Richard Crossman

Richard Crossman
Crossman in 1947
Secretary of State for Social Services
In office
1 November 1968 – 19 June 1970
Prime MinisterHarold Wilson
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byKeith Joseph
Lord President of the Council
Leader of the House of Commons
In office
11 August 1966 – 18 October 1968
Prime MinisterHarold Wilson
Preceded byHerbert Bowden
Succeeded byFred Peart
Minister of Housing and Local Government
In office
16 October 1964 – 11 August 1966
Prime MinisterHarold Wilson
Preceded byKeith Joseph
Succeeded byTony Greenwood
Shadow Secretary of State for Education
In office
14 February 1963 – 16 October 1964
LeaderHarold Wilson
Succeeded byQuintin Hogg
Chair of the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party
In office
7 October 1960 – 6 October 1961
LeaderHugh Gaitskell
Preceded byGeorge Brinham
Succeeded byHarold Wilson
Member of Parliament
for Coventry East
In office
5 July 1945 – 8 February 1974
Preceded byConstituency created
Succeeded byConstituency abolished
Personal details
Born
Richard Howard Stafford Crossman

(1907-12-15)15 December 1907
London, England
Died5 April 1974(1974-04-05) (aged 66)
Banbury, England
Political partyLabour
Spouses
  • Erika Glück
  • Zita Baker
  • Anne McDougall
Alma materNew College, Oxford

Richard Howard Stafford Crossman OBE (15 December 1907 – 5 April 1974) was a British Labour Party politician. A university classics lecturer by profession, he was elected a Member of Parliament in 1945 and became a significant figure among the party's advocates of Zionism. He was a Bevanite on the left of the party, and a long-serving member of Labour's National Executive Committee (NEC) from 1952.

Crossman was a Cabinet minister in Harold Wilson's governments of 1964–1970, first for Housing, then as Leader of the House of Commons, and then for Social Services. In the early 1970s, Crossman was editor of the New Statesman. He is remembered for his highly revealing three-volume Diaries of a Cabinet Minister, published posthumously.