Arthur Creech Jones
Encyclopedia
Arthur Creech Jones was a British
trade union
official and politician. Originally a civil servant, his imprisonment as a conscientious objector
during the First World War forced him to change careers. A protégé of Ernest Bevin
, he was elected to Parliament in 1935 and served in the Colonial Office in the Labour government of 1945-1950. Losing his seat in the 1950 general election, he was involved in writing and lecturing about British colonies before returning to Parliament in 1954. Initially he was known as Arthur Jones, but throughout his time in politics he invariably used his middle name.
. He went to Whitehall Boys' School and won a scholarship to study French, Mathematics and commerce for an extra year when he was 13. On leaving school in 1905 he worked in a solicitor's office and prepared for the Civil Service
Junior Clerks' Examination. Having passed the exam, Jones joined the War Office
and later worked for the Crown Agents, who acted as the London representatives of British dominions and colonies. Jones also attended evening classes to improve his education.
In his spare time, Jones was also involved with political groups; he was an active member of the Liberal Christian League, which brought him into contact with senior members of the Liberal Party
. His education about politics led him to question, and eventually drop, his membership of the Methodist
church. In 1913, Jones helped to found the Camberwell Trades and Labour Council, and later became honorary Secretary of the Dulwich
branch of the Independent Labour Party
. Jones was involved with the ILP londonwide after the outbreak of war; he had become a pacifist
and organised anti-conscription
meetings when conscription was introduced in 1916.
.
, a trade union-funded body (it did not have any formal connections with the Labour Party). Later that year he was appointed as Secretary of the National Union of Docks, Wharves, and Shipping Staffs and edited the union journal. When his union joined the Transport and General Workers' Union
in 1922, Creech Jones was promoted to be national secretary of the administrative, clerical and supervisory section. At the 1922 London County Council election, Creech Jones was one of the Labour candidates for Dulwich; he sat on the London Labour Party executive from 1921 to 1928.
Among his work for the TGWU, Creech Jones visited the Ruhr Area
to observe the effects of French
occupation in 1923 (writing a pamphlet about the issue on his return), and helped to train Clements Kadalie
of the South African Industrial and Commercial Workers' Union in how to organise a union. He wrote a pamphlet on "Trade Unionism To-day" which was published by the Workers' Educational Association
in 1928. Creech Jones was heavily involved in the Workers' Educational Association and also served as a Governor of Ruskin College, Oxford
which was funded by the trade unions.
, Creech Jones fought the constituency of Heywood and Radcliffe
as Labour Party candidate. He left his position at the TGWU after the election to be organising secretary of the Workers' Travel Association, which funded foreign trips for people employed in industry. He spent a large part of the next decade travelling, writing up his trips in the "Travel Log", the journal of the Workers' Travel Association. Having visited most countries of Europe including Nazi Germany
, Creech Jones directed a rescue of hundreds of Jews from Czechoslovakia
through the WTA after the Munich Agreement
was signed.
After the formation of the National Government
, Creech Jones at first went along with his TGWU colleague Ernest Bevin
in joining the Socialist League
. He was a leading figure in the National I.L.P. Affiliation Committee which sought to persuade the Independent Labour Party to continue its affiliation to the Labour Party, but when the fight was lost, he resigned from the ILP and joined the Labour Party directly. Initially unwilling to try for a seat in Parliament, it was reported to be his observation of events in Germany which persuaded him to change his mind and at the 1935 general election
he won the constituency of Shipley
as a Labour Party candidate; his election was helped by the Conservative vote being split between the official candidate and the sitting Member of Parliament
(MP), who had been deselected.
. In June 1936 he pressed the Government, who were encouraging Colonies to set up memorials to King George V
, to follow the example of Uganda
and set up a technical educational institution. The Labour Party nominated him to the Colonial Office's Educational Advisory Committee in 1936, on which he served for nine years. In 1937, he was a founding member of the Trades Union Congress
Colonial Affairs Committee, and in 1940 he founded the Fabian Colonial Bureau.
