78 Facts About Eric Heffer

Eric Samuel Heffer was a British socialist politician.

Eric Heffer was Labour Member of Parliament for Liverpool Walton from 1964 until his death.

Eric Heffer changed his view on the European Common Market from being an outspoken supporter to an outspoken opponent, and served a brief period in government in the mid-1970s.

Eric Heffer's grandfather was a bricklayer and later a railway signalman, and his father was a boot-maker and repairer, although he owned his own business.

In later life Heffer proudly declared "I am therefore completely proletarian in background".

On leaving school Eric Heffer ran through a series of skilled apprenticeships, including as an electrician, leatherworker and finally a carpenter.

Eric Heffer learnt the trade of a joiner, and worked on building sites from the age of 16.

However, his work allowed him time to study and read in his spare time, and Eric Heffer attended courses run by the Workers' Educational Association and at the National Council of Labour Colleges.

Eric Heffer was active in the Amalgamated Society of Woodworkers.

However, when the Soviet Union was invaded by Nazi forces in 1941, Eric Heffer resigned from Labour and joined the Communist Party of Great Britain; he said that "To me, Stalin was the greatest of men".

Eric Heffer was a shop steward for his union; when in 1948 he led an unofficial carpenters' strike against the party's wishes, the Communist Party expelled him and he rejoined the Labour Party within six months.

The Communist Party tried to persuade Doris Eric Heffer to choose between her husband and the party.

Eric Heffer then settled in Liverpool, where there was a strong working-class community and within it a large group of left-wing workers waiting to be organised.

Eric Heffer grew to love his adopted city and supported Everton FC He responded to the demand for a left-wing political organisation in 1954 by linking with a group led by Harry McShane and the Militant Socialist Group from London to establish the 'Federation of Marxist Groups' which had a policy of syndicalism.

However, Eric Heffer had decided by 1956 to rejoin the Labour Party.

Eric Heffer's activities led to Heffer becoming known through Liverpool where he served on the Executive of the Trades Council; he was its Vice President in 1958, President in 1959 and again in 1964.

The Trades Council was a local association of trade unions, and as such Eric Heffer helped mediate and end an unofficial strike of seamen in 1960.

Eric Heffer was elected as a Liverpool City Councillor for Pirrie ward that year.

Eric Heffer made a contribution to a book, The Agreeable Autocracies, which was published in 1961.

In 1963 Eric Heffer was unexpectedly selected to fight the Liverpool Walton constituency for the Labour Party.

Also in 1965 Eric Heffer protested outside the United States embassy against the use of napalm and gas in the Vietnam War, and in Parliament against the diplomatic support given by the government.

Doris Eric Heffer served jointly as her husband's secretary, and secretary to fellow Labour MP Norman Buchan.

Eric Heffer made a good-humoured complaint when political journalist Andrew Roth described Doris as "tiny", insisting that she was actually "petite".

Eric Heffer regarded unemployment as the worst catastrophe in running the economy and often demanded nationalisation of firms which threatened mass redundancies.

Eric Heffer refused, citing his opposition to government economic policy, and demanded the resignation of James Callaghan as Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Eric Heffer headed a study group established by the Society for Parliamentary Studies to look into British relations with Europe, and demanded the resignation of Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Fred Peart when Peart expressed doubts about the merits of the Common Agriculture Policy.

At the 1967 Labour Party conference, Eric Heffer argued for Britain in Europe to build up a third force in the world which would stand up to the US and the Soviet Union.

Eric Heffer began a campaign to win a place on the National Executive Committee at this conference, standing again each year and steadily building his support.

In February 1968 Eric Heffer was one of the Labour MPs to rebel against the government's decision to withdraw British passports from the Kenyan Asians who were arriving at Heathrow Airport in increasing numbers, fleeing persecution in Kenya.

Eric Heffer maintained pressure on the government over the Vietnam war and criticised the Greek military dictatorship of 'the Colonels' for "bestial and barbarous practices".

On two of the issues which divided the Labour Party at the time, Eric Heffer took the side of the rebels: he rejected the proposals for reform of the House of Lords as too weak, preferring fundamental reform or preferably abolition, and he worked to change proposals in Barbara Castle's trade union white paper In Place of Strife.

Prentice's refusal to pledge support to five dockers imprisoned under the Industrial Relations Act appalled Eric Heffer who considered resignation.

Eric Heffer remained interested in the topic and promoted a private member's bill to abolish the 'Lump'.

Eric Heffer had revised his opinions on the EEC in 1970, deciding that the spending on the Common Agriculture Policy was excessive and too big a burden on the budget.

Eric Heffer voted with the majority of the Labour Party against endorsing the Heath government's application in October 1971.

In March 1974, Harold Wilson invited Eric Heffer to be Minister of State at the Department of Industry under Tony Benn.

Eric Heffer accepted the offer, while remaining concerned that he would be cocooned in his office and lose his links with the wider Labour movement outside.

Eric Heffer received many minutes from Wilson asking him to follow government policy in speeches, such that he minuted Wilson to tell him not to send them.

Eric Heffer worked together with Benn to try to establish the National Enterprise Board, which would provide industry with investment funding and have the ability to take failing firms into public ownership.

Eric Heffer was angry at this rule and wanted to resign.

