Frank Cousins (British politician)

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The Right Honourable
Frank Cousins
Minister of Technology
In office
18 October 1964 – 4 July 1966
Prime MinisterHarold Wilson
Preceded byOffice Created
Succeeded byTony Benn
Member of Parliament for Nuneaton
In office
21 January 1965 – 5 December 1966
Preceded byFrank Bowles
Succeeded byLes Huckfield
Personal details
Born(1904-09-08)8 September 1904
Bulwell, Nottinghamshire, England
Died11 June 1986(1986-06-11) (aged 81)
Political partyLabour

Frank Cousins PC (8 September 1904 – 11 June 1986) was a British trade union leader and Labour politician.

He was born in Bulwell, Nottinghamshire. His father was a miner and Frank followed him into this industry in 1918, joining the Yorkshire Miners' Association. However after five years he became a lorry driver, originally driving coal, and then in 1931 as a long-distance lorry driver, transporting meat between Scotland and London. He became a member of the road transport section of the Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU), of which he became a full-time official in Doncaster in July 1938. He was appointed National Secretary of Road Transport (Commercial) Group in October 1948, contested the TGWU Assistant General Secretaryship in 1948 and 1955, securing the position on the latter attempt.[1] He was also elected to the Labour Party's National Executive Committee the same year, but resigned in March 1956.

Cousins was appointed acting General Secretary of the TGWU in February 1956, due to poor health on the part of Jock Tiffin. He was elected General Secretary in May 1956, following Tiffin's death, and held the position until 1969. From 1956 to 1969, he was a member of the General Council of the Trades Union Congress and was President of the International Transport Workers' Federation from 1958 to 1960 and 1962 to 1964.

Cousins played a significant role in helping Harold Wilson become leader of the Labour Party [1] and served in Wilson's cabinet as Minister of Technology after the October 1964 general election. Cousins carried little influence in Wilson's cabinet and resigned on 11 June 1966 to protest against a Government-backed law freezing incomes and prices.[2][3] Although his appointment as a Minister was notable as he is only one of two recent Ministers (the other being Patrick Gordon-Walker) who was appointed to the role without being either a Member of Parliament or a member of the House of Lords.[4] He was also made a Privy Counsellor in 1964.

He was elected Member of Parliament for Nuneaton at a by-election in January 1965, was re-elected in the March 1966 general election and resigned in December 1966. During this period Harry Nicholas took over as acting general secretary of the TGWU.

Personal life

He married Annie Judd in December 1930; the couple had four children: John, Brenda, Michael and Frances.

Frank Cousins sat for sculptor Alan Thornhill for a portrait in clay.[5] The correspondence file relating to the Frank Cousins bust is held in the archive[6] of the Henry Moore Foundation's Henry Moore Institute in Leeds and the terracotta remains in the collection of the artist.

References

  1. ^ a b "Papers of Frank Cousins". mrc-catalogue.warwick.ac.uk. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
  2. ^ Thorpe, Andrew (1997). A History of the British Labour Party. London: Macmillan Education UK. pp. 158–159. doi:10.1007/978-1-349-25305-0. ISBN 978-0-333-56081-5.
  3. ^ Ap (12 June 1986). "Frank Cousins Is Dead; British Union Leader". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
  4. ^ Beetham, David; Weir, Stuart (11 September 2002). Political Power and Democratic Control in Britain. Routledge. ISBN 9781134864119.
  5. ^ portrait head of Frank Cousins Archived 19 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine image of sculpture
  6. ^ HMI Archive Archived 12 January 2009 at the Wayback Machine
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Nuneaton
1965–1966 		Succeeded by
Trade union offices
Preceded by Assistant General Secretary of the Transport and General Workers' Union
1955–1956 		Succeeded by
Preceded by General Secretary of the Transport and General Workers' Union
(Harry Nicholas acting 1964–1966)
1956–1969 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Trades Union Congress representative to the AFL-CIO
1959
With: Frederick Hayday 		Succeeded by
Preceded by President of the International Transport Workers' Federation
1958–1960 		Succeeded by
Preceded by President of the International Transport Workers' Federation
1962–1965 		Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded by
Robert Carr
(Minister of Technical Co-operation)
 Minister of Technology
1964–1966 		Succeeded by
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