Cambridge University Labour Club
Encyclopedia
| Founded | 1905 / 1934 | ||
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| Home Page | www.cambridgeuniversitylabour.co.uk | ||
Honorary offices |
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| President | Andy Burnham MP | ||
| Vice-President | Alastair Campbell | ||
| Vice-President | Baroness Patricia Scotland | ||
Current executive offices |
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| Chair | Richard Johnson, Jesus Jesus College, Cambridge Jesus College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.The College was founded in 1496 on the site of a Benedictine nunnery by John Alcock, then Bishop of Ely... |
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| Vice-Chair | Nicola Bartlett, Homerton Homerton College, Cambridge Homerton College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England.With around 1,200 students, Homerton has more students than any other Cambridge college, although less than half of these live in the college. The college has a long and complex history dating back to the... |
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| Secretary | Martha Morey, Fitzwilliam Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge Fitzwilliam College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Cambridge in England.The college traces its origins back to 1869 and the foundation of the Non-Collegiate Students Board, a venture intended to offer students from less financially privileged backgrounds a chance to study... |
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| Treasurer | Tom Conway, Trinity Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Trinity has more members than any other college in Cambridge or Oxford, with around 700 undergraduates, 430 graduates, and over 170 Fellows... |
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| Campaigns and CLP Liaison Officer | Tom Moule, Girton Girton College, Cambridge Girton College is one of the 31 constituent colleges of the University of Cambridge. It was England's first residential women's college, established in 1869 by Emily Davies and Barbara Bodichon. The full college status was only received in 1948 and marked the official admittance of women to the... |
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| Women's Officer | Amy Lonton-Rawsthorne, St. John's | ||
| Publicity Officer | Vacant | ||
| Socials Officer | Peter Haysom, Clare Clare College, Cambridge Clare College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England.The college was founded in 1326, making it the second-oldest surviving college of the University after Peterhouse. Clare is famous for its chapel choir and for its gardens on "the Backs"... |
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| Membership Development Officer | Ashley Walsh, Downing Downing College, Cambridge Downing College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1800 and currently has around 650 students.- History :... |
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| IT Officer | Will Day, Downing Downing College, Cambridge Downing College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1800 and currently has around 650 students.- History :... |
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The Cambridge Universities Labour Club (CULC) is a political society whose predecessor was first set up in 1905, which now seeks to unite socialist and social democratic students at Cambridge University
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
with the Labour Party
Labour 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...
by propagating "the values of Clause 4 of the Labour Party’s constitution, to the effect that we are a "democratic socialist party" that "believes that by the strength of our common endeavour we achieve more than we achieve alone…". Today its membership also includes students from Anglia Ruskin University. Its varied past has seen it go through several disaffiliations, including periods in the 1960s and 1970s when it was under the influence of the Militant Tendency
Militant Tendency
The Militant tendency was an entrist group within the British Labour Party based around the Militant newspaper that was first published in 1964...
and disaffiliated with the national Labour Party. It is currently a part of the Labour Party again, and Labour Students
Labour Students
Labour Students is a student organisation affiliated to the British Labour Party.Membership comprises affiliated college and university clubs . Membership of Labour Students is through membership of a university or college Labour Club. Affiliation is open to any Labour Club generally supportive of...
.
The club runs speaker meetings, campaign sessions with the local Labour Party, and other social events each term. It also runs its own campaigns on issues such as a Living Wage for employees of Cambridge University and in support of ethical investment by Cambridge Colleges. The club also offers its members trips to the Houses of Parliament and Downing Street
Downing Street
Downing Street in London, England has for over two hundred years housed the official residences of two of the most senior British cabinet ministers: the First Lord of the Treasury, an office now synonymous with that of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and the Second Lord of the Treasury, an...
.
History
According to Cyril BibbyCyril Bibby
Cyril Bibby was a biologist and educator. He was also one of the first sexologists.-Early life, family, etc. :...
's biography (p.170), the Cambridge University Labour Club was founded in Easter Term 1934 "by a group of us who were disconcerted with the manner in which the communists had come to dominate the C.U. Socialist Society." Bibby says that he was the inaugural Junior Treasurer, while Lionel Elvin
Lionel Elvin
Herbert Lionel Elvin was an eminent educationist .Elvin was the son of Herbert Henry Elvin, General Secretary of the National Union of Clerks, and brother of George, who became General Secretary of the Association of Cinematograph Television and Allied Technicians.He studied at Southend High...
was the university-required 'Senior Treasurer'.
CULC has gone through several name changes. The society it began as an offshoot of was founded as the Cambridge University Fabian Society in 1905, and then changed its name in June 1915 to Cambridge University Socialist Society (which retained a separate Fabian Society within it), dedicated to "complete political and industrial democracy... [and] supersession of the capitalist system". It then changed its name to Cambridge University Labour Club in 1920, before reverting to being the C.U. Socialist Society at the end of the decade.
