Reginald Moss (UK politician)
Encyclopedia
Reginald Moss, known as Reg Moss (5 December 1913 – 28 May 1995) was a British
schoolteacher and Labour
politician. After fighting an energetic campaign in Hemel Hempstead
in the 1950 general election
, he was elected as the first Member of Parliament for Meriden
in 1955
. As a backbencher he had a low profile but managed some achievements in House of Commons
committees. Moss lost the highly marginal constituency after a single term and was forced to return to his previous career. He died many years later in obscurity.
; he was born in Audley, Staffordshire
. At Wolstanton Grammar School he became Head Boy, and won a place at the University of Birmingham
. There he won the Gladstone Prize, and was awarded a Bachelor of Arts
degree in 1935. He stayed on at Birmingham for a further year and obtained a Diploma in Education the following year, a qualification needed for senior teaching posts.
, in about 1934 he had become a lay preacher
; he also joined the Labour Party
in the late 1930s. Moss became involved as a tutor with the Workers' Educational Association
and a lecturer with the National Council of Labour Colleges, also helping to give lectures to many Co-operative Societies
. He wrote a Co-operative pamphlet entitled "The Way to Peace". In the late 1940s he went back to education himself, studying at the University of London
for a Master of Arts
degree which was awarded in 1949.
when he was selected as Labour candidate for the Hemel Hempstead constituency
. He had been secretary, and was then the chairman, of the Hertford
Divisional Labour Party. Moss' opportunity to contest the seat came when a general election
was called in February 1950; he was formally adopted as the Labour candidate at a meeting on 28 January 1950, rejecting a call from the Liberal Party
candidate that he should stand aside. Moss told the meeting "I am opposed to both of them, both the Tory and the Liberal, and anyone with any understanding of social dynamics must understand that the Socialist takes up that position."
At the opening of the campaign Moss visited the rural area around Tring
where he reported finding "filthy squalor and human misery" in countryside areas. Saying that he felt "ashamed and humiliated", he blamed the problems on the Conservative Party, explaining that "they had the means and opportunity to put it right and did nothing". The next week he addressed a meeting at the Boxmoor
Hall where he described himself as a candidate "with his feet in the working class, and his head in the middle class, without money and without a price". He called on the new Parliament to bring about full employment, and claimed it was silly to talk about competition because the Conservative Party had destroyed it. Moss held a meeting specifically for women at Berkhamsted
Town Hall on 15 February at which he insisted Labour was opposed to communism
and was combatting it by improving living conditions in Britain and other countries.
On the eve of poll, the Labour Party circulated a leaflet which drew attention to remarks by the sitting Conservative
Member in Parliament, Viscountess Davidson
, on 15 December 1949 when she had said that bread
and dripping
was "the best possible food a child could have"; the leaflet was headlined "Bread and Dripping! – Lady Davidson's 'Best Diet' for workers' children". The Conservative Party objected that the comments had been taken out of context. On polling day, Viscountess Davidson won by nearly 7,000 votes with Moss taking a clear second place; it was said by the local newspaper that Moss had done better than generally expected. Moss took comfort from the fact that the Labour vote had increased from the previous election.
. Moss was appointed head of the Day Continuation School, part of Nuneaton Technical College
. He swiftly resumed his Labour Party activities in Nuneaton, becoming Chairman of Nuneaton Fabian Society
, and Secretary of Nuneaton
Constituency Labour Party
. He became a member of the Abbey Street Methodist Church in Nuneaton. In 1953, Moss was made a Fellow of the Royal Economic Society
.
in north Warwickshire
. The constituency included a Birmingham
overspill housing estate at Meriden, the Atherstone Rural District
centred on Atherstone
town, and the Tamworth Rural District
which included most of the Warwickshire coalfield. When a general election
was called in April 1955, Labour had hopes of winning. The selection for the candidate, held at Attlee Hall in Nuneaton on 23 April, saw five candidates interviewed; Moss was selected and was then adopted unanimously.
followed very soon; on being adopted as the Labour candidate, Moss said the Conservatives may have "hoped to win votes by bribery" with the tax-cutting 1955 budget. He then said that the election may have been called early "because later on this year we shall be facing a crisis". This theme was followed when Shadow cabinet member Alf Robens
visited to speak for Moss on 11 May. During the campaign Moss stated that he "favours the intellectual approach" and the local press noted that the campaign was free of name-calling.
