Charles Key
| In office 12 June 1940 – 25 September 1964 | |
| Preceded by | George Lansbury |
| Succeeded by | Ian Mikardo |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 8 August 1883 |
| Died | 6 December 1964 (aged 81) |
| Political party | Labour |
Charles William Key,
Poverty of upbringing
Key was born in
Teaching profession
While Key was attending the village school, and doing well, his mother took in lodgers to help make ends meet. One of the lodgers was a young chemist, who decided to take responsibility for helping him develop his talent, and provided enough funds for Key to continue his education at the Mile End Pupil Teachers' Centre and to get practical training at a school in South Hackney. Key then won a Queen's Scholarship to go to the Borough Road Teacher Training College. There he qualified as a teacher and went into work in a school in Mile End.
Municipal affairs
During the
Poplar was a very left-wing Labour council. Key was not among the most left-wing (he professed himself as a loyal subject of the King), but he was fully supportive of the campaign to improve the lives of the poor of the borough: in 1925 he was to write that most of the population "live on the verge of destitution". He saw the effects that poverty had on the children at his school. Poplar's high spending to help the poor led to ever-rising rates, which became an extra burden on local householders.
Rates strike
In this situation, in 1921, the Poplar Labour councillors decided to act to relieve the burden and to make a political protest by refusing to collect the rates on behalf of the London County Council and other Metropolitan bodies. Key himself, as Chairman of the Public Health Committee, moved a resolution to refer the estimates back to delete the contribution to the LCC. Poplar had a legal duty to collect the rates, and the LCC obtained a judgment requiring payment. Key argued to continue the protest, because the LCC and government had failed to fund promised schemes in the borough.
To enforce payment, the LCC and Metropolitan Asylums Board issued writs against 30 Poplar councillors and Aldermen; however, somewhat inexplicably, Key was not among those proceeded against. The 30 were committed to prison, while Key was made Deputy Mayor to act in the absence of the Mayor (Sam March) who was to go to jail. He was a key organiser of the successful campaign to get the councillors released, and subsequently wrote pamphlets telling the history of the campaign. The rates strike secured a more effective system of easing the burden of LCC rates on poorer boroughs and making borough rates produce the same revenue for councils.
Municipal service
Poplar held out on other causes, including a minimum wage for its workers of £4 per week; this policy was ruled unlawful by the House of Lords in 1925. Key moved a resolution to reluctantly comply, under protest, with the Lords' judgment. In the municipal years 1923–24, 1926–27 and 1932–33 he served as the Borough's Mayor, and he was also elected as a Poor Law Guardian in 1925, serving until the Guardians were abolished in 1931.
Parliament
On the outbreak of war in 1939, Key left teaching to become a
Government minister
In
Minister of Works
In February 1947, Key was promoted to be
One of Key's responsibilities was to ensure a steady supply of building material for the building of public housing. In 1948 he made the acquaintance of
Later career
In 1953 Key was awarded the Freedom of the Borough of Poplar, an award which made him very proud. He remained a backbench MP although his attendance and frequency of speeches declined; in 1963 he was one of the MPs highlighted by the television programme
References
- Obituary, The Times, 9 December 1964
- M. Stenton and S. Lees, "Who's Who of British MPs" Vol. IV (Harvester Press, 1981)
- Noreen Branson, "Poplarism 1919–1925: George Lansbury and the Councillors' Revolt" (Lawrence and Wishart, 1979)