Sixteen Jews have been returned to the new House of Commons, one more than in the last Parliament, but while there were then four Jews who were members of the Labour Party, Mr. Emanuel Shinwell, who was a member of the Government, Miss Marion Philips, the chief woman officer of the Labour Party, Mr. Michael Marcus, and Colonel Harry Day, there is now not a single Jew among the members of the Labour Party who have been able to retain their seats. There were several other Jews among the Labour candidates who had not been in the last House of Commons, but none of these have been successful at the polls.
All the Jews in the new House of Commons are supporters of the National Government. They are headed by Sir Herbert Samuel, the leader of the National Liberal Party, and a member of the Cabinet, who, despite the opposition of a Conservative candidate, succeeded in retaining his seat by a majority of 4,287 votes, the largest majority ever known in the constituency. Mr. Hore-Belisha, the Chairman of the Executive of the Liberal National Party, (Sir John Simon’s group) has also been re-elected, securing a majority of 14,420 over his Labour opponent.
The new Jewish members of Parliament are about equally divided between the Liberal and Conservative sections of the Government’s supporters. Major James de Rothschild, Major H. L. Nathan, and Mr. Percy A. Harris, all members of the Samuel group, have been re-elected, and Mr. Barnett Janner, another Samuelite, has been returned in Whitechapel, where he has this time defeated Mr. Hall, the Labour member who was victorious at the last bye-election, which was fought by Mr. Janner largely on the ground of the opposition to the Passfield White Paper on Palestine. Kid Lewis, who was standing as a Mosleyite in Whitechapel, obtained only 154 votes. Mr. Philip Guedalla, who was standing as a Samuelite in one of the Manchester divisions, and Mr. L. B. Franklin, Sir Herbert Samuel’s brother-in-law, who was the Samuelite candidate in Kackney, were both defeated, as was also Mr. Hugh Franklin, Sir Herbert’s nephew, who was standing as Labour candidate in Kornsey.
On the Conservative side, Mr. A. M. Samuel, who was a Minister in the last Conservative Government, was returned unopposed before the election, and Mr. Samuel Samuel, brother of the late Lord Bearsted, Major Isidore Salmon, and Sir Philip Sassoon, who is Under-Secretary for Air in the present Government, have all been re-elected with huge majorities. Ajor Isidore Salmon has a majority of 33,827, one of the largest majorities secured in the election, Mr. Samuel Samuel has a majority of 21,146 and Sir Philip Sassoon has a majority of 16,669. In addition, Mr. L. H. Gluckstein, Mr. A. M. Lyons, Mr. Dudley B. Joel, and Mr. C. Levy have captured seats for the Conservatives.
The final results, which will not be known till tomorrow, may bring several additions to the number of Jews in the new Parliament. A likely addition is Mr. M. Bloch, who is standing as Conservative candidate in the Gorbals division of Glasgow, where he was defeated in the last election by only a small majority.
Two Jews who were in the last Parliament, Sir Walter de Frece and Major Brunel Cohen, both Conservatives, whose constituencies have been retained by their Party, so that their re-election would have been certain, were not offering themselves for re-election.
Among non-Jews who were prominent in the last Parliament in connection with Palestine affairs, Dr. Drummond Shiels, the Under-Secretary for the Colonies in the Labour Government, has been defeated. Commander Kenworthy has also been defeated. Colonel Josiah Wedgwood was returned before the election day without opposition. Colonel Howard-Bury, who led the Zionist opposition in the last Parliament, was not standing for re-election to the present Parliament.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
