Joseph Jackson Cleary

Sir Joseph Jackson Cleary, JP (26 October 1902 – 9 February 1993) was a British Labour Party politician.

Joseph Cleary was born in the West Derby district of Liverpool 26 October 1902 . He was educated at Holy Trinity School, Anfield and at Skerry's College, Liverpool.

Cleary was appointed a Liverpool Justice of the Peace in 1927. A member of the Labour Party, he contested the East Toxteth by-election, 1929 and fought the seat again at the general election later that year, performing creditably in a safe Conservative seat. In the 1931 general election Cleary fought the West Derby division of Liverpool. This was a terrible year for Labour and his Conservative opponent trounced him by over 23,000 votes. He was the councillor for Croxteth ward from 1925-1940.

In 1934, Liverpool Wavertree's Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) Ronald Nall-Cain succeeded to the peerage, and Cleary was selected as the Labour candidate for the resulting by-election on 6 February 1935. With the Conservative vote split by the presence of Winston Churchill's son Randolph as an independent Conservative candidate, Cleary won the seat with the largest swing ever recorded between the Conservative and Labour parties. At 30% (from Conservative to Labour) it remains unsurpassed to this day.

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