Opinion locally believed the Conservatives started off with an advantage due to smoother organisation in the early campaign; however Labour supporters came back more effectively in the last ten days. Moss had resigned his post at Nuneaton Technical College in order to fight the election (although there was an understanding that he could have his job back if he lost). Moss claimed that the Conservatives expected a majority in their favour of 2,000, even at the count; however a low turnout in Meriden coupled with a high poll in Atherstone saw Moss returned with a majority of 1,100.
on 9 June, claiming that 1955 would be a crisis year in the balance of payments and that action was necessary to stop economic dependence on countries using the dollar. After a second budget later in the year, Moss demanded the continuation of farming subsidies to prevent "alarm and despondency" from spreading still further. Early in 1956 he pressed the Board of Trade to intervene in the case of car factories in the midlands who were on short-time working, in order to help the export trade. He took the same issue up later, describing the fall in car exports as "doleful statistics". Speaking on the 1956 budget, Moss criticised the size of the defence budget, and described the increasing greed in society as a "moral deterioration" caused by removing ourselves from the idea of mutual service.
During Moss' first session in Parliament he was active in debating the Teachers (Superannuation) Bill; he was opposed to the increase in contributions from 5% to 6% of salary but said that teachers would support higher payments if there was a system providing for widows and dependents similar to the civil service pension scheme. Although admitting the Bill had been improved by its debate, he remained opposed to its provisions.
on 11 January 1956, Moss had claimed that the preoccupation with pacts by the Conservative government had "set the Near East on fire" and that there was a danger of war between the Arab states and Israel
in 1956. As the Suez Crisis
began, Moss spoke at Corley
saying that Anthony Eden
could not impose on Egypt
a plan which it did not accept, and urged compromise because freedom to use the canal mattered more than Nasser
's nationalisation. He followed the Labour Party line in opposing the invasion of Suez, and addressed a public meeting on "Law–Not War" held at the Miners' Welfare Hall in Atherstone on 9 November 1956; the advertisement for the meeting claimed that public opinion could stop the war.
, Moss made a speech criticising the Conservative government's foreign policy, specifically in Cyprus
which he claimed had seen a "series of Tory death-dealing blunders" and in Nyasaland
where he said the Government had been condemned by its own Devlin Commission. He looked forward confidently to re-election, having dealt with 456 problems brought by constituents. Later in the campaign, echoing a Labour campaign theme, he pledged to support an increase in state pensions.
Moss agreed, together with his Conservative opponent Gordon Matthews
, to join the Temperance Group in the House of Commons if they won; the two jointly received a delegation of clergy and laymen from the Tamworth and District Ministers and Clergy Fraternal who put the principles of the National Temperance Federation to them in the last week of the campaign. The end result was that Moss lost his seat to Conservative
candidate Gordon Matthews
.
Moss soon slipped into relative obscurity. Entitled to an entry in Who's Who
until his death, his entries in 1964 and 1965 included no current address. In 1966 a move to Coventry
was reported; but the ensuing three years he gave only the address of his party's regional office. From 1970 to 1975 his entry appeared with no address; after 1976 it did not appear any more.
Moss died on 28 May 1995, "peacefully in hospital" in Middlesbrough
. He was cremated on 2 June 1995 at St Hilda's Chapel, Teesside Crematorium.
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...
schoolteacher and Labour
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. After fighting an energetic campaign in Hemel Hempstead
Hemel Hempstead (UK Parliament constituency)
Hemel Hempstead 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 :...
in 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...
, he was elected as the first Member of Parliament for Meriden
Meriden (UK Parliament constituency)
-Elections in the 2000s:-Elections in the 1990s:- Notes and references :...
in 1955
United Kingdom general election, 1955
The 1955 United Kingdom general election was held on 26 May 1955, four years after the previous general election. It resulted in a substantially increased majority of 60 for the Conservative government under new leader and prime minister Sir Anthony Eden against Labour Party, now in their 20th year...
