# Michael Cliffe

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Michael_Cliffe
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Michael_Cliffe.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Cliffe
> Source revision: 1350785272
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

**Michael Cliffe** (6 March 1903 – 9 August 1964) was a British clothing industry worker and politician, who was a [Member of Parliament](/source/Member_of_Parliament_(United_Kingdom)) in inner London for six years.

## Working life

Cliffe, was born in [Sheffield](/source/Sheffield) and went to Holliscroft School, leaving to go into the clothing industry as a tailor's presser. He was active in the [National Union of Tailors and Garment Workers](/source/National_Union_of_Tailors_and_Garment_Workers) and was elected to the Union's National Executive. He moved to London to live in [Finsbury](/source/Finsbury) where he became active in local politics as a member of the [Labour Party](/source/Labour_Party_(UK)); in 1949 he was elected to [Finsbury Borough Council](/source/Finsbury_Borough_Council) from West Finsbury ward, at the top of the poll in a six-member ward. On the last day of 1952 he formally adopted the first name 'Michael' by [deed poll](/source/Deed_poll).[1]

## Municipal experience

After local ward boundary changes, Cliffe was elected in Central ward from 1953, but then was elected an [Alderman](/source/Alderman) (his wife Sophia, née Whitesman, followed him onto the council); he remained an Alderman until his death. He was chairman of the Housing Committee, and when the building work was completed he was allocated a flat in the [Golden Lane Estate](/source/Golden_Lane_Estate). He was chosen as Mayor of Finsbury for the year 1956-1957 and was then Chairman of the Policy and Resources Committee (the unofficial Leader of the Council).

## Byelection

As Chairman of Shoreditch and Finsbury [Constituency Labour Party](/source/Constituency_Labour_Party) when the local Member of Parliament [Victor Collins](/source/Victor_Collins,_Baron_Stonham) took a [life peerage](/source/Life_peerage) in the first appointments in 1958, Cliffe was selected as his successor as Labour candidate for the constituency of [Shoreditch and Finsbury](/source/Shoreditch_and_Finsbury). Despite a rumbustious campaign in which the police had to be called to one of his meetings and arrested four men, Cliffe comfortably retained the seat on a low turnout in the byelection.

## Parliamentary life

A quiet and rare speaker in the [House of Commons](/source/British_House_of_Commons), Cliffe was active in supporting his constituents. He joined a delegation to the Home Secretary from the Street Bookmakers' Federation in 1960, saying he wanted to be better informed of their views in advance of the debate on a Gambling Bill. He was Chairman of the [Warsaw Ghetto Uprising](/source/Warsaw_Ghetto_Uprising) Memorial Committee and in 1961 called attention to increasing votes for fascist candidates, declaring "anything that spells Fascism must be rooted out and destroyed".

When tension grew over the [Berlin Wall](/source/Berlin_Wall) in 1961, Cliffe was one of four Labour MPs who demanded the [recall of Parliament](/source/Recall_of_Parliament), and later wrote a letter to [President Kennedy](/source/President_Kennedy) and [Nikita Khrushchev](/source/Nikita_Khrushchev) urging hasty negotiations and a moratorium on nuclear testing. He had been intending to continue his Parliamentary career, but was taken ill and died in [St Bartholomew's Hospital](/source/St_Bartholomew's_Hospital) in August 1964, aged 61. Finsbury Metropolitan Borough Council named a 25-storey block of flats after him on the [Finsbury Estate](/source/Finsbury_Estate) simply named Michael Cliffe House.

## References

- M. Stenton and S. Lees, "Who's Who of British MPs" Vol. IV (Harvester Press, 1981)
- Obituary, *[The Times](/source/The_Times)*, 10 August 1964
- *Who Was Who*, A&C Black

1. No. 39751. 13 January 1953. p. 311.

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Michael Cliffe](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Cliffe) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Cliffe?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.