Fred Jowett

[2] This organisation was won over to anarchism after 1889 and the Bradford branch subsequently disbanded, moving Jowett to instead join the Labour Electoral Association.

He was elected as a Poor Law Guardian and attempted to improve the quality of the food given to the children in the Bradford Workhouse.

[1] In the House of Commons Jowett attempted to persuade the government to introduce legislation that he had pioneered in Bradford, such as a school meals programme.

During this period Jowett established himself as one of the leading left-wing figures in the House of Commons and in 1909 was elected Chairman of the Independent Labour Party.

This proposal was unpopular with the leaders who felt it would undermine their power if the Labour Party formed the next government.

In the 1918 general election all those Labour MPs who opposed the war, including Jowett, Ramsay MacDonald, George Lansbury and Philip Snowden lost their seats.

Jowett was defeated in the 1924 general election and while out of the House of Commons took the opportunity to consider the future policies of the Independent Labour Party.

Ramsay MacDonald refused to endorse the report and now out of line with the ILP decided to resign from the party.

[citation needed] Jowett stood again in Bradford East in 1935, this time as an ILP candidate, facing a Labour Party opponent, Wilfred Heywood.

Jowett claimed that the government's Equality of Sacrifice policy was just propaganda and pointed out that workers' wages were falling well behind increasing prices.