In 1939 Creech Jones promoted his Private Member's Bill
, the Access to Mountains Bill, to Parliament. He had long enjoyed walking
in the open countryside but found private landowners had barred the way, and the Bill required mountains and moorland to be opened. Creech Jones organised a conference with those affected the Bill at which agreement was reached on amendments to the Bill which would enable their objections to be withdrawn; this compromise enabled the Bill to pass into law.
When Ernest Bevin
was appointed Minister of Labour
in 1940, he picked Creech Jones as his Parliamentary Private Secretary
. He used his influence in the Government to improve conditions for conscientious objectors. As Chairman of the Labour Party's advisory committee on imperial issues, Creech Jones did much to formulate party policy on the colonies prior to the 1945 general election
. He was Vice Chairman of the Commission on Higher Education for West Africa which was set up in 1943, visiting the West African colonies to compile a well-received report.
, with The Times
wondering why he was not given a more senior post. He was a delegate to the first sitting of the United Nations General Assembly
in London in 1946. Creech Jones' support for eventual self-government of the colonies by all their inhabitants was unpopular with those colonies which were run by British settlers, and he had to moderate his speeches when he visited colonies such as Kenya
. He also dealt with the British mandate in Palestine
, trying to find a way of peacefully establishming the Jewish state
.
George Henry Hall
was moved in a Government reshuffle and Creech Jones was promoted to head the Department, with a seat in the Cabinet and membership of the Privy Council
. Creech Jones took over at a time when the tensions in Palestine were increasing, and he frequently appealed to moderate Jewish leaders to restrain the more violent. He was again a delegate to the United Nations during its debate on the subject, and informed the UN of the British government's determination to give up the mandate and withdraw British forces.
In September 1947, Creech Jones chaired the British West Indies conference at Montego Bay
discussing closer association and possible federation of the British colonies in the area. The conference produced a preliminary agreement on federation and dominion status. He was later forced to recall Oliver Baldwin
as Governor of the Leeward Islands
, who had made outspoken comments which local opinion had taken badly.
In Africa, Creech Jones presided over a conference at Lancaster House
for the African colonies in 1948. He was able to issue a memorandum on local government in the Colonies, which confirmed the intention to bring in responsible government. He was able to make progress in the colony of Ceylon
where he introduced a Government Bill to give the colony Dominion status and eventual independence. He thus presided over the Colonial Office's first granting of independence to a 'non-white' colony. (Independence for India
and Pakistan
a year earlier had been the responsibility of the India Office
.) Internally he reorganised the Colonial Office and its associated civil service to make it more appropriate for the changed role he foresaw for it.
, Creech Jones' constituency of Shipley was subjected to boundary changes, and he was vigorously challenged by the Conservatives. He ended up losing his seat by a narrow 81 votes to Geoffrey Hirst
, being one of the most prominent Ministerial casualties of the election. Out of Parliament he spent more time with the Fabian Colonial Bureau for whom he chaired conferences and lectured. He edited volumes of the Fabian Colonial Essays.
He also tried to get back into Parliament. When Sir Stafford Cripps
resigned his seat at Bristol South East
in the autumn of 1950, Creech Jones was the favourite to succeed him given his status and his family connections to the city. However, he lost the selection to Anthony Wedgwood Benn
. At the 1951 general election
Creech Jones stood in Romford
, but was unable to regain the constituency.
In the early 1950s Creech Jones succeeded in reconciling Seretse Khama
(who had been exiled from Bechuanaland after marrying an Englishwoman) with his uncle Tshekedi, and petitioned the government to rescind the exile order. He also led delegations to the Government from the Anti-Slavery Society
(of which he was Vice President) and the Africa Bureau. He was Chairman of the British council of Pacific Relations from 1952.
, Labour MP for Wakefield
, died. He was selected to follow him and kept the seat in a by-election. He returned to the Labour front bench, but also retained his involvement in outside work. He was appointed to the Governing body of Queen Elizabeth House, a Colonial Office-sponsored institution at Oxford University
, in March 1955.
