Ida Copeland - Elected MP

Elected MP

Elected chairman of the Stoke division of the Women's Unionist Association in 1920, she was chosen as Conservative candidate for the Stoke division of Stoke on Trent in 1931 for the general election. Facing the opposition of Sir Oswald Mosley, leader of the New Party for the constituency, Copeland's popularity and involvement in local poliics and welfare proved fruitful. Mosley maintained strong connections with the Nazi Party in Germany. Lady Cynthia Mosley, had won Stoke for Labour in 1929. Although Mosley spent less than a week campaigning in the constituency, directing his efforts instead at a national campaign, he met enthusiastic support there, especially amongst younger voters. However the electoral tide ran in Copeland's favour. Her husband's position as a leading china manufacturer in the Potteries, and her 'moderate and straightforward appeal' won her an audience even outside factory gates. She won by an impressive majority of 6654 votes. She was the 25th woman to be elected to the House of Commons.

On May 1932, Copeland made her maiden speech on import duties, which she approached 'entirely from the point of view of the pottery industry'. It was an industry under threat from foreign competition and she welcomed the protection that tariffs afforded. She believed that overseas manufacturers paid starvation wages to their workers, and it was with a critical eye on the opposition benches that she asked:

Can we allow goods manufactured under those conditions to come into this country and lower the standard of living of our own people? I say 'no', and I firmly believe that, if we raise these tariffs, the time will come when our industry will be on its feet again.

She made another plea for protection of the china industry in December 1933 after reports that Australian and New Zealand markets were being flooded by cheap Japanese goods, including skilful imitations of British wares: ‘the competition is so severe that it threatens to sweep the English Potteries right out of those countries’. She wanted the British government to compel the dominion governments, in their own interests as much as in Britain's, to take action to prevent this ‘dumping’. This was, though, a sensitive matter and the official response was sympathetic without being specific.

She was also godmother to the daughter of John Becker and Dorothy Crisp (Elizabeth born 1946). Dorothy Crisp who kept her maiden name after marriage, was an English author, political writer and publisher. She was one time chairman of the British Housewives' League and (unlike Ida Copeland) was unsuccessful as an independent candidate in the 1943 Acton by-election in London.