Test Cricketers who became politicians

[Dechucka]

Carrying on from Rod's 'Left-wing cricketers' I got thinking 'how one would
know a cricketers politics?'.

So, what Test cricketers have become politicians e.g. Wes Hall, Imran Khan
and iirc a bunch of Indian cricketers and did they represent left or right
of centre parties i.e more like the Australian Labor Party or Australian
Liberal Party ( British Conservatives)?

[Big Al]

Ted Dexter stood as the Conservative candidate against Jim Callaghan in 1964, unsurprisingly losing. On the wider point of cricketers' political views, in one of Simon Hughes' books, he said the only Labour-supporting player he knew of was Jack Russell, which was accepted as part of his eccentric nature.

Big Al

[Rodney Ulyate]

Learie Constantine and Alfred Lyttelton?

Rodney

[alvey]

I think Gil Langley & Tom Veivers had substantial careers in State politics
in Oz. And very recently the originator of the term 'mental
disintergration', Big Carl Rackemann, stood unsuccessfully for a Qld State
seat.



alvey

[Ramapriya]

On Monday, May 30, 2016 at 3:01:43 AM UTC+4, alvey wrote:
>
> I think Gil Langley & Tom Veivers had substantial careers in State politics
> in Oz. And very recently the originator of the term 'mental
> disintergration', Big Carl Rackemann, stood unsuccessfully for a Qld State
> seat.

Len Pascoe, who was briefly an e-acquaintance of mine more than 15 yrs ago, was one as well, IIRC.

Ramapriya

[Geoff Muldoon]

Add Frank Worrel to Wes Hall (both labour?) in the West Indian test +
politics group.

Joe Darling (1894-1905, 34 tests, 7 as captain) spent 25 years as an
elected (independent) politician in Tasmania.

Although never a test (but FC plus NZ coach) cricketer, the prolifically
talented Ric Charlesworth was the Australian Federal (Labor) member for
Perth for 10 years.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ric_Charlesworth

GM

[alvey]

On Mon, 30 May 2016 13:53:43 +1000, Geoff Muldoon wrote:


>
> Joe Darling (1894-1905, 34 tests, 7 as captain) spent 25 years as an
> elected (independent) politician in Tasmania.

Fuck it! I *knew* that there was a notable. Thank you Geoffrey. You can
knock off early today.



alvey

[Bob Martin]

Ted Dexter, Conservative MP

[Ramapriya]

On Monday, May 30, 2016 at 10:57:21 AM UTC+4, Bob Martin wrote:
>
> Ted Dexter, Conservative MP


I remember reading a line back in the early 80s by Robin Marlar in 'The Hindu' where he wrote that whether or not they actually entered politics, nearly every England cricketer was historically a Tory. I didn't know what to make of that statement back then but it does seem remarkable today that Eng cricketers haven't much warmed up to the Labor party. Why, I wonder?

Ramapriya

[Brian Lawrence]

Not true.

[Mike Gooding]

Too intelligent.

[John Hall]

In message <dr26if...@mid.individual.net>, Bob Martin
<bob.m...@excite.com> writes

Lord Harris. According to Wikipedia:

"From 1885 to 1900, Harris had a career in politics, including a
much-criticised tenure as Governor of the Presidency of Bombay. His
political posts were Under-Secretary of State for India from 25 June
1885; Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for War from 4 August 1886
to 1890; Governor of the Presidency of Bombay from 1890 to 1895; and
Lord in Waiting to Queen Victoria from 16 July 1895 to 4 December 1900."

Unsurprisingly, he was a Conservative.

F.S. Jackson. Again from Wikipedia:

"He was elected as a Member of Parliament at a by-election in February
1915,[9] representing Howdenshire (Yorkshire) until resigning his seat
on 3 November 1926.[10] He served as Financial Secretary to the War
Office 1922-23. In 1927 he was appointed Governor of Bengal and in that
year was knighted with the GCIE and was made a member of the Privy
Council."

Again a Conservative.
--
John Hall
"Banking was conceived in iniquity and born in sin"
attributed to Sir Josiah Stamp,
a former director of the Bank of England

[Brian Lawrence]

Lord Hawke, Lord Harris, Barons Constantine, Sheppard and Cowdrey were
all permitted to sit in the House of Lords. Whether they did so I don't
know, though I expect David Sheppard (as Bishop of Liverpool) would
have. Also Ivo Bligh, of Ashes fame, became the Earl of Darnley and sat
as an elected Irish peer.

