- William Richard Williams
William Richard Williams (
1 March ,1895 –11 September ,1963 ) was a British civil servant and politician who made a particular specialism of the Post Office.Post Office career
Born in
Wales to a quarryman father, Williams went to elementary schools and then to a County Secondary. He began work in 1912 as a Post Office clerk, and became active in the Post Office Worker's Union. After rising through the union ranks, he was Assistant Secretary of the Union from 1942.Heston MP
At the 1945 general election, Williams was sponsored by his union to run as the Labour candidate in Heston and Isleworth in west London, which had been newly created in boundary changes. With the results of the election giving Labour a landslide win, he won the seat, but he could not hold on at the next election in 1950. Williams established a reputation as a left-winger on some issues (voting against the continuation of
National Service ) but supported the government's decision to ban Communists from work related to national security.Droylsden
He was then chosen as candidate for Droylsden in the eastern suburbs of
Manchester , and was elected there in the 1951 general election. This was a much safer seat and Williams gave up his Union post in 1952 to concentrate on his Parliamentary career. Often putting questions about the Post Office and other parts of the Civil Service, he was appointed to the Speaker's Panel of Chairmen for Standing Committees where his chairmanship was much appreciated.His constituency was again subjected to boundary changes in 1955, which Williams did his best to have delayed. Williams eventually followed most of his voters into the new Manchester Openshaw constituency.
peakership
Williams was lined up to be the Labour nominee for Speaker of the House of Commons after the 1959 general election had Labour won the election, but Labour's defeat put paid to his chances and a Conservative MP was allowed the job without opposition. From 1960 he was given a front bench responsibility for thePost Office.
In 1962, Conservative Prime Minister
Harold Macmillan approached Williams with an offer to become the Deputy Chairman of Ways and Means (second Deputy Speaker). Williams declined, and the offer itself was controversial as many Labour MPs felt that Macmillan should have consulted the Labour leaderHugh Gaitskell rather than make the offer direct to Williams. Williams died the next year at his home inBanstead .References
*"Who was Who"
*Obituary, "The Times",12 September ,1963
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