenage years, joining the Labour Party in 1944, and was the party candidate in his school's mock election the following year. During the 1945 election campaign, he recruited 100 new members, and he later became Vice-Chairman of the National Committee for the Labour League of Youth in 1949, a position he held until 1953. In 1952, he was elected to

In 1979, Latham lost his Paddington seat to the Conservative John Wheeler by 106 votes (0.3% of the total). It was so close that Latham asked for three recounts, and the result was not declared until late on the Friday morning.^[2]

After Parliament

In 1981, Latham was shortlisted to be Labour's candidate for the forthcoming

Latham was challenged over his leadership in 1995 and 1997. On the latter occasion, it followed discussions over the effect on the party of Liberal Democrat activist Terry Hurlstone's conviction for assaulting Latham. This incident occurred in March 1996, during an argument over Latham's friendship with Hurlstone's estranged wife, Liberal Democrat Group Leader Cllr Caroline Hurlstone. At the time, Latham was running a minority administration and was dependent on the votes of Liberal Democrat councillors. In May 1996, Hurlestone defected to the Labour Party.^[6]

That month, rumours of an affair between Hurlstone and Latham were said to have led to other defections on the council, which eventually led to the end of the ruling Lib-Lab coalition. In December 1996, Terry Hurlstone, a former Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate, was convicted of common assault, but cleared of theft, having been accused of stealing a notebook from Latham.^[7][8]

Caroline was an English teacher who had won Channel 4's Fifteen to One quiz show twice, and appeared as a contestant on the BBC's Mastermind.^[9] In January 1997, Hornchurch Constituency Labour Party passed a motion of no confidence in Latham; however, in May that year, the Labour Group voted him back in as Group Leader. Latham resigned as Group Leader in December 1997, leading to Labour regaining control of the council. Latham stood down as a councillor at the 1998 local elections.^[10] He later married Caroline, who had become known as Caroline Warren. At the 1998 elections, she stood for re-election as a Labour candidate in St Edward's ward, but was not elected.^[11][12]

During his career, Latham was Vice-President of Labour Action for Peace, and a member of the

In 1951, he married Ruby Margaret Green, and they had two children: a son, Howard Arthur, and a daughter, Diana Margaret. Howard became a councillor for the Bellenden ward in Southwark in 1994, and then for Alleyn in the same borough in 1998.^[13][11] Ruby was a fellow Havering borough councillor, representing Heaton ward in Upminster for the Labour and Co-operative Party until her death in 2001.^[5][14] She died in November 2000, and Latham married Caroline Warren in 2001.^[1]

Latham was a