Michael Welsh (Labour politician)

For the former Member of the European Parliament and Lancashire County Councillor, see Michael Welsh (Conservative politician).

Michael Collins Welsh (born 23 November 1926)^[1] is a retired coal miner^[2] and Labour Party politician from South Yorkshire in England. He sat in the House of Commons from 1979 to 1992.

Welsh was educated at elementary schools, at the University of Sheffield and at Ruskin College in Oxford.^[2] He was a local councillor from 1962,^[2] and was elected at the 1979 general election as the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Labour safe seat of Don Valley,^[3][4] sponsored by National Union of Mineworkers (NUM).^[2] In 1981, when the NUM in Yorkshire began to demand that its five sponsored MPs should support the unions' policies, Welsh was reported by The Times as the only one who was sufficiently left-wing to retain the union's support.^[5] In the Labour Party Deputy leadership election in 1981, Welsh voted for the left-wing candidate Tony Benn in both ballots.^[6]

During the Falklands War in May 1982, Welsh was one of 69 MPs who signed an Early Day Motion calling for an immediate halt to hostilities.^[7]

After boundary changes he was returned at the 1983 general election as MP for the new Doncaster North constituency.^[1][8] He was nominated in November that year to the Foreign Affairs Select Committee,^[9] and in July 1985 he was one of four Labour MPs on the committee who rejected the committee's finding that there were military grounds for the sinking during the Falklands War of the of the Argentinian warship General Belgrano.^[10] The four MPs (Welsh, Dennis Canavan, Ian Mikardo and Nigel Spearing) published a minority report which accused the government of obstructing the committee by "suppression of evidence and giving of false evidence" and called for a further enquiry.^[10]

He was re-elected in 1987,^[11] and retired from Parliament at the 1992 general election.^[1]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "D" (part 2)
2. ^ ^{a b c d} The Times Guide to the House of Commons 1983 (2nd ed.). London: Times Books. 1984 [1983]. p. 95. ISBN 0-7230-0257-6. 
3. ^ "UK General Election results May 1979". Richard Kimber's political science resources. http://www.politicsresources.net/area/uk/ge79/i07.htm. Retrieved 8 August 2010. 
4. ^ London Gazette: no. 47838. p. 6057. 10 May 1979. Retrieved 8 August 2010.
5. ^ Kershaw, Ronald (9 April 1982). "Labour rift in Yorkshire Scargill 'hit list' aims to keep out the moderates". The Times: p. 4. 
6. ^ Clark, George (1 Oct 1981). "The 35 MPs who ensured victory for Healey". The Times: p. 4. 
7. ^ Clark, George (6 May 1982). "69 Labour MPs call for truce". The Times: p. 2. 
8. ^ London Gazette: no. 49394. p. 8205. 21 June 1983. Retrieved 8 August 2010.
9. ^ Bevins, Anthony (18 November 1983). "Nominations for Commons select committees". The Times: p. 16. 
10. ^ ^{a b} Clark, George (25 July 1985). "'Cover up over hasty, unjustifiable act'". The Times: p. 5. 
11. ^ London Gazette: no. 50974. p. 8003. 23 June 1987. Retrieved 8 August 2010.

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Michael Welsh

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Richard Kelley	Member of Parliament for Don Valley 1979–1983	Succeeded by Martin Redmond
New constituency	Member of Parliament for Doncaster North 1983–1992	Succeeded by Kevin Hughes

Persondata
Name	Welsh, Michael Collins
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	23 November 1926
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death