Coming from a political family can have both benefits and drawbacks. Silkin (the third youngest son, born 18 March 1923) had to follow in the footsteps of his father, Lewis Silkin (later ‘Baron Silkin of Dulwich). Lewis Silkin had been fundamental in Britain’s post-war reconstruction being responsible for the 1947 Planning Act, when Minister of Town and Country Planning, which led to the construction of new towns. John Silkin’s impact on the Labour Party and the wider political environment was much narrower and he never quite escaped the shadow of his father.
Raised in south-east London, Silkin was, from an early age, surrounded by the company of politicians – Ramsay MacDonald, Herbert Morrison and Jimmy Maxton all being regular visitors to the Silkin household. His entry into politics was only, therefore, a matter of timing and he joined the Labour Party in 1939 whilst still at Dulwich College. After attending the University College of Wales for a short period, he was called up to serve in the Navy where, in the Intelligence Corps (as Lieutenant Commander), he saw active duty in the Far East. After being demobilised, Silkin went on to study at Trinity College, Cambridge where he earned a BA (1946) and a LLB (1948). He entered the family law firm and acted for, amongst others, future Labour Cabinet minister, Tony Crosland. Silkin’s brother, Sam, also studied Law and went to the Bar before becoming Attorney-General.
Silkin’s first attempt to win a Parliamentary seat came at Marylebone (an unwinnable seat for Labour in London) in the February 1950 general election. It was during this campaign that he met his wife, Rosamund John, the beautiful actress who had starred in several British post-war films (they had one son, Rory Lewis). Silkin went on to fight West Woolwich (1951) and South Nottingham (1959) before finally fighting a seat successfully in a by-election for the London constituency of Deptford in 1963 – which he represented until his death. More or less as soon as he entered Parliament, Silkin began his rise through the ranks of the Parliamentary Labour Party.
He soon became Chief Whip (1968), after first serving as a junior whip (1964) and Deputy Chief Whip (1966), and worked closely with the Leader of the House, Richard Crossman, to establish a more liberal regime (Silkin was also Deputy Leader of the Commons, 1968-69). He drew up a new code of conduct for MPs and widened the concept of conscience in votes, preferring friendly relations with parliamentary colleagues and employing the power of persuasion. This proved highly popular with Labour Members of Parliament but it came to an end when Harold Wilson and Barbara Castle’s ‘In Place of Strife’ trade union legislation could not be forced through the party. Silkin was replaced by the more hard line Bob Mellish in 1969 but regardless of set-back he remained a close confidant of Marcia Williams, Wilson’s influential Personal and Political Secretary. Leo Abse has described Silkin as ‘the most gentle and probably the most successful whip in Labour’s history’.
His appointment as Chief Whip represented the height of his achievements, his ministerial appointments in the Governments of 1964-70 and 1974-79 being less ‘exciting’. He first gained his own ministry in 1969 with Public Buildings and Works but the first full Cabinet position came in 1974 with the Ministry of Planning. This demonstrated a parallel with his father’s political career, but Silkin’s Community Land Act proved to be an expensive failure. He was much happier on moving to the Ministry of Agriculture in 1976, where he served until 1979, and it was here that he was able to utilise his anti EEC feelings to great effect. He saved Britain’s doorstep milk deliveries in spite of the opposition of other Member States and refused to allow British fishing grounds to be taken-over. He also helped to defuse a potentially damaging rumour of a food shortage. After the Winter of Discontent, and the election defeat of 1979, he held the difficult position as spokesperson on industry (1979-80).
Ironically, this anti-EEC position was one of the causes of the creation of the Social Democratic Party by the Labour MPs David Owen, Shirley Williams and Bill Rogers. Silkin was active in the Common Market Safeguards Committee and his calls for the next Labour Government to withdraw was largely instrumental in bringing them together in the ‘Gang of Three’. He was also a proponent of the Alternative Economic Strategy and such economic ideals led him to stand alongside Tony Benn, Michael Foot and Barbara Castle in opposing the cuts in public expenditure proposed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) during the Labour Government of 1974-79.
Silkin saw himself as being capable of holding the highest office in the Labour Party and believed that he had the support of others. Yet this support did not come to fruition when he stood for the party leadership in 1980 and the deputy leadership in 1981. In these contests, Silkin saw himself as the comprise candidate between the right and the ‘hard’ left of the party. He greatly miscalculated his standing within the party, and whilst he considered himself a ‘heavyweight’, others did not. He did, however, retain a seat on the party’s front bench as Shadow Leader of the House (1980-83) and as spokesperson on defence and disarmament (1981-83). This period was the nadir of the party’s organisation, leading to such infamous incidents as Silkin, Michael Foot and Denis Healey announcing three different version of the same policy on the same day.
Silkin was always identified as being from the left of the party and in 1970 became a member of the Tribune group of MPs. Silkin put much effort into the running of the group’s newspaper, Tribune, and fought hard to prevent its take-over by the ‘hard’ left. Its then editor, Chris Mullin (who became an MP himself in 1997 and was made a junior minister under Tony Blair), attacked the Tribune Group and this greatly angered Silkin. The disagreement led to a legal battle with the paper, after Silkin had organised a shareholders coup (supported by Lord Bruce, Russell Kerr and Jennie Lee). Vocal opposition from his local party almost led to him being de-selected as the candidate for the 1983 election. Mullin even embarked on a speaking tour of Silkin’s constituency calling for his de-selection. Such struggles led him to announce his plans to step down at the following general election (1987) and it was widely assumed that he would be elevated to the House of Lords on standing down. His untimely death, prior to the election, prevented this.
Shortly before his passing, Silkin completed a book (Changing Battlefields, 1987) analysing the problems of the Labour party and offering solutions. It was published shortly after his premature death on 26 April 1987 at the age of 64 from a heart attack.