Despite his age of nearly 70, Creech Jones was reappointed to the opposition front bench after the 1959 general election
. In 1961 he signed a letter expressing disquiet at a British application to join the European Community
and urging a Commonwealth conference to discuss the implications before formally applying. He left the front bench in 1963; although hoping to continue in Parliament, he was forced by ill health to announce his retirement in August 1964.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
trade union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
official and politician. Originally a civil servant, his imprisonment as a conscientious objector
Conscientious objector
A conscientious objector is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, and/or religion....
during the First World War forced him to change careers. A protégé of Ernest Bevin
Ernest Bevin
Ernest Bevin was a British trade union leader and Labour politician. He served as general secretary of the powerful Transport and General Workers' Union from 1922 to 1945, as Minister of Labour in the war-time coalition government, and as Foreign Secretary in the post-war Labour Government.-Early...
, he was elected to Parliament in 1935 and served in the Colonial Office in the Labour government of 1945-1950. Losing his seat in the 1950 general election, he was involved in writing and lecturing about British colonies before returning to Parliament in 1954. Initially he was known as Arthur Jones, but throughout his time in politics he invariably used his middle name.
Early life
Jones was the son of a lithographic printer from BristolBristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
. He went to Whitehall Boys' School and won a scholarship to study French, Mathematics and commerce for an extra year when he was 13. On leaving school in 1905 he worked in a solicitor's office and prepared for the Civil Service
British Civil Service
Her Majesty's Home Civil Service, also known as the Home Civil Service, is the permanent bureaucracy of Crown employees that supports Her Majesty's Government - the government of the United Kingdom, composed of a Cabinet of ministers chosen by the prime minister, as well as the devolved...
Junior Clerks' Examination. Having passed the exam, Jones joined the War Office
War Office
The War Office was a department of the British Government, responsible for the administration of the British Army between the 17th century and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the Ministry of Defence...
and later worked for the Crown Agents, who acted as the London representatives of British dominions and colonies. Jones also attended evening classes to improve his education.
In his spare time, Jones was also involved with political groups; he was an active member of the Liberal Christian League, which brought him into contact with senior members of the Liberal Party
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
. His education about politics led him to question, and eventually drop, his membership of the Methodist
Methodism
Methodism is a movement of Protestant Christianity represented by a number of denominations and organizations, claiming a total of approximately seventy million adherents worldwide. The movement traces its roots to John Wesley's evangelistic revival movement within Anglicanism. His younger brother...
church. In 1913, Jones helped to found the Camberwell Trades and Labour Council, and later became honorary Secretary of the Dulwich
Dulwich (UK Parliament constituency)
Dulwich was a borough constituency in the Dulwich area of South London, which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom....
branch of the Independent Labour Party
Independent Labour Party
The Independent Labour Party was a socialist political party in Britain established in 1893. The ILP was affiliated to the Labour Party from 1906 to 1932, when it voted to leave...
. Jones was involved with the ILP londonwide after the outbreak of war; he had become a pacifist
Pacifism
Pacifism is the opposition to war and violence. The term "pacifism" was coined by the French peace campaignerÉmile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress inGlasgow in 1901.- Definition :...
and organised anti-conscription
Conscription
Conscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of national service, most often military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present day under various names...
meetings when conscription was introduced in 1916.
Imprisonment
Jones was called up that autumn but refused to participate in any way. As a result he was not granted an exemption from military service and was sent to prison from September 1916, and was not released until April 1919. He used his imprisonment as an opportunity to read further on history, politics and economics; he also made useful contacts in prison with figures who would later become senior in the Labour PartyLabour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
.
Trade unionist
On leaving prison Creech Jones was unable to resume a civil service career, and instead did research on prisons for the Labour Research DepartmentLabour Research Department
The Labour Research Department is an independent trade union based research organisation, based in London, that provides information to support trade union activity and campaigns. LRD's publications Labour Research, Bargaining Report, Fact Service and LRD Booklets, along with an Enquiry Service...
