Harry Selby

Who was Harry Selby?

Harry Selby was a Scottish politician.

A barber by trade, based in Glasgow, he became an active Trotskyist, joining the Revolutionary Socialist League. When this disintegrated, he became a leading figure in the Left Fraction. This group followed a strict policy of entrism in the Labour Party, and although Selby was briefly expelled in the mid-1940s, he was soon readmitted. Following a split in the Left Fraction in 1948, Selby became its leader, and he and his supporters increasingly came to dominate the Glasgow Govan Labour Party.

Eventually allowing the Left Fraction to peter out, Selby was able to win the Labour candidature in the Glasgow Govan by-election, 1973. Much to his surprise, he lost the normally safe seat to Margo Macdonald of the Scottish National Party.

Selby stood again for the Labour Party in Glasgow Govan in the February 1974 UK general election, in which he took the seat by a narrow majority of 543 votes. He held the seat in the October general election but stood down in 1979.