Henry Usborne

Who was Henry Usborne?

Henry Charles Usborne was a British Labour politician who defected to the Liberals.

Henry Usborne was born in Leamington, Warwickshire, educated at Bradfield College and read Engineering at Cambridge.

At the 1945 general election, He was elected Member of Parliament for Acocks Green. The constituency was then abolished and in 1950 Usborne was elected in the marginal constituency of Birmingham Yardley. He held the seat until the 1959 general election.

According to his obituary in the Times on 19 March 1996, Usborne resigned from the Labour Party in 1962 and joined the Liberals. He urged former colleagues to join Jo Grimond's party as the best hope for defeating the Conservatives. There was a suggestion that Usborne be nominated to stand for the Liberal Party at Cheltenham but he announced that wild horses would not drag him into another Parliamentary contest.

In addition to his work as a constituency MP Henry Usborne was one of the main drivers in the British branch of the World Federalist Movement.