, a trade union-funded body (it did not have any formal connections with the Labour Party). Later that year he was appointed as Secretary of the National Union of Docks, Wharves, and Shipping Staffs and edited the union journal. When his union joined the Transport and General Workers' Union
Transport and General Workers' Union
The Transport and General Workers' Union, also known as the TGWU and the T&G, was one of the largest general trade unions in the United Kingdom and Ireland - where it was known as the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers' Union - with 900,000 members...
in 1922, Creech Jones was promoted to be national secretary of the administrative, clerical and supervisory section. At the 1922 London County Council election, Creech Jones was one of the Labour candidates for Dulwich; he sat on the London Labour Party executive from 1921 to 1928.
Among his work for the TGWU, Creech Jones visited the Ruhr Area
Ruhr Area
The Ruhr, by German-speaking geographers and historians more accurately called Ruhr district or Ruhr region , is an urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With 4435 km² and a population of some 5.2 million , it is the largest urban agglomeration in Germany...
to observe the effects of French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
occupation in 1923 (writing a pamphlet about the issue on his return), and helped to train Clements Kadalie
Clements Kadalie
Clements Kadalie was South Africa's first black national trade union leader.- Life :Clements Kadalie was born in April 1896 in Nkhata Bay District at Chifira village near the Bandawe mission station in Nyasaland, presently Malawi. He was the second born son of Mr. and Mrs. Musa Kadalie Muwamba. He...
of the South African Industrial and Commercial Workers' Union in how to organise a union. He wrote a pamphlet on "Trade Unionism To-day" which was published by the Workers' Educational Association
Workers' Educational Association
The Workers’ Educational Association seeks to provide access to education and lifelong learning for adults from all backgrounds, and in particular those who have previously missed out on education. The International Federation of Workers Education Associations has consultative status to UNESCO...
in 1928. Creech Jones was heavily involved in the Workers' Educational Association and also served as a Governor of Ruskin College, Oxford
Ruskin College, Oxford
Ruskin College is an independent educational institution in Oxford, England. It is named after the essayist and social critic John Ruskin and specialises in providing educational opportunities for adults with few or no qualifications...
which was funded by the trade unions.
Travelling
At the 1929 general electionUnited Kingdom general election, 1929
-Seats summary:-References:*F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987*-External links:***...
, Creech Jones fought the constituency of Heywood and Radcliffe
Heywood and Radcliffe (UK Parliament constituency)
Heywood and Radcliffe was a county constituency centred on the towns of Heywood and Radcliffe in South Lancashire. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post system.-History:Under the Representation of...
as Labour Party candidate. He left his position at the TGWU after the election to be organising secretary of the Workers' Travel Association, which funded foreign trips for people employed in industry. He spent a large part of the next decade travelling, writing up his trips in the "Travel Log", the journal of the Workers' Travel Association. Having visited most countries of Europe including Nazi Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, Creech Jones directed a rescue of hundreds of Jews from Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
through the WTA after the Munich Agreement
Munich Agreement
The Munich Pact was an agreement permitting the Nazi German annexation of Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland. The Sudetenland were areas along Czech borders, mainly inhabited by ethnic Germans. The agreement was negotiated at a conference held in Munich, Germany, among the major powers of Europe without...
was signed.
After the formation of the National Government
First National Ministry
See also First National Government 1931The First National Ministry was a coalition government formed in the United Kingdom, following the collapse of the Second MacDonald Labour Ministry in 1931.-Formation:...
, Creech Jones at first went along with his TGWU colleague Ernest Bevin
Ernest Bevin
Ernest Bevin was a British trade union leader and Labour politician. He served as general secretary of the powerful Transport and General Workers' Union from 1922 to 1945, as Minister of Labour in the war-time coalition government, and as Foreign Secretary in the post-war Labour Government.-Early...
in joining the Socialist League
Socialist League (UK, 1932)
The Socialist League was a socialist organisation in the United Kingdom.It formed in the 1932 as a split from the Independent Labour Party, opposed to that organisation disaffiliating from the Labour Party. It was led by Stafford Cripps. The League argued for drastic action to be taken by a future...