Eric Heffer again became known as one of the leading left-wing Labour backbenchers who frequently voted against the government.

Eric Heffer opposed the government's incomes policy, and abstained rather than support the government's white paper on public expenditure in March 1976 which helped ensure the government's defeat.

Eric Heffer was opposed to the government's proposals for devolution to Scotland and Wales.

Eric Heffer abstained in the vote on a guillotine motion on the Scotland and Wales Bill on 22 February 1977, which resulted in the defeat of the guillotine, the loss of the Bill and endangered the government.

Eric Heffer was upset about the pact and started a motion to call a special meeting of the National Executive Committee.

Increasingly Eric Heffer began to use his position on the Labour Party NEC as the base of his political action.

Eric Heffer began a specific campaign to nationalise the building construction industry in the National Construction Corporation, and raised the issue at the 1977 Labour Party conference and on the TUC-Labour Party Liaison Committee, where Callaghan vetoed any consideration of the idea by government.

In intra-party matters, Eric Heffer opposed taking action against the Militant tendency after a report by the party's national agent Reg Underhill raised concerns over its activities.

Eric Heffer recommended that local parties hold political education events to explain democratic socialism to the Militant-dominated Labour Party Young Socialists.

Eric Heffer was one of the left-wing members of an ad hoc sub-committee of the NEC which undertook the task of cutting an overlong manifesto for the 1979 general election down to a manageable size.

Eric Heffer was one of those who wanted abolition of the House of Lords in the manifesto, a policy vetoed by James Callaghan.

Eric Heffer joined the campaign of the left to change the democratic structure of the Labour Party to give more power to those bodies such as party conference where the left was strong.

Eric Heffer was an important link between the National Executive and the Parliamentary Labour Party.

Eric Heffer did endorse the policy of forcing Labour Members of Parliament to seek reselection from their constituency parties, although he wanted the vote to involve all members rather than the 'General Management Committee' which comprised only activists.

At the 1980 Labour Party conference a procedural motion to allow the change to be made without delay was narrowly carried after Eric Heffer argued for it, but all proposals for balancing the composition of the electoral college were defeated and the issue was deferred until a special conference.

Eric Heffer regarded such an election as illegitimate and moved to suspend it until the new system was agreed, but the Parliamentary Labour Party rejected it.

Eric Heffer considered standing as a candidate himself but eventually deferred to Michael Foot who was eventually elected.

Eric Heffer compared the report to the propaganda of Joseph Goebbels, but he knew that Militant was powerful: when Eric Heffer considered running against Denis Healey for the Deputy Leadership of the Labour Party under the new electoral college system in 1981, his constituency party prevented him.

Eric Heffer joined with Foot and Denis Healey in an NEC motion calling for negotiations with the United Nations Secretary-General following the Argentine invasion of the Falkland Islands on 28 April 1982, in opposition to a motion from Tony Benn calling for a ceasefire and withdrawal of the British taskforce.

In June 1982 the NEC discussed Militant again, with Eric Heffer proposing that all members of the Labour Party subscribe to a 'statement of democratic socialist principles' which was defeated by 22 votes to 5.

Michael Foot resigned the leadership immediately afterwards, and with Tony Benn ineligible because of his own defeat, Eric Heffer stood for the leadership as the candidate of the 'hard left' in the election.

Eric Heffer was Chairman of the Labour Party from the end of the 1983 conference, a position which conveyed no authority but recognised his seniority.

However, with a Militant-dominated Labour council in Liverpool having been elected in 1983, Eric Heffer found increasing trouble in his constituency.

All but seven Labour councillors stood by the budget, and Eric Heffer supported the council in its demands of government and after a series of meetings with the Secretary of State for the Environment Patrick Jenkin, the government eventually gave way and allowed practically all of the budget.

In November 1984 Eric Heffer did not win re-election to the shadow cabinet and left the Labour front bench.

Eric Heffer said that he took a principled stance not to take any front bench post unless elected to it.

Eric Heffer was appalled at Kinnock's actions and walked off the platform in protest.

Eric Heffer's autobiography has been taken by most reviewers to illustrate his "known dislike" for Kinnock.

Eric Heffer's views are most clearly expressed in a letter he sent to Labour Party general secretary Larry Whitty at the time of the 1986 inquiry into the Liverpool District Labour Party:.

Eric Heffer had accompanied Derek Hatton during his NEC hearing regarding the Liverpool District Labour Party.

Eric Heffer joined a walk-out by members of the left which rendered the meeting inquorate.

Eric Heffer's constituency had become increasingly safe for him over the years and at the 1987 election he had the largest absolute Labour vote in the country and a rock-solid 23,000 majority.

On 24 November 1989 Eric Heffer announced that he would not fight the next election.

Eric Heffer suffered a long decline during which he devoted himself to writing.

When Parliament was recalled to debate the invasion of Kuwait in September 1990, Eric Heffer made what he knew would be his last speech in the House of Commons to urge the United Kingdom not to go to war.

Eric Heffer attended his memorial service held on 10 July 1991.

Eric Heffer appears in the majority of the strips, his "cruel Cockney humour" being described as lowering morale on his side, especially when directed at Neil Kinnock.

Eric Heffer was a bibliophile whose collection of 12,000 books was much more than his small house would normally accommodate.