Beginning a new series of blog posts on ‘Inside the Act Room’ titled From the Backbenches celebrating backbench MPs who may not have reached Number Ten or achieved senior ministerial status yet still made a significant contribution in Parliament.
Starting off by profiling the hugely popular Labour MP, Joan Lestor.
Over four decades Joan Lestor continually fought for social change especially the legislative rights of children and eradicating racial discrimination across the world. An infectious character, always willing to lead from the front, there was never a lull in proceedings when she took up a cause.
Simply a different class.
(IMAGE – Lord Pitt of Hampstead, c1976-1978, HL/PO/1/595/12, Parliamentary Archives)
1950s: On the Radar
If your parents are admirers of American Trade Unionist Eugene V Debs and advocates for the International Workers of the World (IWW) there’s a fair chance, you’ll inherit a similar left leaning political outlook. As was the case for Joan Lestor whose mother was an East London garment factory shop steward while her actor father promoted socialism through writing bulletins for the Socialist Party of Great Britain (SPGB). By the early fifties, Lestor a newly trained teacher based in Walthamstow broke with the SPGB and its markedly Marxist agenda and opted to get involved with the more mainstream Labour Party.
The precocious twenty-something began making steady progress within the grassroot ranks. A striking presence, with her distinctive red hair, she stood out amongst the numerous delegates at the annual Party Conference. Blessed with a natural affability, Lestor, a terrific communicator, was perfectly attuned to work a room. However, that didn’t mean she only singled out for attention the party glitterati. Attending the conference in 1958 civil rights campaigner Lord David Pitt recalled the instant kinship he felt with Lestor leading to a lifelong friendship. That same year she joined Wandsworth Council and was now firmly on the potential candidacy radar.
(Read Joan Lestor’s Maiden Speech on Race Relations - parliament.uk/historic-hansard)
(Read this blog on the career of Lord David Pitt - archives.blog.parliament.uk)
(IMAGE – Labour Party Conference, 1966, PUD/F/2203, Parliamentary Archives)
1960s: On the Road
Expectations were low for Lestor’s prospects at the 1964 General Election challenging a formidable Conservative majority in Lewisham. Cutting the lead to below a thousand voters impressed party bosses and she was entrusted to go on the road to reclaim Fenner Brockway’s old Eton & Slough constituency. Two years later, the nation again went to the polls, she overcome the ‘anti-immigration’ campaign of opponent Anthony Meyer to take the seat with the BBC announcing the result just before the midnight hour. The thirty-nine-year-old wasn’t going to sleep on the job seeking to highlight issues not covered in the Labour manifesto.
Soon utilising her networking talent by tabling an eventually unsuccessful Private Members' Bill to improve childcare for a growing number of working mothers. This understanding of women’s rights in an ever-changing society was demonstrated by amendments she added to the 1969 Divorce Reform Act demanding that wives receive financial support from their ex-spouses. Employment Secretary Barbara Castle was greatly appreciative of Lestor’s backing as she attempted to curb trade union powers. A higher profile meant greater media exposure and the Times Newspaper disclosed that Lestor was turned away from the Connaught Hotel Restaurant for daring to wear a trouser suit.
(Read Joan Lestor’s speaking on Divorce Reform - parliament.uk/historic-hansard)
1970s: On the Ropes
Prime Minister Harold Wilson saw Lestor’s potential, appointing her Education Under Secretary, a department essential in his drive for the United Kingdom becoming a technological industries powerhouse. A surprise defeat in the 1970 General Election temporarily halted his grand plans, leaving Labour on the ropes. Four years on and restored to governance, Lestor was chosen for a junior cabinet posting in the Foreign Office. Her strident views against South Africa’s racially discriminatory apartheid system didn’t sit well with Secretary of State James Callaghan. He decided it was best for all parties to return Lestor to her previously held education role.
Expenditure cuts to nursery school budgets in 1976 led to Lestor resigning on ITV current affairs show Weekend World from departmental duties lamenting that ‘Labour couldn’t get to grips with the importance of education in the modern world’. Crippling industrial disputes defined the late seventies and Labour divided itself into centrist and leftist camps with Lestor recognised as a key figure in the latter group. Around this period, she participated in a televised discussion on teatime youth music programme Something Else alongside politicised punk icons The Clash. Bullishly questioning the motives of singer Joe Strummer’s decision to abstain from voting.
(Read Joan Lestor’s speaking on South Africa’s Apartheid system - parliament.uk/historic-hansard)
1980s: On the Rebound
By 1983 Labour was in disarray as reflected in an incredibly poor showing at that year’s General Election. Michael Foot, as party leader, had pledged unilateral nuclear disarmament at the forefront of his electoral promises regardless of Cold War tensions. The media considered this security proposal foolhardy, and ‘unilateralists’ such as Lestor consequently suffered. In a night that witnessed several household names fall she lost out to Conservative John Watts, hindered by a considerable share of votes balloted to the Social Democrat Party (SDP) candidate. Briefly, in the eighties, the SDP looked set to be a permanent third-party fixture.
Accepting the loss, Lestor redirected her energies into the expanding World Development Movement focusing on establishing a children’s basic rights framework. Additionally campaigning closer to home for a comprehensive sex education roll-out relating to rising numbers of teenage pregnancies. Rebounding back to Parliament at the first elective opportunity in 1987, she was posted as shadow spokesperson for children and families. Also collaborating with the Fabian Society to publish the pamphlet Beyond Band Aid: Charity is Not Enough. Using platforms like Sir Robin Day’s Question Time to stress that reliance on mass event fundraising isn’t enough to address third world famines.
(Read Joan Lestor’s speaking on Aid Development policy - parliament.uk/historic-hansard) -
1990s: On the Record
Entering her fourth decade as a Parliamentarian, Lestor remained relevant putting herself forward for a cross-party Committee scrutinising the 1989 Children Bill. In its second reading debate she hit the headlines for saying on record that a staggering 75,000 adolescents were reported as missing from home. In 1995 Rupert Allason MP accused her of spying for the Russian authorities. True to form, Lestor didn’t take this lying down stating that she was not a ‘fellow traveller willing to place questions on the behest of the KGB’. Subsequently, Allason halted a scheduled motion in the chamber under threat of legal action.
Upon receiving a life peerage, Lestor hoped the Upper House legislature would be conducive in continuing overseas development initiatives and advancements organising the medical treatment of AIDS/HIV on the African continent. Unfortunately, her House of Lords attendance was detrimentally impacted by the effects of motor neurone disease. She died in March 1998 at Trinity Hospice, Clapham aged sixty-six. Prime Minister Tony Blair in tribute said, ‘I will remember her because she was present when I made my first ever public speech as a politician at the Beaconsfield by-election’. Michael Foot fittingly surmised that Lestor was ‘the most wonderful comrade imaginable’.
(Read Joan Lestor’s final speech on Child Poverty - parliament.uk/historic-hansard)
SOURCES
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography extract by Jad Adams
The Castle Diaries 1964-1970 by Barbara Castle
Against the Tide – Diaries 1973-1976 by Tony Benn
Beyond Band Aid: Charity is Not Enough - Fabian Society No 520, June 1987
Joan Lestor Obituary – The Independent, March 1998
Joan Lestor Obituary – The New York Times, April 1998
BBC 1983 General Election coverage – YouTube.com
BBC Archive – Something Else (1978) – Joan Lestor & The Clash – facebook.com
Times Digital Archive
Hansard Debates
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