CULC has at various times since gone under the names Cambridge University Socialist Club, Cambridge Organisation of Labour Students, and then simply Cambridge Labour. It readopted the name Cambridge University Labour Club at the end of the 1990s and changed to its current name in 2007. The acronym CULC had historically belonged to the Cambridge University Liberal Club
Cambridge Student Liberal Democrats
Cambridge Student Liberal Democrats is the student branch of the Liberal Democrats for students at both Cambridge University and the Anglia Ruskin University campus in Cambridge...
, before they became the Cambridge Student Liberal Democrats
Cambridge Student Liberal Democrats
Cambridge Student Liberal Democrats is the student branch of the Liberal Democrats for students at both Cambridge University and the Anglia Ruskin University campus in Cambridge...
in 1988, and the acronym is still shared to this day with the Cambridge University Lacrosse Club.
The Club was most influential from the 1930s to the 1970s, when left-leaning schools of thought in British academia were centred at Cambridge, in areas such as Keynesian economics
Keynesian economics
Keynesian economics is a school of macroeconomic thought based on the ideas of 20th-century English economist John Maynard Keynes.Keynesian economics argues that private sector decisions sometimes lead to inefficient macroeconomic outcomes and, therefore, advocates active policy responses by the...
and Marxist historiography
Marxist historiography
Marxist or historical materialist historiography is a school of historiography influenced by Marxism. The chief tenets of Marxist historiography are the centrality of social class and economic constraints in determining historical outcomes....
, resulting in numerous influential Cambridge Fellows
Fellows
Fellows or Fellowes is a surname and may refer to:People* Ailwyn Fellowes, 1st Baron Ailwyn , British businessman, farmer and politician* Carol Fellowes, 4th Baron Ailwyn , British peer...
and their students being members.
Also active until at least the 1960s was 'SocSoc' or the Cambridge University Socialist Society.
Recent News
On 4 November 2010, former CULC Chair and member of Jesus College, George Owers, was elected to become the Labour councillor for Coleridge ward on Cambridge City Council following the resignation of the single remaining Conservative councillor in Cambridge. Owers' victory means that all of the councillors in Coleridge are now members of the City Council Labour group. Owers won with 44% of the vote, a considerable improvement on Labour's previous performances in the ward.Alumni
As a society, CULC has produced such notable alumni as:- Diane AbbottDiane AbbottDiane Julie Abbott is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Hackney North and Stoke Newington since 1987, when she became the first black woman to be elected to the House of Commons...
, MP - Clifford AllenClifford Allen, 1st Baron Allen of HurtwoodReginald Clifford Allen, 1st Baron Allen of Hurtwood , known as Clifford Allen, was a British politician and prominent pacifist.-Career:...
, CU Fabian Society Chairman 1910, Labour peer - Brian BarderBrian BarderSir Brian Leon Barder, KCMG is a retired British diplomat; and subsequently blogger and civil liberties advocate.-Life and career:Brian Barder was born in Bristol, the son of Harry and Vivien Barder...
, former Diplomat - Clive BettsClive BettsClive James Charles Betts is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Sheffield Attercliffe from 1992 to 2010, when he became Member of Parliament for Sheffield South East.- Early life :...
, MP - Cyril BibbyCyril BibbyCyril Bibby was a biologist and educator. He was also one of the first sexologists.-Early life, family, etc. :...
- Rupert BrookeRupert BrookeRupert Chawner Brooke was an English poet known for his idealistic war sonnets written during the First World War, especially The Soldier...
, CU Fabian Society President 1909, poet - Andy BurnhamAndrew BurnhamAndrew Murray Burnham is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Leigh since 2001. He served in the Cabinet under Gordon Brown from 2007 to 2010 as Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Culture Secretary and Health Secretary. He was a candidate in the 2010 Labour...
, MP, Secretary of State for HealthSecretary of State for HealthSecretary of State for Health is a UK cabinet position responsible for the Department of Health.The first Boards of Health were created by Orders in Council dated 21 June, 14 November, and 21 November 1831. In 1848 a General Board of Health was created with the First Commissioner of Woods and... - Anne CampbellAnne CampbellAnne Campbell is an English Labour Party politician. She was the Member of Parliament for Cambridge from 1992 to 2005.-Early life:She went to Newnham College, Cambridge, taking the Maths Tripos, and gaining an MA in 1965....
, MP - Charles ClarkeCharles ClarkeCharles Rodway Clarke is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Norwich South from 1997 until 2010, and served as Home Secretary from December 2004 until May 2006.-Early life:...
, former MP and Home Secretary; elected President of the Cambridge Students' UnionCambridge University Students' UnionCambridge University Students' Union is the university-wide representative body for students at the University of Cambridge, England...
on a Labour party slate. - F. M. CornfordF. M. CornfordFrancis Macdonald Cornford was an English classical scholar and poet.He was educated at St Paul's School and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was a Fellow from 1899 and held a university teaching post from 1902...
, CU Fabian Society committee member 1910, classical scholar - Hugh DaltonHugh DaltonEdward Hugh John Neale Dalton, Baron Dalton PC was a British Labour Party politician who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1945 to 1947, when he was implicated in a political scandal involving budget leaks....
