Sydney James Bidwell was a British

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

 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

Politician

A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

.

Bidwell was a railway worker on the Great Western Railway

Great Western Railway

The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...

 and became a tutor and organiser for the National Council of Labour Colleges. He went on to become the London Regional Education Officer for the TUC

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...

. In his youth, he had joined the Labour Party, but during the 1940s was also a member of the Trotskyist Revolutionary Communist Party

Revolutionary Communist Party (UK, 1944)

The Revolutionary Communist Party was a British Trotskyist group, formed in 1944 and active until 1949, which published the newspaper Socialist Appeal, a theoretical journal Workers International News and an entrist paper for its Labour Party work The Militant .- Collapse of the RSL and founding of...

. He was a councillor

Councillor

A councillor or councilor is a member of a local government council, such as a city council.Often in the United States, the title is councilman or councilwoman.-United Kingdom:...

 on Southall Borough Council

Municipal Borough of Southall

Southall was a local government district in the county of Middlesex, United Kingdom from 1891 to 1965. It consisted of the civil parish of Norwood....

 1951-55.

Bidwell contested East Hertfordshire

East Hertfordshire (UK Parliament constituency)

East Hertfordshire was a parliamentary constituency in the county of Hertfordshire. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.-History:...

 in 1959 and South West Hertfordshire in 1964. He was elected as 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 Southall

Southall (UK Parliament constituency)

Southall was a parliamentary constituency centred on the Southall district of west London. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom....

 at the 1966 general election

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 was elected for Ealing Southall in 1983.

Whilst in parliament, he saw through a bill to exclude Sikh

Sikh

A Sikh is a follower of Sikhism. It primarily originated in the 15th century in the Punjab region of South Asia. The term "Sikh" has its origin in Sanskrit term शिष्य , meaning "disciple, student" or शिक्ष , meaning "instruction"...

s from being forced to wear crash helmets on motorbikes.

Before the 1992 general election

United Kingdom general election, 1992

The United Kingdom general election of 1992 was held on 9 April 1992, and was the fourth consecutive victory for the Conservative Party. This election result was one of the biggest surprises in 20th Century politics, as polling leading up to the day of the election showed Labour under leader Neil...

, Bidwell was de-selected as a candidate at the age of 75. When his appeal to the Labour National Executive Committee

National Executive Committee

The National Executive Committee or NEC is the chief administrative body of the UK Labour Party. Its composition has changed over the years, and includes representatives of affiliated trade unions, the Parliamentary Labour Party and European Parliamentary Labour Party, Constituency Labour Parties,...

 failed, he decided to stand as a "True Labour" candidate, but finished third behind the official Labour candidate Piara Khabra

Piara Khabra

Piara Singh Khabra was a British politician who served as the Labour Member of Parliament for Ealing Southall from 1992 until his death. He was the fifth Asian, and the first Sikh, to become a British MP...

, with 9% of the vote.

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