. He was a leading figure in the National I.L.P. Affiliation Committee which sought to persuade the Independent Labour Party to continue its affiliation to the Labour Party, but when the fight was lost, he resigned from the ILP and joined the Labour Party directly. Initially unwilling to try for a seat in Parliament, it was reported to be his observation of events in Germany which persuaded him to change his mind and at the 1935 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1935
The United Kingdom general election held on 14 November 1935 resulted in a large, though reduced, majority for the National Government now led by Conservative Stanley Baldwin. The greatest number of MPs, as before, were Conservative, while the National Liberal vote held steady...
he won the constituency of Shipley
Shipley (UK Parliament constituency)
-Elections in the 2000s:-Elections in the 1990s:-Elections in the 1980s:-Elections in the 1970s:-Elections in the 1910s:...
as a Labour Party candidate; his election was helped by the Conservative vote being split between the official candidate and the sitting Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
(MP), who had been deselected.
Member of Parliament
Creech Jones specialised in Colonial affairs in Parliament, especially those in AfricaAfrica
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
. In June 1936 he pressed the Government, who were encouraging Colonies to set up memorials to King George V
George V of the United Kingdom
George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....
, to follow the example of Uganda
Uganda
Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...
and set up a technical educational institution. The Labour Party nominated him to the Colonial Office's Educational Advisory Committee in 1936, on which he served for nine years. In 1937, he was a founding member of the Trades Union Congress
Trades Union Congress
The Trades Union Congress is a national trade union centre, a federation of trade unions in the United Kingdom, representing the majority of trade unions...
Colonial Affairs Committee, and in 1940 he founded the Fabian Colonial Bureau.
In 1939 Creech Jones promoted his Private Member's Bill
Private Member's Bill
A member of parliament’s legislative motion, called a private member's bill or a member's bill in some parliaments, is a proposed law introduced by a member of a legislature. In most countries with a parliamentary system, most bills are proposed by the government, not by individual members of the...
, the Access to Mountains Bill, to Parliament. He had long enjoyed walking
Walking
Walking is one of the main gaits of locomotion among legged animals, and is typically slower than running and other gaits. Walking is defined by an 'inverted pendulum' gait in which the body vaults over the stiff limb or limbs with each step...
in the open countryside but found private landowners had barred the way, and the Bill required mountains and moorland to be opened. Creech Jones organised a conference with those affected the Bill at which agreement was reached on amendments to the Bill which would enable their objections to be withdrawn; this compromise enabled the Bill to pass into law.
When Ernest Bevin
Ernest Bevin
Ernest Bevin was a British trade union leader and Labour politician. He served as general secretary of the powerful Transport and General Workers' Union from 1922 to 1945, as Minister of Labour in the war-time coalition government, and as Foreign Secretary in the post-war Labour Government.-Early...
was appointed Minister of Labour
Secretary of State for Employment
The Secretary of State for Employment was a position in the Cabinet of the United Kingdom. In 1995 it was merged with Secretary of State for Education to make the Secretary of State for Education and Employment...
in 1940, he picked Creech Jones as his Parliamentary Private Secretary
Parliamentary Private Secretary
A Parliamentary Private Secretary is a role given to a United Kingdom Member of Parliament by a senior minister in government or shadow minister to act as their contact for the House of Commons; this role is junior to that of Parliamentary Under-Secretary, which is a ministerial post, salaried by...
. He used his influence in the Government to improve conditions for conscientious objectors. As Chairman of the Labour Party's advisory committee on imperial issues, Creech Jones did much to formulate party policy on the colonies prior to the 1945 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1945
The United Kingdom general election of 1945 was a general election held on 5 July 1945, with polls in some constituencies delayed until 12 July and in Nelson and Colne until 19 July, due to local wakes weeks. The results were counted and declared on 26 July, due in part to the time it took to...
. He was Vice Chairman of the Commission on Higher Education for West Africa which was set up in 1943, visiting the West African colonies to compile a well-received report.
Attlee government
After the Labour Party won the 1945 election, Creech Jones was appointed as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Colonial OfficeUnder-Secretary of State for the Colonies
The Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies was a junior Ministerial post in the United Kingdom government, subordinate to the Secretary of State for the Colonies and, from 1948, also to a Minister of State....
