Austin Hopkinson JP (24 June 1879 – 2 September 1962) was a British industrialist and Member of Parliament (MP) who represented Mossley as an Independent from 1918 to 1929 and 1931 to 1945.

Owing to boundary changes he fought the new Mossley constituency where he was adopted as a Liberal who supported David Lloyd George's governing Coalition.

Initially, as shown by his choice of taking his seat in uniform, Hopkinson was particularly active on military matters, calling for 'democracy under discipline' and a recognition that democratic forces were present when reconstructing the Army.

He was a member of the House of Commons Army Committee in 1919, and the following year criticised the actions of Brigadier-General Dyer in the Amritsar massacre following the official report into it.

He became increasingly involved in industrial topics in which he was critical of the trades unions (regarding them as having devoured the liberty of the workers) and of socialism to the level of distrusting the motives of those advocating socialist policies.

On 22 March 1922 Hopkinson wrote to The Times to suggest that ballot papers include a box in which voters could express their disapproval of all the candidates on offer.

At the 1923 election, Hopkinson's outspoken support for free trade helped him fight off a renewed attempt by the Liberal Party to regain the seat, although his majority was reduced to only 375 votes.

At the Westminster Abbey by-election in March 1924, Hopkinson signed the nomination papers for Winston Churchill who had fallen out with the Liberal Party and was standing as an Independent Constitutionalist.

In March 1926 Hopkinson had the pleasure of formally introducing his father Alfred to the House of Commons, after he won a by-election in the Combined English Universities.

Hopkinson kept up his contribution of articles expressing unorthodox thoughts to journals while out of Parliament, blaming the Wall Street crash of 1929 on an American attempt to restrict imports.

At the 1931 general election Hopkinson attempted to regain his seat but found himself opposed by an official Conservative Party candidate as well as the sitting Labour MP.

Hopkinson continued to support free trade and Baldwin, and in the 1935 general election the putative Conservative candidate withdrew in his favour.

Baldwin wrote to Hopkinson (under the salutation "Dear Hoppy") that "You have been one of my most loyal supporters in good times and in bad when I needed friends most".

During breaks in his service he voted against Chamberlain after the Norway debate of 1940, and supported Churchill's policy of 'total war', but opposed the use of secret sessions of the House of Commons to suppress public criticism of the performance of Ministers.

As the war was coming to an end, Hopkinson uncovered a financial scandal involving the Air Ministry and the British Overseas Airways Corporation in a speech on 19 December 1944.