Percy Daines
Percy Daines (29 November 1902 – 3 March 1957) was a British insurance agent and politician. He served as a Labour and Co-operative Party Member of Parliament for East Ham North from the 1945 general election until his death, and was on the national committee of the Co-operative Party. He was known for his opposition to Communism, and was described as "one of the most powerful back-benchers in the Labour Party". Insurance agent Daines' early career was spent as a fireman on the railways. In 1921 he became an insurance official working for the Co-operative Insurance Society; as such he was a member of both the National Union of Railwaymen and the National Union of Distributive and Allied Workers. Daines married his wife Lilian in 1923. During the Second World War, Daines served with the Royal Engineers. He also became a member of Enfield Urban District Council. His wife was also a councillor in Enfield and later became chairman of the council. East Ham North He was chosen as Labour Party candidate for East Ham North for the 1945 general election, and was sponsored by the Co-operative Party which was the political wing of the Co-operative movement and in alliance with the Labour Party. The constituency was held by the Conservatives with a narrow majority of 533, but in the circumstances of the election Daines had no difficulty in gaining the seat with a majority of 10,559. Daines spoke in a censure debate in December 1945, arguing that workers had shown unity during the war and would show it in peace if they had a social motive instead of a profit motive. He often contributed to debates on insurance issues, using his experience as an agent. In July 1946 he spoke in a debate on the introduction of bread rationing, claiming that the Master Bakers' Association was only opposing out of concern for their own profits. Assistant Whip In December 1946, Daines was appointed an Assistant Whip. This was an unpaid position, and did not prevent him from speaking in the House of Commons. He was a loyal supporter of a controversial decision to reduce the period of the National Service in the armed forces from 18 months to 12, in a speech in April 1947. However, he resigned his post as Assistant Whip just before the summer recess of that year. He remained loyal to the government when a fellow Labour MP opposed an order which allowed the Government to choose which jobs the unemployed should take; he look forward to further orders "dealing with rentiers and spivs". Capital punishment On foreign policy, Daines joined a group of left-wing Labour MPs in opposing the ending of the British mandate in Palestine without creating independent Jewish and Arab states in line with the United Nations partition plan. He supported a moratorium on capital punishment, and broke the whip to insist on disagreement with the House of Lords after the Government conceded to Lords opposition; he was later to be a