Francis Noel-Baker

Who was Francis Noel-Baker?

Francis Edward Noel-Baker was a British Labour Party politician. His father was Labour MP and Nobel Peace Prize-winner Philip Noel-Baker.

He was educated at Westminster School and King's College, Cambridge and served with the Intelligence Corps in World War II.

He was first elected to the House of Commons in the Labour landslide at the 1945 general election as Member of Parliament for Brentford and Chiswick. When elected, he was the youngest Labour MP. He lost his seat at the 1950 general election, but returned to Parliament at the 1955 election as MP for Swindon. He resigned his seat in March 1969, by taking the Chiltern Hundreds.

In 1971 he left the Labour Party in response to the party's opposition to British membership of the European Economic Community. He later joined the Social Democratic Party and later still the Conservative Party.

In 1948, Francis acted covertly for the British Government inside Franco's Fascist Spain. His report "Spanish Summary" with a forward written by Lady Megan Lloyd George M.P. had a huge influence in shaming the British and other governments and world-wide organisations for allowing the fascist state to remain undefeated in Europe until Franco's death.