On TMS comms yesterday it was mentioned that Sanath Jayasuriya is no
longer an MP.

[Brian Lawrence]

Lord Harris 'had a political career from 1885-1900', including
Under-Secretary of State for India, and Under-Secretary of State for War.

[Brian Lawrence]

This page is worth a look:


<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Sportsperson-politicians_by_nationality>

One I don't recall reading about before - FS Jackson, England captain,
was an MP 1915-26.

Peter Eckersley, Lancs captain 1929-35, was an MP from 1935 to 1940,
when he was killed while serving in the Fleet Air Arm.

CB Fry stood as a Liberal (Brighton, 1922), but was not elected. He
also failed in 1923 (Banbury) and 1924 (Oxford bye-election).

[alvey]

On Mon, 30 May 2016 10:27:22 +0100, Brian Lawrence wrote:



>
> On TMS comms yesterday it was mentioned that Sanath Jayasuriya is no
> longer an MP.

Speaking of Jayasuriya... Has anyone mentioned Fatatunga? Istr that enough
idiots voted for him to occupy a (large) seat in SL politics.




alvey

[Bob Martin]

Yes, you are correct - he stood against Jim Callaghan but lost.

[Rodney Ulyate]

I remember reading, in Iain Wilton's biography, that CB Fry ran for
office. But the story you've heard about Albania is largely bullshit.

Rodney

[Rodney Ulyate]

There's a connection to be made between this phenomenon and another
you've highlighted on RSC: the historical dearth of Scouse cricketers.
The word "Tory" in Liverpool is an insult, on a par with "arsehole" and
"dickhead." I heard on TAW Player the other day that the Conservatives
poll *seventh* among parties in the city, which I thought astonishing
even before I excavated my brains and found I could name only six.

The reasons are too many to enumerate, but "Hillsborough" and "managed
decline" are the keynotes. What I'm interested to know is this: Is there
an equivalent situation anywhere else in the world? I can't think of
another large city in which a nation's governing party is so marginalised.

Rodney

[Brian Lawrence]

On 30/05/2016 10:54, Brian Lawrence wrote:

> Peter Eckersley, Lancs captain 1929-35, was an MP from 1935 to 1940,
> when he was killed while serving in the Fleet Air Arm.

I happened upon the results of the 1935 General Election - as you do :-)

He was elected for Manchester Exchange receiving 15956 votes (54.09%),
with a majority (over Labour) of 7643. According to The Times he was
representing the Unionist Party (aka Conservative). It also says, "..
is a company director, unsuccessfully contested Leigh in 1931. He has
been captain of the Lancashire County Cricket eleven for six years. He
is known as the 'cricketer airman,' having often flown his own machine
to county matches."

Eckersley played 2 f/c matches after being elected - MCC vs. Camb Uni
in 1936 & captained an England XI vs. Australia in 1938. As an MP he
appeared four times for Lords and Commons in their annual match vs.
the MCC (1936-39). In those matches he played with Lord Dunglass (later
Prime Minister), Lord Tennyson (captain of Hampshire), and also Gwilym
Lloyd George (son of former PM) later Home Secretary (1954-57).
Eckersley served for a while as PPS to Lloyd George at the Board of Trade.

[dave.m...@gmail.com]

While the Labour Party was a clear winner with all five seats in the Liverpool area for the 2015 elections and a massive 70+ of the vote, the second party was clearly the Conservative Party. Combined with the third place UK Independence party, Conservative politics secured more than 17% of the vote. More-over, it is quite clear that the style of Labour preferred in union-strong Liverpool is to the right of the Labour party, focused on protectionism and insular labour (not capital L) policies.

So no. Not "seventh".

[Rodney Ulyate]

On 2016/07/26 12:37 PM, dave.m...@gmail.com wrote:
> While the Labour Party was a clear winner with all five seats in the Liverpool area for the 2015 elections and a massive 70+ of the vote, the second party was clearly the Conservative Party. Combined with the third place UK Independence party, Conservative politics secured more than 17% of the vote. More-over, it is quite clear that the style of Labour preferred in union-strong Liverpool is to the right of the Labour party, focused on protectionism and insular labour (not capital L) policies.
> So no. Not "seventh".