, with The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
wondering why he was not given a more senior post. He was a delegate to the first sitting of the United Nations General Assembly
United Nations General Assembly
For two articles dealing with membership in the General Assembly, see:* General Assembly members* General Assembly observersThe United Nations General Assembly is one of the five principal organs of the United Nations and the only one in which all member nations have equal representation...
in London in 1946. Creech Jones' support for eventual self-government of the colonies by all their inhabitants was unpopular with those colonies which were run by British settlers, and he had to moderate his speeches when he visited colonies such as Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
. He also dealt with the British mandate in Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
, trying to find a way of peacefully establishming the Jewish state
Jewish state
A homeland for the Jewish people was an idea that rose to the fore in the 19th century in the wake of growing anti-Semitism and Jewish assimilation. Jewish emancipation in Europe paved the way for two ideological solutions to the Jewish Question: cultural assimilation, as envisaged by Moses...
.
Colonial Secretary
In October 1946, the Secretary of State for the ColoniesSecretary of State for the Colonies
The Secretary of State for the Colonies or Colonial Secretary was the British Cabinet minister in charge of managing the United Kingdom's various colonial dependencies....
George Henry Hall
George Henry Hall
George Henry Hall, 1st Viscount Hall PC was a British Labour politician. He served Secretary of State for the Colonies between 1945 and 1946 and as First Lord of the Admiralty between 1946 and 1951.-Background:...
was moved in a Government reshuffle and Creech Jones was promoted to head the Department, with a seat in the Cabinet and membership of the Privy Council
Privy Council of the United Kingdom
Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, usually known simply as the Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the Sovereign in the United Kingdom...
. Creech Jones took over at a time when the tensions in Palestine were increasing, and he frequently appealed to moderate Jewish leaders to restrain the more violent. He was again a delegate to the United Nations during its debate on the subject, and informed the UN of the British government's determination to give up the mandate and withdraw British forces.
In September 1947, Creech Jones chaired the British West Indies conference at Montego Bay
Montego Bay
Montego Bay is the capital of St. James Parish and the second largest city in Jamaica by area and the fourth by population .It is a tourist destination with duty free shopping, cruise line terminal and the beaches...
discussing closer association and possible federation of the British colonies in the area. The conference produced a preliminary agreement on federation and dominion status. He was later forced to recall Oliver Baldwin
Oliver Baldwin, 2nd Earl Baldwin of Bewdley
Oliver Ridsdale Baldwin, 2nd Earl Baldwin of Bewdley , known as Viscount Corvedale from 1937 to 1947, was a British politician who had a quixotic career at political odds to his father, three-time Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin.Baldwin was educated at Eton College, and grew up in the shadow of his...
as Governor of the Leeward Islands
Leeward Islands
The Leeward Islands are a group of islands in the West Indies. They are the northern islands of the Lesser Antilles chain. As a group they start east of Puerto Rico and reach southward to Dominica. They are situated where the northeastern Caribbean Sea meets the western Atlantic Ocean...
, who had made outspoken comments which local opinion had taken badly.
In Africa, Creech Jones presided over a conference at Lancaster House
Lancaster House
Lancaster House is a mansion in the St. James's district in the West End of London. It is close to St. James's Palace and much of the site was once part of the palace complex...
for the African colonies in 1948. He was able to issue a memorandum on local government in the Colonies, which confirmed the intention to bring in responsible government. He was able to make progress in the colony of Ceylon
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
where he introduced a Government Bill to give the colony Dominion status and eventual independence. He thus presided over the Colonial Office's first granting of independence to a 'non-white' colony. (Independence for India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
a year earlier had been the responsibility of the India Office
India Office
The India Office was a British government department created in 1858 to oversee the colonial administration of India, i.e. the modern-day nations of Bangladesh, Burma, India, and Pakistan, as well as territories in South-east and Central Asia, the Middle East, and parts of the east coast of Africa...
.) Internally he reorganised the Colonial Office and its associated civil service to make it more appropriate for the changed role he foresaw for it.
Defeat
At the 1950 general electionUnited Kingdom general election, 1950
The 1950 United Kingdom general election was the first general election ever after a full term of a Labour government. Despite polling over one and a half million votes more than the Conservatives, the election, held on 23 February 1950 resulted in Labour receiving a slim majority of just five...