. As a backbencher he had a low profile but managed some achievements in House of Commons
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
committees. Moss lost the highly marginal constituency after a single term and was forced to return to his previous career. He died many years later in obscurity.
Family and education
Moss was the son of J.H. Moss, a colliery deputy at Parkhouse Colliery in Chesterton, StaffordshireChesterton, Staffordshire
Chesterton is a small, former mining village, located in the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, England. It sits near the market town of Newcastle-under-Lyme....
; he was born in Audley, Staffordshire
Audley, Staffordshire
Audley is a rural village approximately four miles north west of the town of Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire, England. It is the centre of Audley Rural parish....
. At Wolstanton Grammar School he became Head Boy, and won a place at the University of Birmingham
University of Birmingham
The University of Birmingham is a British Redbrick university located in the city of Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Birmingham Medical School and Mason Science College . Birmingham was the first Redbrick university to gain a charter and thus...
. There he won the Gladstone Prize, and was awarded a Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
degree in 1935. He stayed on at Birmingham for a further year and obtained a Diploma in Education the following year, a qualification needed for senior teaching posts.
Professional life
After leaving university, Moss became a schoolteacher. A MethodistMethodism
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...
, in about 1934 he had become a lay preacher
Laity
In religious organizations, the laity comprises all people who are not in the clergy. A person who is a member of a religious order who is not ordained legitimate clergy is considered as a member of the laity, even though they are members of a religious order .In the past in Christian cultures, the...
; he also joined 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...
in the late 1930s. Moss became involved as a tutor with 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...
and a lecturer with the National Council of Labour Colleges, also helping to give lectures to many Co-operative Societies
Cooperative
A cooperative is a business organization owned and operated by a group of individuals for their mutual benefit...
. He wrote a Co-operative pamphlet entitled "The Way to Peace". In the late 1940s he went back to education himself, studying at the University of London
University of London
-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...
for a Master of Arts
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
degree which was awarded in 1949.
Hemel Hempstead
In July 1949 Moss was working as a schoolmaster in HertfordHertford
Hertford is the county town of Hertfordshire, England, and is also a civil parish in the East Hertfordshire district of the county. Forming a civil parish, the 2001 census put the population of Hertford at about 24,180. Recent estimates are that it is now around 28,000...
when he was selected as Labour candidate for the Hemel Hempstead constituency
Hemel Hempstead (UK Parliament constituency)
Hemel Hempstead 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 :...
. He had been secretary, and was then the chairman, of the Hertford
Hertford (UK Parliament constituency)
Hertford was the name of a parliamentary constituency in Hertfordshire, which elected Members of Parliament from 1298 until 1974. It was represented in the House of Commons of England from 1298 to 1707, then of the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800, and finally in the House of...
Divisional Labour Party. Moss' opportunity to contest the seat came when a 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...
was called in February 1950; he was formally adopted as the Labour candidate at a meeting on 28 January 1950, rejecting a call from 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...
candidate that he should stand aside. Moss told the meeting "I am opposed to both of them, both the Tory and the Liberal, and anyone with any understanding of social dynamics must understand that the Socialist takes up that position."
At the opening of the campaign Moss visited the rural area around Tring
Tring
Tring is a small market town and also a civil parish in the Chiltern Hills in Hertfordshire, England. Situated north-west of London and linked to London by the old Roman road of Akeman Street, by the modern A41, by the Grand Union Canal and by rail lines to Euston Station, Tring is now largely a...
where he reported finding "filthy squalor and human misery" in countryside areas. Saying that he felt "ashamed and humiliated", he blamed the problems on the Conservative Party, explaining that "they had the means and opportunity to put it right and did nothing". The next week he addressed a meeting at the Boxmoor
Boxmoor
Boxmoor, or Boxmoor Village, is a district of Dacorum in Hertfordshire, England. It is now part of Hemel Hempstead. It is a district of mainly nineteenth century housing and meadowland, repeatedly cut through by transport links from London to the The Midlands....
