William Warbey

William Warbey
Member of Parliament
for Ashfield
In office
26 May 1955 – 10 March 1966
Preceded byConstituency created
Succeeded byDavid Marquand
Member of Parliament
for Broxtowe
In office
17 September 1953 – 6 May 1955
Preceded bySeymour Cocks
Succeeded byConstituency abolished
Member of Parliament
for Luton
In office
5 July 1945 – 3 February 1950
Preceded byLeslie Burgin
Succeeded byCharles Hill
Personal details
Born(1903-08-16)16 August 1903
Hackney, London, England
Died6 May 1980(1980-05-06) (aged 76)
Eastbourne, East Sussex, England
Political partyLabour
Spouse
Audrey Wicks
(m. 1931)

William Noble Warbey (16 August 1903 – 6 May 1980) was a Labour Party politician in the United Kingdom.

He was born in the then newly created Metropolitan Borough of Hackney in London, and was educated at Hackney Downs School, King's College London and the London School of Economics. As a young man he was an interpreter in France and Germany, a secondary school teacher in Derby, and a tutor at the University Tutorial College in London.[1] He first entered the House of Commons at the 1945 general election, as the Member of Parliament for Luton in Bedfordshire. However, at the 1950 general election, he lost his seat to the Conservative Party candidate Charles Hill, the former "radio doctor".

Warbey re-entered Parliament at a 1953 by-election for the Nottinghamshire constituency of Broxtowe, following the death of sitting Labour MP Seymour Cocks. However, that constituency was abolished for the 1955 general election, at which Warbey was returned for the new Ashfield constituency. He held the seat until his retirement at the 1966 general election.Thereafter, he was employed as Executive Director of the Organisation for World Political and Social Studies.[1]

He was known for his strong opposition to British support for the United States in the Vietnam War, resigning the Labour whip in protest in September 1965, and "subsequently wrote a scathing book about [Harold] Wilson's support for the United States" entitled Vietnam: The Truth.[1][2]

He died in Eastbourne aged 76.

  1. ^ a b c "WARBEY, William Noble". Who's Who & Who Was Who. Vol. 2023 (online ed.). A & C Black. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  2. ^ Rhiannon Vickers, "Harold Wilson, the British Labour Party, and the War in Vietnam." Journal of Cold War Studies 10:2 (2008), p. 54.