John Dugdale (Labour politician)

Well-connected with the Labour Party establishment, he worked as Private Secretary to Clement Attlee and was appointed a Minister in his post-war government.

In the new Parliament, he was appointed as Parliamentary Private Secretary by Clement Attlee, who had become Deputy Leader of the Labour Party largely by default of being the only former Minister to survive the election.

However, when the Labour Member of Parliament (MP) for West Bromwich Frederick Roberts resigned due to ill health, Dugdale was chosen to follow him, and he was elected unopposed at the by-election in April 1941.

In 1942 he was part of an all-party group which pressed for wider Sunday opening of cinemas and theatres, decrying the campaigning of the Lord's Day Observance Society.

The job involved a great deal of travelling to visit Royal Navy bases which were scattered across the world.

In 1956 he asked Parliamentary questions on the mysterious death of Lionel Crabb, who had disappeared while apparently on an intelligence mission to spy on a visiting Soviet warship.

Dugdale's deep belief in the Commonwealth led him to oppose the Macmillan government's application to join the European Economic Community.

While speaking on the Defence Estimates in the House of Commons on 11 March 1963, Dugdale was taken ill and rushed to hospital; he died during the night.