Difference between revisions of "Reginald Freeson"
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*Minister for Housing and Construction and Urban Affairs 1974-79; | *Minister for Housing and Construction and Urban Affairs 1974-79; | ||
*PC 1976; | *PC 1976; | ||
| + | *chairman of the Warsaw Memorial Committee from 1964 to 1971, | ||
*Editor, [[Jewish Vanguard]] 1987-2006<ref>https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/reg-freeson-419641.html</ref> | *Editor, [[Jewish Vanguard]] 1987-2006<ref>https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/reg-freeson-419641.html</ref> | ||
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==Resources== | ==Resources== | ||
*https://www.theguardian.com/news/2006/oct/11/guardianobituaries.obituaries | *https://www.theguardian.com/news/2006/oct/11/guardianobituaries.obituaries | ||
Revision as of 10:56, 18 September 2024
Reginald Yarnitzy Freeson, environmental consultant, journalist, politician, Zionist: born London 24 February 1926;
- The name of Reg Freeson, who has died aged 80, has became so identified with his political "murder" by the ambitious Ken Livingstone in 1987 that his earlier record as one of the most successful "sensible left" Labour MPs and ministers has been almost forgotten. But Ken wanted Reg's parliamentary seat at Brent East, in north-west London, and after a long and ferocious struggle succeeded in replacing him.
- The ousting had nothing to do with any great political gap between the two men. Freeson was a leftwinger with a classic record of supporting Irish unity, resisting racism - he edited the anti-fascist magazine Searchlight from 1964 to 1967 - opposing the Vietnam war and championing the underprivileged. He was a founder member of CND and one of the first five Labour MPs on the initial Aldermaston march. The only dividing issue was that he was a socialist Zionist while Livingstone was pro-Arab.[1]
- He was an evolving socialist, even in the revisionist Blairite days, and his Zionism moved on, too. As political secretary of the Poale Zion-Labour Zionists, in 1998 he urged an independent Palestinian state embracing the West Bank and Gaza. [1]
Career
- MP (Labour) for Willesden East 1964-74, for Brent East 1974-87;
- PPS to Minister of Transport 1964-67;
- Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Power 1967-69;
- Minister for Housing and Local Government 1969-70;
- Minister for Housing and Construction and Urban Affairs 1974-79;
- PC 1976;
- chairman of the Warsaw Memorial Committee from 1964 to 1971,
- Editor, Jewish Vanguard 1987-2006[2]
