Eddie Milne

Edward James "Eddie" Milne (October 18, 1915 – March 23, 1983) was a British Labour politician, who was elected as independent candidate after deselection by his party.

He succeeded Alfred Robens as MP for Blyth, later known as Blyth Valley, in a 1960 by-election. Robens was unexpectedly and somewhat controversially elevated to the chairmanship of the National Coal Board, and Milne, a trades union official, was selected by the local Constituency Labour Party and with the support of the shopworkers union, USDAW.

During his Parliamentary career, Milne became increasingly concerned about problems of endemic corruption within local government in the north east of England. These were eventually revealed in the Poulson Affair involving corruption leading Labour movement figures Andrew Cunningham and T. Dan Smith. Known as a difficult man to get on with, Milne's problems were not restricted to his opponents in the local Labour Party; he twice unsuccessfully reported a local journalist, Jim Harland, to the Press Council over articles he had written. [Jim Harland 'Blyth People and Places' Local History Press]

By 1974 the breach between Milne and the local party was irreparable, and he was deselected on the eve of the February 1974 general election. ["Mr Milne wil fight decision to drop him", The Times, February 11, 1974] Milne had already made preparations for this eventuality and ran a campaign as an 'Independent Labour' candidate. He overturned the Labour majority and defeated Ivor Richard who had the official endorsement.

Election Result February 1974
*E Milne (Ind Labour) 22,918
*I Richard (Labour) 16,778
*J Shipley (Lib) 10,214
*B Griffiths (Con) 8,888Majority 6,140

It was a short lived victory, as Milne was narrowly defeated in the October 1974 general election by John Ryman.

Election Result October 1974:
*J Ryman (Labour) 20,308
*E Milne (Ind Labour) 20,230
*J Shipley (Lib) 8,177
*B Griffiths (Con) 6,590Majority 78 (0.1%)

Ryman's agent Peter Mortakis was fined £400 in 1976 under the Representation of the People Act 1949 and the Perjury Act 1911 for falsifying his election expenses return and overspending, although the election result stood. ["Expenses issue for electoral law talks", The Times, October 9 1976] Milne's supporters who won seats on the local authority had all been defeated by 1979; when Milne stood again in the 1979 general election he did badly.

Milne wrote a book entitled "No Shining Armour" (1976) (ISBN 0-7145-3514-1) detailing his travails with the local party, and giving his view on the corruption scandals of the 1970s. It attracted 36 libel writs, and the costs and damages associated with it came close to bankrupting his publishers. [Calder Publications (publishers of "No Shining Armour") [http://www.calderpublications.com/aboutus.html] ]

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