Hall where he described himself as a candidate "with his feet in the working class, and his head in the middle class, without money and without a price". He called on the new Parliament to bring about full employment, and claimed it was silly to talk about competition because the Conservative Party had destroyed it. Moss held a meeting specifically for women at Berkhamsted
Berkhamsted
-Climate:Berkhamsted experiences an oceanic climate similar to almost all of the United Kingdom.-Castle:...
Town Hall on 15 February at which he insisted Labour was opposed to communism
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
and was combatting it by improving living conditions in Britain and other countries.
On the eve of poll, the Labour Party circulated a leaflet which drew attention to remarks by the sitting Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
Member in Parliament, Viscountess Davidson
Frances Davidson, Viscountess Davidson
Frances Joan Davidson, Viscountess Davidson DBE , styled Lady Davidson between 1935 and 1937 and as Viscountess Davidson between 1937 and 1985, was a British Conservative Party politician....
, on 15 December 1949 when she had said that bread
Bread
Bread is a staple food prepared by cooking a dough of flour and water and often additional ingredients. Doughs are usually baked, but in some cuisines breads are steamed , fried , or baked on an unoiled frying pan . It may be leavened or unleavened...
and dripping
Dripping
Dripping, also known usually as beef dripping or more rarely, as pork dripping, is an animal fat produced from the fatty or otherwise unusable parts of cow or pig carcasses...
was "the best possible food a child could have"; the leaflet was headlined "Bread and Dripping! – Lady Davidson's 'Best Diet' for workers' children". The Conservative Party objected that the comments had been taken out of context. On polling day, Viscountess Davidson won by nearly 7,000 votes with Moss taking a clear second place; it was said by the local newspaper that Moss had done better than generally expected. Moss took comfort from the fact that the Labour vote had increased from the previous election.
Move to Warwickshire
Although Moss was said to be willing to fight Hemel Hempstead at future elections, and the Divisional Labour Party was willing to readopt him, in 1951 he moved away to NuneatonNuneaton
Nuneaton is the largest town in the Borough of Nuneaton and Bedworth and in the English county of Warwickshire.Nuneaton is most famous for its associations with the 19th century author George Eliot, who was born on a farm on the Arbury Estate just outside Nuneaton in 1819 and lived in the town for...
. Moss was appointed head of the Day Continuation School, part of Nuneaton Technical College
North Warwickshire and Hinckley College
North Warwickshire and Hinckley College is a Further Education College with campuses in Leicestershire, Nuneaton & Bedworth and North Warwickshire...
. He swiftly resumed his Labour Party activities in Nuneaton, becoming Chairman of Nuneaton Fabian Society
Fabian Society
The Fabian Society is a British socialist movement, whose purpose is to advance the principles of democratic socialism via gradualist and reformist, rather than revolutionary, means. It is best known for its initial ground-breaking work beginning late in the 19th century and continuing up to World...
, and Secretary of Nuneaton
Nuneaton (UK Parliament constituency)
Nuneaton 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.- Pre-2010 :...
Constituency Labour Party
Constituency Labour Party
A Constituency Labour Party is an organisation of members of the British Labour Party who live in a particular UK parliamentary constituency in England, Scotland and Wales. The Labour Party in Northern Ireland has, since February 2009, been organised as a province-wide Constituency Labour Party...
. He became a member of the Abbey Street Methodist Church in Nuneaton. In 1953, Moss was made a Fellow of the Royal Economic Society
Royal Economic Society
The Royal Economic Society is incorporated by a Royal Charter dated 2 December 1902. It is one of the oldest economic associations in the world. Currently it has over 3,300 individual members, of whom 60% live outside the United Kingdom...
.
Meriden candidature
In a Boundary Commission report published in November 1954, a new constituency was created around MeridenMeriden, West Midlands
-External links:*****...
in north Warwickshire
Warwickshire
Warwickshire is a landlocked non-metropolitan county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, although the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare...
