George Roberts (British politician)

George Henry Roberts (27 July 1868 – 25 April 1928) was a Labour Party politician who switched parties twice.

The Right Honourable George Henry Roberts
Roberts in the mid 1900s
Minister of Food Control
In office 10 January 1919 – 19 March 1920
Prime Minister	David Lloyd George
Preceded by	John Robert Clynes
Succeeded by	Charles McCurdy
Minister for Labour
In office 17 August 1917 – 10 January 1919
Prime Minister	David Lloyd George
Preceded by	John Hodge
Succeeded by	Robert Horne
Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade
In office 14 December 1916 – 17 August 1917
Prime Minister	David Lloyd George
Preceded by	E. G. Pretyman
Succeeded by	George Wardle
Chief Whip of the Labour Party
In office 1916–1919
Leader	Arthur Henderson William Adamson
Preceded by	Frank Goldstone
Succeeded by	William Tyson Wilson
In office 1907–1914
Leader	Keir Hardie Arthur Henderson George Barnes Ramsay MacDonald
Preceded by	Arthur Henderson
Succeeded by	Arthur Henderson
Member of Parliament for Norwich
In office 8 February 1906 – 6 December 1923
Preceded by	Sir Samuel Hoare
Succeeded by	Dorothy Jewson
Personal details
Born	(1868-07-27)27 July 1868
Died	25 April 1928(1928-04-25) (aged 59)
Nationality	British
Other political affiliations	Labour Coalition Labour

Biography

He was born on 27 July 1868.

At the 1906 general election, he was elected as Member of Parliament (MP) for Norwich. He was a minister in the Lloyd George Coalition Government as Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade from 1916 to 1917, Minister of Labour from 1917 to 1919, and Minister of Food Control from 1919 to 1920. He was appointed as a Privy Counsellor in 1917.

Roberts stood in 1918 as a Coalition Labour candidate, opposed by the official Labour Party candidate. After leaving office in 1920, Roberts returned as a director to the firm he had left as works manager upon entering Parliament in 1906. He sat on the back-benches and as an independent retained his seat in the 1922 election but lost it as the Conservative candidate in 1923. Roberts spent the rest of his life in the sugar beet industry.

He died on 25 April 1928.

References

• Brodie, Marc. "Roberts, George Henry". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/35769. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)

Bibliography

Meeres, Frank. George Roberts MP. A Life That 'Did Different'. (Poppyland Publishing, 2019)

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by George Roberts