| Description | This collection consists of Peter Shore's local Labour Party papers, constituency correspondence and subject files.
THE FOLLOWING ARE CATALOGUED and described in this catalogue:
P/SHR/1: local Labour Party papers
THE FOLLOWING ARE UNCATALOGUED: constituency correspondence and subject files. Please contact staff for further details on access. The constituency correspondence consists of letters with local people and about cases arranged into periods of office, by type of case or subject as follows:
Benefits, business, development, Docklands, employment, education, health, housing, immigration - Bangladeshi, immigration - other and immigration - applications for citizenship, international, legal (including police and prisoners), Local / Tower Hamlets issues (arranged chronologically, 1992-1996), London, London Borough of Tower Hamlets; miscellaneous, national, organisations (local organisations and facilities), party politics, race relations, Spitalfields (covering 1975-1991); social services, tax, telecommunications and post office; transport; waste.
Also general invitations; further constituents' correspondence arranged A-Z by surname.
The files provide:
-detailed history of housing cases, education needs, immigration support, race relations, transport infrastructure developments and Labour party politics in the borough of Tower Hamlets
-document a rich tapestry of changes in the ethnic demographic of the borough including an era of heightened activism against state discrimination and racism
-cover social histories and communities who are underrepresented.
Click the PDF icon to browse descriptions to this collection in PDF |
| AdminHistory | Peter David Shore MP was born 20 May 1924 and died 24 September 2001.
He was born in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk. He attended Quarry Bank Grammar School in Liverpool and King's College, Cambridge, where he studied History.
He served as a flying officer in the Royal Air Force Air Crew 1943-1946. In 1948 he joined the Labour Party and was employed in the Research Department, becoming its head from 1959-1964. Shore stood unsuccessfully for St Ives, Cornwall in 1950 and Halifax in 1959.
Constituency Work in Tower Hamlets:
He was successfully elected to become MP for Stepney in 1964. He held this seat which became Stepney and Poplar, and later Bethnal Green and Stepney, until 1997.
Peter Shore visited Bangladesh frequently throughout his career and was a supporter of the independence struggle in Bangladesh. His actions and representation of the Asian diaspora within his constituency and parliament gave him a reputation as a friend to the Bangladeshi community. Shore was formally recognised and honoured posthumously by the Government of Bangladesh in 2012.
During the rise of the National Front and racial violence in the 1970s, Shore made tackling racist violence in his constituency a priority. He spoke at local meetings and brought the issue to the Government.
Peter Shore held regular surgeries, and his constituency casework was varied and broad, taking up issues relating to housing, unemployment and education. In Parliament, Shore argued strongly for the renewal of the Docklands and regeneration of the East End areas.
Government Positions:
Shore was Prime Minister Harold Wilson's private parliamentary secretary from 1965-1966. Shore drafted the 1966 and 1970 Labour Party General Election manifestos.
Shore joined the Cabinet in 1967, being appointed as Secretary of State for Economic Affairs (1967-1969). He would go on to hold positions on the frontbench in government and opposition throughout his career:
- Minister without Portfolio and Deputy Leader of the House (1969-1970).
- Opposition spokesman on Europe (1971-1974) and Shadow Minister for Europe (1971-1972).
- Secretary of State for Trade (1974-1976)
- Secretary of State for the Environment (1976-1979).
- Shadow Secretary of State for the Environment (1979)
- Shadow Foreign Secretary (1979-1980)
- Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer (1980-1983)
- Shadow Secretary of Trade and Industry (1983-1984)
- Shadow Leader of the House of Commons (1983-1987)
Shore unsuccessfully stood for leader of the Labour Party in 1980.
Peter Shore was created Baron Shore of Stepney in 1997. He was titled Lord Peter Shore of Stepney. He received an Honorary Freedom of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in 2000.
He married Liz Wrong in 1948 and they had four children.
Sources:
[https://www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/lgnl/leisure_and_culture/Bangladesh-at-50/Swadhinata-Trust.aspx]
[LC1063 - Memorial service : the Rt Hon Lord Peter Shore of Stepney, 1924-2001, St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Thursday 21st March, 11am. - [2002]]
[Local History Library Cuttings Collection: LCX00295 - Shore, Peter : [cuttings and ephemera on biography]. - 1965-2010] |
| CustodialHistory | Formerly deposited at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) as reference numbers SHORE/18-20. Also further sequence of files which LSE received via Queen Mary University London. |