. The constituency included a Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
overspill housing estate at Meriden, the Atherstone Rural District
Atherstone Rural District
Atherstone was a rural district in the administrative county of Warwickshire, England, from 1894 to 1974. It was named after its main town and administrative headquarters of Atherstone....
centred on Atherstone
Atherstone
Atherstone is a town in Warwickshire, England. The town is located near the northernmost tip of Warwickshire, close to the border with Staffordshire and Leicestershire and is the administrative headquarters of the borough of North Warwickshire.-History:...
town, and the Tamworth Rural District
Tamworth Rural District
Tamworth was a rural district in the English Midlands from 1894 to 1965.It was created under the Local Government Act 1894 from Tamworth rural sanitary district, and was one of a handful of rural districts to cross county boundaries, with part in Staffordshire and part in Warwickshire...
which included most of the Warwickshire coalfield. When a general election
United Kingdom general election, 1955
The 1955 United Kingdom general election was held on 26 May 1955, four years after the previous general election. It resulted in a substantially increased majority of 60 for the Conservative government under new leader and prime minister Sir Anthony Eden against Labour Party, now in their 20th year...
was called in April 1955, Labour had hopes of winning. The selection for the candidate, held at Attlee Hall in Nuneaton on 23 April, saw five candidates interviewed; Moss was selected and was then adopted unanimously.
1955 election campaign
The general electionUnited Kingdom general election, 1955
The 1955 United Kingdom general election was held on 26 May 1955, four years after the previous general election. It resulted in a substantially increased majority of 60 for the Conservative government under new leader and prime minister Sir Anthony Eden against Labour Party, now in their 20th year...
followed very soon; on being adopted as the Labour candidate, Moss said the Conservatives may have "hoped to win votes by bribery" with the tax-cutting 1955 budget. He then said that the election may have been called early "because later on this year we shall be facing a crisis". This theme was followed when Shadow cabinet member Alf Robens
Alfred Robens, Baron Robens of Woldingham
Alfred Robens, Baron Robens of Woldingham CBE PC was an English trade unionist, Labour politician and industrialist...
visited to speak for Moss on 11 May. During the campaign Moss stated that he "favours the intellectual approach" and the local press noted that the campaign was free of name-calling.
Opinion locally believed the Conservatives started off with an advantage due to smoother organisation in the early campaign; however Labour supporters came back more effectively in the last ten days. Moss had resigned his post at Nuneaton Technical College in order to fight the election (although there was an understanding that he could have his job back if he lost). Moss claimed that the Conservatives expected a majority in their favour of 2,000, even at the count; however a low turnout in Meriden coupled with a high poll in Atherstone saw Moss returned with a majority of 1,100.
Parliament
Moss made an early maiden speechMaiden speech
A maiden speech is the first speech given by a newly elected or appointed member of a legislature or parliament.Traditions surrounding maiden speeches vary from country to country...
on 9 June, claiming that 1955 would be a crisis year in the balance of payments and that action was necessary to stop economic dependence on countries using the dollar. After a second budget later in the year, Moss demanded the continuation of farming subsidies to prevent "alarm and despondency" from spreading still further. Early in 1956 he pressed the Board of Trade to intervene in the case of car factories in the midlands who were on short-time working, in order to help the export trade. He took the same issue up later, describing the fall in car exports as "doleful statistics". Speaking on the 1956 budget, Moss criticised the size of the defence budget, and described the increasing greed in society as a "moral deterioration" caused by removing ourselves from the idea of mutual service.
During Moss' first session in Parliament he was active in debating the Teachers (Superannuation) Bill; he was opposed to the increase in contributions from 5% to 6% of salary but said that teachers would support higher payments if there was a system providing for widows and dependents similar to the civil service pension scheme. Although admitting the Bill had been improved by its debate, he remained opposed to its provisions.