Indeed! More like sixth:

http://councillors.liverpool.gov.uk/mgElectionAreaResults.aspx?ID=300&RPID=9210160
http://councillors.liverpool.gov.uk/mgElectionResults.aspx?ID=34&RPID=9210160

But I think my point stands.

Rodney

[Rodney Ulyate]

To clarify, though, I used the expression "among parties *in* the city"
advisedly. There's a reason /The Echo/ publishes articles like this one:

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/least-scouse-scouser-time-10209979

Rodney

[mike]

On Tuesday, July 26, 2016 at 3:53:29 PM UTC+1, Rodney Ulyate wrote:
> On 2016/07/26 12:37 PM, dave.m...@gmail.com wrote:
> > While the Labour Party was a clear winner with all five seats in the >Liverpool area for the 2015 elections and a massive 70+ of the vote, the second party was clearly the Conservative Party. Combined with the third place UK Independence party, Conservative politics secured more than 17% of the vote. More-over, it is quite clear that the style of Labour preferred in union-strong Liverpool is to the right of the Labour party, focused on protectionism and insular labour (not capital L) policies.

I'm pretty sure that both the Liverpool and the Wirral voted strongly
to remain in the EU vote, not what I would call insular or protectionist.

mike

[dave.m...@gmail.com]

Well, I have to admit that you have me on the "city" definition. Obviously my figures came from the greater Liverpool region, but sure, you can define Liverpool as the half a million inner-city latte-sippers in a 43.2 sq mile area.

So yes, I agree. Inner city residents do tend to the hard left and are generally intolerant to views other than their own. But I am being unfair, clearly more than one in ten "scousers" (by your definition) now vote for a party that hates coal mining. Got that now.

mike - Brexit is a very poor example. I would have thought something straightforward like tariff and primary production subsidy policy was more relevant than a multi-issue item.

[alvey]

Because all the cricketers attended those bastions of Conservatism, private
schools? (Gvt schools not being given enough funds to support sports that
require more than a ball).



alvey

[John Hall]

In message <1nr8ioc10p2bt.m...@40tude.net>, alvey
<al...@play.com> writes

Pretty much true today, but not in the period of which Marlar was
writing, when the majority of first-class cricketers were from
working-class backgrounds. I've seen other writers say the same thing as
Marlar, but if they were correct then I don't know why things should
have been like that.

[Rodney Ulyate]

On 2016/07/27 2:47 AM, dave.m...@gmail.com wrote:
> Inner city residents do tend to the hard left and are generally intolerant to views other than their own.

I grate my molars as I read this, but I really shouldn't, because you're
not the first to mutilate the word "tolerance" in this way (although
I'll grant that it's usually leftists and liberals who do the
mutilating). One more time, then: I can "tolerate" the existence of
reactionary creeps and hysterical racists and champagne-slugging
neoliberals, but I'm free to despise and sneer at them, too, and I don't
contradict myself when I do so. I certainly shouldn't call them
"intolerant" if they did the same to me.

Rodney

[Rodney Ulyate]

On 2016/07/27 2:47 AM, dave.m...@gmail.com wrote:

> Well, I have to admit that you have me on the "city" definition. Obviously my figures came from the greater Liverpool region, but sure, you can define Liverpool as the half a million inner-city latte-sippers in a 43.2 sq mile area.

I haven't redefined "Liverpool" at all. If you care to re-read my
original post on the subject, you'll find that I've been talking about
the city from the start:

"I heard on TAW Player the other day that the Conservatives poll seventh
[sic] among parties *in the city*." (Emphasis added.)

This, I would submit, is pretty remarkable. As I also said in the OP, I
know of no parallel in any major city in the world.

Rodney

[jzfredricks]

On Wednesday, July 27, 2016 at 10:00:24 PM UTC+10, Rodney Ulyate wrote:
> On 2016/07/27 2:47 AM, dave.m...@gmail.com wrote:
> > Inner city residents do tend to the hard left and are generally intolerant to views other than their own.
>
> I grate my molars as I read this, but I really shouldn't,

He was clearly trolling.