Joseph Binns, CBE was a British 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...

 politician.

Binns was the son of Alderman

Alderman

An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members themselves rather than by popular vote, or a council...

 Joseph Binns, who later became Lord Mayor of Manchester. He was educated at elementary school

Elementary school

An elementary school or primary school is an institution where children receive the first stage of compulsory education known as elementary or primary education. Elementary school is the preferred term in some countries, particularly those in North America, where the terms grade school and grammar...

s and at Manchester College of Technology, and became a consulting engineer, working for ICI

Imperial Chemical Industries

Imperial Chemical Industries was a British chemical company, taken over by AkzoNobel, a Dutch conglomerate, one of the largest chemical producers in the world. In its heyday, ICI was the largest manufacturing company in the British Empire, and commonly regarded as a "bellwether of the British...

.

He was a member of Greenwich Borough Council

Metropolitan Borough of Greenwich

The Metropolitan Borough of Greenwich was a Metropolitan borough in the County of London between 1900 and 1965. Within the area of the borough were the Royal Naval College , the Royal Observatory and Greenwich Park. It bordered the boroughs of Woolwich, Deptford, Lewisham...

 from 1932 to 1949, and was Chairman of the Joint Standing Committee of the Metropolitan Boroughs

Metropolitan boroughs of the County of London

The term metropolitan borough was used from 1900 to 1965, for the subdivisions of the County of London created by the London Government Act 1899....

 from 1945 to 1949. At 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 elected as the 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) for Gillingham

Gillingham (UK Parliament constituency)

Gillingham was a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.-Boundaries:...

 in Kent

Kent

Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...

. He was 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...

 to the Minister of Supply

Minister of Supply

The Minister of Supply was the minister in the British Government responsible for the Ministry of Supply, which existed to co-ordinate the supply of equipment to the national armed forces...

, John Wilmot

John Wilmot

John Wilmot may refer to:* John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester , English libertine, friend of King Charles II, and writer of satirical and bawdy poetry...

, from 1946 to 1947. He was defeated at the 1950 general election

United 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...

, after catching influenza during the campaign, and was never returned to the House of Commons.

Binns was appointed as a Commissioner of the Public Works Loan Board

Public Works Loan Board

The Public Works Loan Board was established in 1793 to provide loans to public bodies from the National Loans Fund. It today provides loans to local authorities of all types in Great Britain, primarily for capital projects, but also as a lender of last resort.The members of the PWLB are known as...

 in 1948, a role held until 1972, becoming Deputy Chairman of the board in 1958 and Chairman in 1970. He was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the New Years Honours 1961.

Family

Binns married Daisy Graham in 1924, and they had three sons: Graham, Joseph, and Christopher. Graham Binns (1925–2003) was a broadcaster and arts campaigner who served for five years as chairman of the British Committee for the Restitution of the Parthenon Marbles. Another son, Joseph Binns (born 1931), was a Labour Party councillor in Greenwich who stood unsuccessfully for Parliament on three occasions: as a Labour candidate in Bromley

Bromley (UK Parliament constituency)

Bromley is a former borough constituency in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election. Its best-known MP was Harold Macmillan ....

 at the 1964 general election

United Kingdom general election, 1964

The United Kingdom general election of 1964 was held on 15 October 1964, more than five years after the preceding election, and thirteen years after the Conservative Party had retaken power...

 and in his father's old constituency of Gillingham in 1966

United Kingdom general election, 1966

The 1966 United Kingdom general election on 31 March 1966 was called by sitting Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson. Wilson's decision to call an election turned on the fact that his government, elected a mere 17 months previously in 1964 had an unworkably small majority of only 4 MPs...

, and as a Social Democratic Party

Social Democratic Party (UK)

The Social Democratic Party was a political party in the United Kingdom that was created on 26 March 1981 and existed until 1988. It was founded by four senior Labour Party 'moderates', dubbed the 'Gang of Four': Roy Jenkins, David Owen, Bill Rodgers and Shirley Williams...

 (SDP) candidate in Birmingham Edgbaston at the 1983 general election

United Kingdom general election, 1983

The 1983 United Kingdom general election was held on 9 June 1983. It gave the Conservative Party under Margaret Thatcher the most decisive election victory since that of Labour in 1945...

.

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