Arthur Champion, Baron Champion

Arthur Joseph Champion, Baron Champion PC (26 July 1897 – 2 March 1985), known as Joe Champion, was a British Labour Party politician.

The Right Honourable The Lord Champion PC
Champion in 1959
Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
In office 21 October 1964 – 7 January 1967
Prime Minister	Harold Wilson
Leader	The Earl of Longford
Preceded by	The Viscount Blakenham
Succeeded by	The Lord Shackleton
Minister without Portfolio
In office 21 October 1964 – 7 January 1967
Prime Minister	Harold Wilson
Preceded by	Eric Fletcher
Succeeded by	Douglas Houghton
Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries
In office 26 April 1951 – 26 October 1951
Prime Minister	Clement Attlee
Preceded by	The Earl of Listowel George Brown
Succeeded by	The Lord Carrington Richard Nugent
Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal
In office 11 May 1962 – 2 March 1985 Life Peerage
Member of Parliament for South East Derbyshire (1950-1959) South Derbyshire (1945-1950)
In office 5 July 1945 – 18 September 1959
Preceded by	Paul Emrys-Evans
Succeeded by	John Jackson
Personal details
Born	26 July 1897 Glastonbury, England
Died	2 March 1985(1985-03-02) (aged 87) Pontypridd, Wales
Political party	Labour

He was born in Glastonbury as the youngest of six children and went on to work on the railways after serving in the First World War. He married Mary Emma (née Williams) in October 1930 and the couple had one daughter, born in December 1931.

He was elected as Member of Parliament (MP) for South Derbyshire at the 1945 general election, defeating the sitting Conservative MP Paul Emrys-Evans to win a majority of nearly 23,000 votes. After boundary changes for the 1950 general election, he was re-elected for the new South East Derbyshire constituency, and held that seat until his defeat at the 1959 general election by only 12 votes.

He was made a life peer on 11 May 1962, as Baron Champion, of Pontypridd in the County of Glamorgan. In January 1967 he was appointed as a Privy Counsellor.

In the last year of Clement Attlee's Labour Government, he served from April to October 1951 as Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. After taking his seat in the House of Lords, he was a Minister without Portfolio from 1964 to 1967 in Harold Wilson's government. He died in Pontypridd aged 87.

References

• Richard Kimber's political science resources: UK General Elections since 1832 Archived 5 May 2004 at the Wayback Machine
• Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
• Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Arthur Champion