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Sydney Bidwell

Member of Parliament for Ealing Southall Southall (1966–1983)
In office 31 March 1966 – 16 March 1992
Preceded by	George Albert Pargiter
Succeeded by	Piara Khabra

Personal details
Born	(1917-01-14)14 January 1917 Southall, Middlesex, United Kingdom
Died	25 May 1997(1997-05-25) (aged 80) London
Political party	Labour
Spouse	Daphne Peart
Occupation	MP
Profession	Politician

Sydney James Bidwell (14 January 1917 – 25 May 1997) was a British Labour politician.

Bidwell was a worker on the Great Western Railway, and became a tutor and organiser for the National Council of Labour Colleges. He went on to become the London Regional Education Officer for the TUC. Having joined the Labour Party in his youth, in the 1940s he was also a member of the Trotskyist Revolutionary Communist Party.^[1] He was a councillor on Southall Borough Council 1951–55.

Bidwell contested East Hertfordshire in 1959 and South West Hertfordshire in 1964. He was elected as Member of Parliament (MP) for Southall at the 1966 general election, and was elected for the largely similar seat of Ealing Southall in 1983.

In 1973, the Conservative government of Edward Heath introduced a statutory instrument; the Motor Cycles (Wearing of Helmets) Regulations 1973; which made it compulsory for people to wear a British Standards-approved crash helmet when motorcycling. In January 1975, Bidwell moved a bill to exempt Sikhs from the instrument. He argued that as HM forces had always exempted Sikhs from wearing a helmet in combat, they should likewise be exempted from wearing a helmet while motorcycling. In November 1976, Bidwell's bill received the royal assent and became Motorcycle Crash-Helmets (Religious Exemption) Act, 1976.^[2]

Before the 1992 general election, Bidwell was de-selected as a candidate at the age of 75. When his appeal to the Labour National Executive Committee failed, he decided to stand as a "True Labour" candidate, but finished third behind the official Labour candidate Piara Khabra, with 9% of the vote.

References

^ Sid Bidwell, "National Council of Labour Colleges", International Socialism No.12 (1963)
^ "The Motorcycle Helmet Law". Right To Ride. 7 February 2013. Retrieved 11 July 2024.

Sources

Buchan, Janey (28 May 1997). "Obituary: Sydney Bidwell". The Independent. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
Sydney Bidwell's parliamentary record: from 'Hansard
Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs
Account of Bidwell's victory on turban-wearing

External links

Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Syd Bidwell

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by George Pargiter	Member of Parliament for Southall 1966–1983	Constituency abolished
New constituency	Member of Parliament for Ealing Southall 1983–1992	Succeeded by Piara Khabra

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