Suez
In a speech at Eastern GreenEastern Green
Eastern Green is a mainly residential suburb in the far west of Coventry, England, and was formerly a village in Warwickshire. Its most western area is Upper Eastern Green and the eastern area is Lower Eastern Green., though residents generally do not distinguish between the two.The sub-district of...
on 11 January 1956, Moss had claimed that the preoccupation with pacts by the Conservative government had "set the Near East on fire" and that there was a danger of war between the Arab states and Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
in 1956. As the Suez Crisis
Suez Crisis
The Suez Crisis, also referred to as the Tripartite Aggression, Suez War was an offensive war fought by France, the United Kingdom, and Israel against Egypt beginning on 29 October 1956. Less than a day after Israel invaded Egypt, Britain and France issued a joint ultimatum to Egypt and Israel,...
began, Moss spoke at Corley
Corley
Corley is a village and civil parish in the North Warwickshire district of Warwickshire, England. It is located about northwest of Coventry and is adjacent to the village of Fillongley. The M6 motorway runs close by, and the village is familiar to motorists as it is the site of Corley Services...
saying that Anthony Eden
Anthony Eden
Robert Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon, KG, MC, PC was a British Conservative politician, who was Prime Minister from 1955 to 1957...
could not impose on Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
a plan which it did not accept, and urged compromise because freedom to use the canal mattered more than Nasser
Gamal Abdel Nasser
Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein was the second President of Egypt from 1956 until his death. A colonel in the Egyptian army, Nasser led the Egyptian Revolution of 1952 along with Muhammad Naguib, the first president, which overthrew the monarchy of Egypt and Sudan, and heralded a new period of...
's nationalisation. He followed the Labour Party line in opposing the invasion of Suez, and addressed a public meeting on "Law–Not War" held at the Miners' Welfare Hall in Atherstone on 9 November 1956; the advertisement for the meeting claimed that public opinion could stop the war.
1959 general election
At the opening of the 1959 general election campaignUnited 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...
, Moss made a speech criticising the Conservative government's foreign policy, specifically in Cyprus
Cyprus
Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
which he claimed had seen a "series of Tory death-dealing blunders" and in Nyasaland
Nyasaland
Nyasaland or the Nyasaland Protectorate, was a British protectorate located in Africa, which was established in 1907 when the former British Central Africa Protectorate changed its name. Since 1964, it has been known as Malawi....
where he said the Government had been condemned by its own Devlin Commission. He looked forward confidently to re-election, having dealt with 456 problems brought by constituents. Later in the campaign, echoing a Labour campaign theme, he pledged to support an increase in state pensions.
Moss agreed, together with his Conservative opponent Gordon Matthews
Gordon Matthews (politician)
Gordon Richards Matthews, CBE, FCA, FRSA was a British chartered accountant, Director of a department store, and politician. Despite a near half-century involvement in the Conservative Party in the West Midlands, he served only a single term in Parliament.-Accountancy:Matthews attended Repton...
, to join the Temperance Group in the House of Commons if they won; the two jointly received a delegation of clergy and laymen from the Tamworth and District Ministers and Clergy Fraternal who put the principles of the National Temperance Federation to them in the last week of the campaign. The end result was that Moss lost his seat to Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
candidate Gordon Matthews
Gordon Matthews (politician)
Gordon Richards Matthews, CBE, FCA, FRSA was a British chartered accountant, Director of a department store, and politician. Despite a near half-century involvement in the Conservative Party in the West Midlands, he served only a single term in Parliament.-Accountancy:Matthews attended Repton...
.
Post-Parliamentary career
Moss ascribed his defeat to the 700 postal votes issued in the election. After his defeat was announced, Moss declared that he would leave politics and rejoin the teaching profession; he began part-time work as a teacher at Nuneaton Technical College the week after the election.Moss soon slipped into relative obscurity. Entitled to an entry in Who's Who
Who's Who (UK)
Who's Who is an annual British publication of biographies which vary in length of about 30,000 living notable Britons.-History:...
until his death, his entries in 1964 and 1965 included no current address. In 1966 a move to Coventry
Coventry
Coventry is a city and metropolitan borough in the county of West Midlands in England. Coventry is the 9th largest city in England and the 11th largest in the United Kingdom. It is also the second largest city in the English Midlands, after Birmingham, with a population of 300,848, although...
was reported; but the ensuing three years he gave only the address of his party's regional office. From 1970 to 1975 his entry appeared with no address; after 1976 it did not appear any more.
Moss died on 28 May 1995, "peacefully in hospital" in Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough is a large town situated on the south bank of the River Tees in north east England, that sits within the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire...
. He was cremated on 2 June 1995 at St Hilda's Chapel, Teesside Crematorium.