Reg Freeson

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Reginald Yarnitz Freeson
Member of Parliament
for Brent East
Willesden East (1964–February 1974)
In office
15 October 1964 – 18 May 1987
Preceded byTrevor Skeet
Succeeded byKen Livingstone
Personal details
Born(1926-02-24)24 February 1926
St Pancras, London, England
Died9 October 2006(2006-10-09) (aged 80)
Salisbury, Wiltshire, England
Political partyLabour

Reginald Yarnitz Freeson (24 February 1926 – 9 October 2006) was a British

front bench. He became a junior minister in the Ministry of Power in 1967, and then led his party on housing policy for 10 years, from 1969 to 1979, serving as Minister of State for Housing from 1969 to 1970 and then again from 1974 to 1979, and being his party's housing spokesman in the intervening period. He continued as health and social security spokesman until 1981. His soft-left opinions made him vulnerable to the hard left in the early 1980s, and he was deselected in 1985, leaving Parliament at the 1987 general election to be succeeded by hard-leftwinger and future London mayor Ken Livingstone
.

Early and private life

Freeson was born in

Jews who came to the UK to escape the pogroms in Poland and Russia
in the 1890s, but he was abandoned by his parents.

After a successful school career, he volunteered to join the

Rifle Brigade for training in 1944 and then passed on to the Royal Engineers in Egypt. He spent some time working for the Inter Services Publications Unit
.

He worked as a journalist in the

press officer at the Ministry of Works and the British Railways Board
.

He was married twice. He first married in 1971, but was divorced in 1983. He remarried in 1983, and is survived by his second wife, and a son and daughter from his first marriage.

Political career

Freeson joined the Labour Party after returning to England in 1948. He became active in local politics, and was elected to Willesden Borough Council in 1952 and became an alderman in 1955. He served as the council leader from 1958 until the post was abolished in 1965. He chaired the shadow council of the London Borough of Brent from 1964 to 1965, and was an alderman of Brent until 1968.

He was elected as the MP for

Minister of Housing and Local Government from 1969 until the 1970 general election
the following year.

He remained as Housing Spokesman in opposition, and his mastery of the subject made him a fearsome opponent to the incumbent Conservative ministers. With Eric Heffer, he led a Commons protest over the guillotine of the controversial bill which was to become the Industrial Relations Act 1971.

Freeson's seat was renamed

privy counsellor that year, and retained his office until Labour's defeat at the 1979 general election. He remained on the Labour frontbench in opposition, as spokesman on Health and Social Security, but was demoted by Michael Foot in 1981. He later served on the Environment Select committee
.

He was a member of the

Poale Zion (Great Britain), but was critical of Israeli policy (e.g. he opposed the 1982 invasion of Lebanon).[1] He attacked the British Nationality Act 1981, and criticised Conservative policy on Northern Ireland
.

He was a committed left-winger, but his soft-left views made him vulnerable to the hard left in the early-1980s. He was able to retain his seat at the 1983 general election, but was deselected in 1985 after a bitter struggle, described as "political 'murder'" in his Guardian obituary, and replaced as Labour candidate in Brent East by Ken Livingstone at the 1987 general election. "His support for Israel, said Freeson after his deselection, had led him to be branded 'that bloody Zionist and Jew'."[1]

Later life

After leaving Parliament, Freeson became a consultant on housing and planning issues. He was editor of

Poale Zion (Great Britain)
.

Freeson again became a councillor in Brent at the 2002 election, but lost his Queens Park seat to the Liberal Democrats in the 2006 local elections. He died in Salisbury, Wiltshire.

References

  1. ^ a b Philpot, Robert (20 July 2017). "Labour: this is a repeat of the purges of the 1980s". The Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved 6 December 2019.

External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Willesden East
1964–February 1974 		Constituency abolished
New constituency Member of Parliament for Brent East
February 1974–1987 		Succeeded by
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