William Edward Robinson

He was an elected member of Stoke on Trent council, becoming an Alderman and was later Mayor of the town circa 1918 for three years in succession.

In a straight fight (apparently with Unionist support) [3] he defeated the sitting Labour MP, Andrew MacLaren by the narrow margin of 63 votes, just 0.2% of the total poll.

[4] Robinson, perhaps mindful of his local arrangement with the Conservatives, voted against his own party in the division which brought in the first Labour government.

[5] Robinson was also one of a minority of Liberal MPs who voted with the Tories to force a debate on unemployment in May 1924 [6] and again on an employment issue in August.

[7] He decided not to defend his Burslem seat in 1924 when Labour was opposed by a Constitutionalist candidate, the former Liberal William Allen.