Ronald Brown (English politician)

Ronald William Brown (7 September 1921 – 27 July 2002) was a British Labour Party politician. He was the younger brother of George Brown, interim Leader of the Labour Party in 1963.

Ronald Brown
Member of Parliament for Hackney South and Shoreditch
In office 10 October 1974 – 9 June 1983
Preceded by	Constituency Established
Succeeded by	Brian Sedgemore
Member of Parliament for Shoreditch and Finsbury
In office 15 October 1964 – 28 February 1974
Preceded by	Michael Cliffe
Succeeded by	Constituency Abolished
Personal details
Born	Ronald William Brown (1921-09-07)7 September 1921
Died	27 July 2002(2002-07-27) (aged 80)
Political party	Labour Party (–1981) Social Democratic Party (1981–)
Education	Borough Polytechnic

Brown was educated in South London and at Borough Polytechnic. He served as a councillor on Camberwell Borough Council and was leader of the council. He was the first leader of the London Borough of Southwark from 1964, on which he served as an alderman.

Brown was first elected as Member of Parliament (MP) for Shoreditch and Finsbury at the 1964 general election. In 1966 he was challenged for his seat by the fascist Oswald Mosley (standing under the Union Movement), who had been interned without trial during the Second World War. Following boundary changes for the February 1974 election, Brown was elected for Hackney South and Shoreditch. After 1979 he was sometimes confused with the new Scottish Labour MP Ron Brown.

In 1981, Brown was among a number of Labour MPs who defected to the Social Democratic Party (his brother also indicated his support and later joined). He lost his seat at the 1983 general election, polling 18% of the vote behind the Labour candidate Brian Sedgemore (who defected to the Liberal Democrats himself in 2005). Brown died in 2002 aged 80.

References

• Times Guide to the House of Commons, 1966 & 1983
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Ronald Brown