{{Short description|British politician}} {{distinguish|Jack Mendelsohn|John Mendelsohn (disambiguation){{!}}John Mendelsohn}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2017}} {{Use British English|date=May 2017}} {{infobox officeholder | name = John Mendelson | constituency_MP = Penistone | parliament = United Kingdom | term_start = 11 June 1959 | term_end = 20 May 1978 | predecessor = Henry McGhee | successor = Allen McKay | birth_name = John Jakob Mendelson | birth_date = {{birth date|1917|7|6|df=yes}} | birth_place = Płock, Poland | death_date = {{Death date and age|1978|5|20|1917|7|6|df=yes}} | death_place = London, England | party = Labour | profession = Academic | alma_mater = London School of Economics | branch = British Army | rank = Captain | service_years = 1939–1945 | battles = World War II }} '''John Jakob Mendelson''' (6 July 1917 – 20 May 1978) was a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament for Penistone from 1959 until his death.
==Early life== John Jakob Mendelson was born on 6 July 1917 in Płock, Poland, to a Jewish family, of which he was the only one who survived the Holocaust.<ref name = Palgrave>{{cite book|editor-last1 = Rubinstein|editor-first1 = William D.|editor-last2 = Jolles|editor-first2 = Michael A.|editor-last3 = Rubinstein|editor-first3 = Hillary L.|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=spOxzrifZjcC&q=mendelson|title = The Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History|date = 2011|publisher = Springer Publishing|isbn = 978-0230304666|accessdate = 1 December 2023|page = 662}}</ref><ref name = ODNB>{{Cite web|url=https://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?cite=Mg3gWog2GspJUFfp%2Fey6BQ&scan=1|title=Index entry|accessdate=1 December 2023|work=FreeBMD|publisher=ONS}}</ref><ref name = Times>{{cite news|title = Mr John Mendelson, MP|date = 22 May 1978|newspaper = The Times|page = 16}}</ref> He was educated in Berlin, and came to Britain to attend the London School of Economics.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Catalogue description: JOHN MENDELSON, M.P |url=https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/7a34baf9-b936-4e8f-bdc4-0a7304d494b5 |website=The National Archives}}</ref> He served in the British Army as a captain during World War II, from 1939 to 1945.<ref name = Palgrave/><ref name = Times/> In 1949, he became a lecturer in political science at the University of Sheffield,<ref name = Times/> and was vice-president of Sheffield Trades and Labour Council.
==Political career== Mendelson was elected MP for Penistone, South Yorkshire at a 1959 by-election, and served on the Public Accounts Committee. He was left-wing and a member of the Tribune Group. However, he clashed with some leftists on certain issues, such as the Soviet Union, which he voiced criticism of.<ref name = Times/> Conversely, others accused him of being too sympathetic to the Soviet Union.<ref name = Aitken>{{cite news|url = https://www.newspapers.com/image/259501210/|title = MP's death adds to Labour's byelection woes|last = Aitken|first = Ian|authorlink = Ian Aitken (journalist)|date = 22 May 1978|newspaper = The Guardian|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = 1 December 2023|page = 20|url-access = subscription}}</ref>
Mendelson was instrumental in persuading Harold Wilson to contest the Labour Party leadership in 1963, as a candidate of the left.<ref name = Times/> He also introduced Tony Benn to the radical history of the Diggers and the Levellers, on which Benn drew from the 1970s onwards.<ref>Jad Adams [http://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/jad-adams/tony-benn-and-radical-socialist-tradition "Tony Benn and the radical socialist tradition"], Open Democracy/Our Kingdom, 19 March 2014</ref> In the 1970s, he opposed the Wilson government's wage freeze policies.<ref>{{cite news|url = https://www.newspapers.com/image/750615638/|title = Mr John Mendelson|date = 22 May 1978|newspaper = The Daily Telegraph|page = 12|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = 1 December 2023|url-access = subscription}}</ref>
On foreign policy, Mendelson joined with Richard Crossman in 1959, in fervently opposing any efforts to give West Germany nuclear weapons.<ref name = Times/> He was a member of the Labour Friends of Israel.<ref name = Palgrave/> Mendelson was also a staunch critic of American involvement in the Vietnam War and felt that the Wilson government should have been more vocally opposed to US foreign policy.<ref name = Times/><ref name = Aitken/> In 1973, Mendelson became a member of the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe.<ref name = Palgrave/>
Mendelson died from a heart attack in London on 20 May 1978, at the age of 60.<ref name = Palgrave/><ref name = ODNB/><ref name = Aitken/> His successor at the subsequent by-election was Allen McKay.
==References== {{reflist}} *''Times Guide to the House of Commons October 1974'' *{{Rayment-hc|date=March 2012}}
==External links== * {{Hansard-contribs | mr-john-mendelson | John Mendelson }}
{{s-start}} {{s-par|uk}} {{succession box | title = Member of Parliament for Penistone | years = 1959–1978 | before = Henry McGhee | after = Allen McKay }} {{s-end}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mendelson, John}} Category:1917 births Category:1978 deaths Category:Academics of the University of Sheffield Category:Alumni of the London School of Economics Category:British Army personnel of World War II Category:Jewish English politicians Category:English people of Polish-Jewish descent Category:Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Category:Polish emigrants to the United Kingdom Category:Politics of Penistone Category:Politicians from Płock Category:UK MPs 1955–1959 Category:UK MPs 1959–1964 Category:UK MPs 1964–1966 Category:UK MPs 1966–1970 Category:UK MPs 1970–1974 Category:UK MPs 1974 Category:UK MPs 1974–1979