Socialist Campaign Group

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The Socialist Campaign Group is a left-wing grouping of Labour Party Members of Parliament in the United Kingdom. It was formed in 1981 by Tony Benn's supporters as a split from the Tribune Group.

The Campaign Group, as it is commonly known, remains highly critical of the 'New Labour' project. However, they are supportive of the Labour Party against other parties. For instance, they closed their website for the duration of 2005 general election campaign.

On 14 July 2006, the group's chairman - John McDonnell - announced that he would stand against the then Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown to be leader of the Labour Party when Tony Blair announced his resignation. When Blair did stand down, the following year, McDonnell was unable to attract sufficient MPs to nominate him, and Brown was elected to the position unopposed. Twenty members of the Campaign Group nominated McDonnell, with five nominating Brown.

Contents 1 Current members 2 Former members 2.1 Deceased 2.2 Retired from the Commons 2.3 Lost Seat 2.4 Left Parliament 2.5 Expelled 2.6 Joined the front bench 3 See also 4 External links

[edit] Current members

• Diane Abbott MP
• David Anderson MP
• John Austin MP
• Michael Clapham MP
• Katy Clark MP
• Harry Cohen MP
• Frank Cook MP
• Jeremy Corbyn MP
• Ann Cryer MP
• Bill Etherington MP
• Neil Gerrard MP
• Ian Gibson MP
• David Hamilton MP
• Kelvin Hopkins MP
• Lynne Jones MP
• Bob Marshall-Andrews MP
• John McDonnell MP
• Austin Mitchell MP
• Linda Riordan MP
• Alan Simpson MP
• Dennis Skinner MP
• David Taylor MP
• Bob Wareing MP
• Mike Wood MP

[edit] Former members

[edit] Deceased

The following died while still serving in Parliament:

• Pat Wall (d. 1990)
• Eric Heffer (d. 1991)
• Bernie Grant (d. 2000)
• Audrey Wise (d. 2000)

[edit] Retired from the Commons

These members retired from the commons due to old age or ill health:

• Joan Maynard (retired 1987)
• Tony Benn (retired 2001)
• Maria Fyfe (retired 2001)
• Bill Michie (retired 2001)
• Harry Barnes (retired 2005)
• Alice Mahon (retired 2005)
• Llew Smith (retired 2005)
• Jimmy Wray (retired 2005)
• Tony Banks (retired 2005)

[edit] Lost Seat

These members lost their seats in parliament:

• Reg Race (constituency abolished 1983)
• John Cryer (lost seat 2005 election)
• Phil Sawford (lost seat 2005 election)

[edit] Left Parliament

• Ken Livingstone (became Mayor of London)
• Dennis Canavan (became Member of Scottish Parliament)
• John McAllion (became Member of Scottish Parliament)

[edit] Expelled

Two members were expelled from the Labour Party in 1991 for their membership of Militant tendency:

• Terry Fields (expelled from Labour party 1991 over his Poll Tax protest)
• Dave Nellist (expelled from Labour party alongside Terry Fields above)

[edit] Joined the front bench

These members left to take up positions in the government:

• Margaret Beckett MP (joined the Cabinet)
• Paul Boateng MP (joined the government)
• Mark Fisher MP (joined the front bench)
• Jimmy Hood (joined defence committee)
• Michael Meacher MP (joined the government)
• Chris Mullin MP (joined the government)
• Dawn Primarolo MP (joined the government)
• Clare Short MP (joined the Cabinet)
• Gavin Strang MP (joined the Cabinet)
• Keith Vaz MP (joined the government)

[edit] See also

• Labour Briefing
• Labour Representation Committee
• Tribune (magazine)

[edit] External links

• Socialist Campaign Group News