John Banfield

John William Banfield

John William Banfield J.P., M.P. (August 1875 – 25 May 1945) was a British trade unionist and Labour Party politician, who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Wednesbury from 1932 until his death in 1945.

Banfield was General Secretary of the Amalgamated Union of Operative Bakers, Confectioners and Allied Workers from 1915 until he retired in 1940. He unsuccessfully contested the 1918 general election in Birmingham Aston. When the Labour Party unexpectedly gained control of Fulham Borough Council in 1919 they added Banfield to the Aldermanic bench to add political and trade union expertise.

Banfield was a government delegate representing the work people at Geneva from 1924 to 1925.

He was unsuccessful in Fulham West at a by-election in 1930 and at the 1931 general election.

In 1932, the Conservative MP for Wednesbury, Viscount Ednam succeeded to the peerage as Earl of Dudley, triggering a by-election in July 1932. Banfield was selected as Labour's candidate, hoping to regain a seat which had been held by Labour from 1918 to 1931. After a campaign focusing on the means test for unemployment benefit (in a constituency with 12,000 unemployed), Banfield won the Wednesbury 1932 by-election. He was re-elected at the 1935 general election.

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