John Dugdale (Labour politician)

John Dugdale (16 March 1905 – 12 March 1963) was a British newspaper journalist and politician. Well-connected with the Labour Party establishment, he worked as Private Secretary to Clement Attlee and was appointed a Minister in his post-war government.

Dugdale was from a high-class family, the only son of Colonel Arthur Dugdale CMG DSO who was Commander of the Queen's Own Oxfordshire Hussars during the First World War. He was also second cousin of Conservative MP Thomas Dugdale, who was Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food from 1951 to 1954. He was sent to Wellington College, from where he moved to Christ Church, Oxford. On leaving Oxford, Dugdale joined the Diplomatic Service and was stationed in Beijing as an Attaché in the British embassy.

This life did not suit him and Dugdale then went into journalism. He was a correspondent for The Times on the Yangtze River during troubles there in 1930. In the 1931 general election, Dugdale fought the constituency of Leicester South as a Labour Party candidate. In the new Parliament, he was appointed as Private Secretary by Clement Attlee, who had become Deputy Leader of the Labour Party largely by default of being the only former Minister to survive the election.

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