John Joseph Jones

Who was John Joseph Jones?

John Joseph Jones, known as Jack Jones, was a Labour Party Member of Parliament.

Born in Nenagh, Co Tipperary, Jones moved to London where he worked as a builders' labourer. He joined the Social Democratic Federation and was elected to West Ham Council in 1904.

In the 1906 general election, Jones unsuccessfully stood for Camborne. In 1911, he became a trade union organiser, for the National Union of General Workers.

In the Poplar by-election, 1914, Jones stood unsuccessfully for the British Socialist Party - the successor of the SDF. As a supporter of World War I, he joined the National Socialist Party split from the BSP, which soon affiliated to the Labour Party. In the 1918 general election, he stood against an official Labour candidate in Silvertown - the official candidate being an anti-war supporter of the Independent Labour Party. He became one of several National Socialist Party candidates elected, but the only one who stood for the party, rather than for the Labour Party. Despite this, he took the Labour Party whip in 1919.

Jones was described by TIME Magazine as "the wittiest man in the House of Commons". He held his seat in each election until he resigned in February 1940. He died the following year.