, CU Fabian Society President 1908, MP, Chancellor of the Exchequer - Professor Lord Eatwell, former special advisor to Neil Kinnock and President of Queen College Cambridge
- Charles Falconer, Lord Chancellor and QC
- Andrew GilliganAndrew GilliganAndrew Paul Gilligan is a British journalist best known for a 2003 report on BBC Radio 4's The Today Programme in which he said a British government briefing paper on Iraq and weapons of mass destruction had been 'sexed up', a claim that ultimately led to a public inquiry that criticised Gilligan...
, journalist - David HardmanDavid HardmanDavid Rennie Hardman was a British Labour Party politician.He unsuccessfully contested Cambridge at the 1929 general election....
, first Labour President of the Cambridge UnionCambridge Union SocietyThe Cambridge Union Society, commonly referred to as simply "the Cambridge Union" or "the Union," is a debating society in Cambridge, England and is the largest society at the University of Cambridge. Since its founding in 1815, the Union has developed a worldwide reputation as a noted symbol of...
in 1925, MP - Patricia HewittPatricia HewittPatricia Hope Hewitt is an Australian-born British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Leicester West from 1997 until 2010. She served in the Cabinet until 2007, most recently as Health Secretary....
, MP, former Secretary of State for Health - Geoff HoonGeoff HoonGeoffrey "Geoff" William Hoon is a British politician who served as the Member of Parliament for Ashfield from 1992 to 2010...
, MP, Secretary of State for DefenceSecretary of State for DefenceThe Secretary of State for Defence, popularly known as the Defence Secretary, is the senior Government of the United Kingdom minister in charge of the Ministry of Defence, chairing the Defence Council. It is a Cabinet position... - Tristram HuntTristram HuntTristram Julian William Hunt, FRHistS MP is a British politician, historian, broadcaster and newspaper columnist, who is currently the Member of Parliament for Stoke-on-Trent Central. He also teaches and lectures on Modern British History at Queen Mary, University of London in Mile End, East London...
, MP, historian - Derry Irvine, Lord Chancellor
- Greville JannerGreville JannerGreville Ewan Janner, Baron Janner of Braunstone is a British Labour politician, lawyer and author. A QC since 1971, he was a Labour MP from 1970 to 1997...
, CULC President 1950, MP and President of the Board of Deputies of British JewsBoard of Deputies of British JewsThe Board of Deputies of British Jews is the main representative body of British Jews. Founded in 1760 as a joint committee of the Sephardi and Ashkenazi Jewish communities in London, it has since become a widely recognised forum for the views of the different sectors of the UK Jewish... - Andrew MarrAndrew MarrAndrew William Stevenson Marr is a Scottish journalist and political commentator. He edited The Independent for two years until May 1998, and was political editor of BBC News from 2000 until 2005....
, journalist - Damian McBrideDamian McBrideDamian McBride is a former civil servant and former special advisor to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. McBride began his civil service career at HM Customs and Excise...
, former Special Advisor to Gordon Brown - famous for "smeargate". - Vernon Henry Mottram, CU Fabian Society founding President 1905, physiologist and nutritionist
- Francis Noel-BakerFrancis Noel-BakerFrancis Edward Noel-Baker was a British Labour Party politician. His father was Labour MP and Nobel Peace Prize-winner Philip Noel-Baker....
, MP - Amber ReevesAmber ReevesAmber Blanco White [née Amber Reeves] was a British feminist writer and scholar.-Early life:Reeves was born in Christchurch, New Zealand,the eldest of three children...
, CU Fabian Society committee member 1907, feminist writer - Peter ShorePeter ShorePeter David Shore, Baron Shore of Stepney PC was a British Labour politician and former Cabinet Minister, noted in part for his opposition to the United Kingdom's entry into the European Economic Community. His idiosyncratic left-wing nationalism led to comparison with the French politician...
, CULC Chairman, MP and cabinet minister - Chris SmithChris Smith, Baron Smith of FinsburyChristopher "Chris" Robert Smith, Baron Smith of Finsbury PC is a British Labour Party politician, and a former Member of Parliament and Cabinet Minister...
MP, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and SportSecretary of State for Culture, Media and SportThe Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport is a United Kingdom cabinet position with responsibility for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. The role was created in 1992 by John Major as Secretary of State for National Heritage... - J.C. Squire, CU Fabian Society founding committee member 1905, poet, writer, historian
It has been reported that when the young Prince Charles was a student at Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Trinity has more members than any other college in Cambridge or Oxford, with around 700 undergraduates, 430 graduates, and over 170 Fellows...
in the 1960s, he attempted to join the Labour Club, but was warned against doing so by the Master of Trinity, former Conservative politician R.A. Butler.
Criticisms
The Cambridge Universities Labour Club is a broad church, independent from, but affiliated to the National Labour Party. It has caused controversy at times by making criticisms of the Cambridge University Conservative AssociationCambridge University Conservative Association
The Cambridge University Conservative Association is a long-established political society going back to 1921, with roots in the late nineteenth century, as a Conservative branch for students at Cambridge University in England...
(CUCA)and Cambridge University for being excessively elitist and dedicated to preserving the image of antiquated class distinctions. CUCA has responded denying these claims, arguing that CULC has misconceived CUCA