Parliament
On the outbreak of war in 1939, Key left teaching to become a civil defence worker in London and deputy controller of civil defence in Poplar. When George Lansbury (Labour Member of Parliament (MP) for the Bow and Bromley division of Poplar) died in 1940, Key was elected at the Bow and Bromley by-election to follow him; he was opposed only by a Communist candidate in the byelection. From 1941 until the end of the war, Key was Regional Commissioner for the London Civil Defence region, with special responsibility for shelters.
Read more about this topic: Charles Key
Famous quotes containing the word parliament:
“What is the historical function of Parliament in this country? It is to prevent the Government from governing.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)
“He felt that it would be dull times in Dublin, when they should have no usurping government to abuse, no Saxon Parliament to upbraid, no English laws to ridicule, and no Established Church to curse.”
—Anthony Trollope (1815–1882)
“The war shook down the Tsardom, an unspeakable abomination, and made an end of the new German Empire and the old Apostolic Austrian one. It ... gave votes and seats in Parliament to women.... But if society can be reformed only by the accidental results of horrible catastrophes ... what hope is there for mankind in them? The war was a horror and everybody is the worse for it.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)