, Creech Jones' constituency of Shipley was subjected to boundary changes, and he was vigorously challenged by the Conservatives. He ended up losing his seat by a narrow 81 votes to Geoffrey Hirst
Geoffrey Hirst
Geoffrey Audus Nicholson Hirst TD was a British industrialist and politician who was a maverick Conservative Member of Parliament.-Early career:...
, being one of the most prominent Ministerial casualties of the election. Out of Parliament he spent more time with the Fabian Colonial Bureau for whom he chaired conferences and lectured. He edited volumes of the Fabian Colonial Essays.
He also tried to get back into Parliament. When Sir Stafford Cripps
Stafford Cripps
Sir Richard Stafford Cripps was a British Labour politician of the first half of the 20th century. During World War II he served in a number of positions in the wartime coalition, including Ambassador to the Soviet Union and Minister of Aircraft Production...
resigned his seat at Bristol South East
Bristol South East (UK Parliament constituency)
Bristol South East was a borough constituency in the city of Bristol. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom by the first past the post system of election....
in the autumn of 1950, Creech Jones was the favourite to succeed him given his status and his family connections to the city. However, he lost the selection to Anthony Wedgwood Benn
Tony Benn
Anthony Neil Wedgwood "Tony" Benn, PC is a British Labour Party politician and a former MP and Cabinet Minister.His successful campaign to renounce his hereditary peerage was instrumental in the creation of the Peerage Act 1963...
. At the 1951 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1951
The 1951 United Kingdom general election was held eighteen months after the 1950 general election, which the Labour Party had won with a slim majority of just five seats...
Creech Jones stood in Romford
Romford (UK Parliament constituency)
Romford is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.- Boundaries :...
, but was unable to regain the constituency.
In the early 1950s Creech Jones succeeded in reconciling Seretse Khama
Seretse Khama
Sir Seretse Khama, KBE was a statesman from Botswana. Born into one of the more powerful of the royal families of what was then the British Protectorate of Bechuanaland, and educated abroad in neighbouring South Africa and in the United Kingdom, he returned home—with a popular but controversial...
(who had been exiled from Bechuanaland after marrying an Englishwoman) with his uncle Tshekedi, and petitioned the government to rescind the exile order. He also led delegations to the Government from the Anti-Slavery Society
Anti-Slavery Society
The Anti-Slavery Society or A.S.S. was the everyday name of two different British organizations.The first was founded in 1823 and was committed to the abolition of slavery in the British Empire. Its official name was the Society for the Mitigation and Gradual Abolition of Slavery Throughout the...
(of which he was Vice President) and the Africa Bureau. He was Chairman of the British council of Pacific Relations from 1952.
Wakefield MP
Creech Jones' opportunity to return to Parliament came in 1954 when Arthur GreenwoodArthur Greenwood
Arthur Greenwood CH was a prominent member of the Labour Party from the 1920s until the late 1940s. He rose to prominence within the party as secretary of its research department from 1920 and served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Health in the short-lived Labour government of 1924...
, Labour MP for Wakefield
Wakefield (UK Parliament constituency)
Wakefield is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.-Boundaries:...
, died. He was selected to follow him and kept the seat in a by-election. He returned to the Labour front bench, but also retained his involvement in outside work. He was appointed to the Governing body of Queen Elizabeth House, a Colonial Office-sponsored institution at Oxford University
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
, in March 1955.
Despite his age of nearly 70, Creech Jones was reappointed to the opposition front bench after the 1959 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1959
This United Kingdom general election was held on 8 October 1959. It marked a third successive victory for the ruling Conservative Party, led by Harold Macmillan...
. In 1961 he signed a letter expressing disquiet at a British application to join the European Community
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
and urging a Commonwealth conference to discuss the implications before formally applying. He left the front bench in 1963; although hoping to continue in Parliament, he was forced by ill health to announce his retirement in August 1964.
Sources
- "Arthur Creech Jones" in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
- "Who Was Who", A & C Black
- M. Stenton and S. Lees, "Who's Who of British MPs" Vol. IV (Harvester Press), 1981