Who from Brighton’s past should we be remembering? The film ‘Vindication Swim’ recalls the achievements of the amazing Mercedes Gleitze

(This item first appeared in the Brighton Argus on 13th March 2024)

Brighton has a poor record of preserving the memory of those who have gone before. How many Brightonians, not least those who are recent arrivals, know who Herbert Carden, Dorothy Stringer or Lewis Cohen were? And why should they? The City Council does little to commemorate these and other individuals who helped make the city what it is. The Argus remembers them, and Brighton and Hove Buses names significant people from Brighton’s past on its buses and on a special website. It should be commended for this.

From time to time I write about people I have known who have died, people like Selma Montford, Dennis Hobden, Ruth Larkin, Bernie Jordan and Bob Cristofili. Mary Clarke is the ‘forgotten suffragette’ in spite of being Emmeline Pankhurst’s sister. Mary ran the Brighton office of the Women’s Social and Political Union. She died on Christmas Day 1910 from a brain haemorrhage probably caused by rough treatment at the hands of the police and prison authorities immediately before her passing. There is no memorial for Mary other than her name appearing on the front of a Brighton bus. There is now a campaign to have a statue of Mary Clarke erected in the gardens of the Royal Pavilion estate. 

Another long-forgotten Brightonian is Mercedes Gleitze. She was born in Brighton who, in 1927, became the first British woman to swim the English Channel. Her swimming achievements were not ‘limited’ to that. She is believed to be the first person to swim the Straights of Gibraltar and was the first person to swim to Robben Island and back to Cape Town, a sea I know well as I was brought up there and can testify to the currents and coldness of those waters.

After nearly 100 years during which time she had become largely forgotten, her legacy is now secure through a film that went on general release last Friday, deliberately coinciding with International Women’s Day. The film, Vindication Swim, features the amazing Kirsten Callaghan and the equally impressive John Locke. Remarkably, it was written and directed by a 23-year-old Brightonian, Elliott Hasler. If you warch just one film this year, make sure it’s Vindication Swim.

With Kirsten Callaghan and John Locke (I’m the one who didn’t dress up for the occasion!)

After a special screening of the film on International Women’s Day at Brighton’s Duke of York cinema, a cinema that Mercedes herself had visited, Kirsten Callaghan, John Locke and Elliott Hasler answered questions from the audience. Kirsten described some of the discomforts and challenges faced by Mercedes which she, too, had experienced. For example, she wore a heavy 100-year-old one-piece bathing suit. The leather in the goggles she used bled, resulting in a disgusting taste seeping into her mouth. On one occasion she was in the water for four hours, with the salt affecting her mouth and sense of taste. Elliott, too, spent lengthy periods filming in the water, but he had the protection of a wetsuit! John, on the other hand, stayed in a small support boat as had his character, Harold Best, who had coached Mercedes.

All the scenes in the sea were filmed off the south coast. No use was made of stage tanks nor ‘green screen’ technology where subjects can be superimposed onto virtual backgrounds. 

Back to Mercedes herself. Her first endurance swimming record was for 26 hours. Over several years she extended this record to 45 and, subsequently, 46 hours. She had become a popular and famous personality, and when she undertook these endurance swims in public swimming baths, crowds would attend and encourage her by singing together.

Most of Mercedes epic swims, including her world records for endurance swimming, were sponsored.  She used her sponsorship and winnings to open accommodation for homeless people, particularly homeless women, with the first Mercedes Gleitze Home opening in Leicester in 1933. The charity bearing her name continues to operate providing accommodation for homeless people but, sadly, not in Brighton. She helped unemployed people to move from the north to Leicester where there were jobs. She is also said to have supported the extension of the franchise to women below the age of 30 in 1928.

Towards the end of her life, Mercedes became increasingly reclusive. She denied her past achievements and would not discuss them with her family.  She died in1981 in London aged 80. There is now a blue plaque commemorating this daughter of Brighton at the house in Freshfield Road where she was born in 1900.

I hope that in future more Brighton women, perhaps not as exceptional as Mercedes Gleitze, can be remembered for their own extraordinary achievements.

MPs and councillors have lost the plot about their true roles

(This item first appeared in the Brighton Argus on 14th February 2024)

When Winston Churchill was the Member of Parliament for Dundee between 1908 and 1922, it is said that he never visited the town. This was not uncommon at that time and many MPs would never visit their constituency between elections. The link with one’s constituency was merely a vehicle of convenience for gaining political office. How different it is today. MPs maintain constituency offices with a number of paid staff. When the House in sitting, the majority of MPs return to their constituencies on a Thursday evening, undertake constituency business on Friday and over the weekend, before returning to Westminster in time for Monday’s sitting.

It wasn’t until 1969 that MPs first received an allowance to employ a solitary secretary, and it wasn’t until the early 1970s that MPs began to make case work a major part of their role. This development was pioneered by Liberal candidates and MPs who set up Liberal Focus Teams. This led to some notable successes in by-elections and was soon replicated by other parties. In Brighton Kemptown, the Conservative Andrew Bowden, who in 1970 won the seat from Labour’s Dennis Hobden, became a very familiar figure around the constituency and made this a safe Conservative seat for the next two decades. 

By contrast, his fellow Conservative in Brighton Pavilion, Julian Amery, was rarely, if ever, seen in Brighton between elections. This prompted a letter to the Evening Argus asking whether Mr Amery was in fact dead since he had not been seen in the constituency since the previous election. Mr Amery responded that he was elected to represent his electorate in parliament, not in Brighton.

Today all MPs aim to be familiar figures in their towns, villages or cities. All advertise regular ‘surgeries’ where they meet with constituents and take up issues on their behalf, including planning matters and neighbour disputes. They will advocate on behalf of their constituents about housing need and disrepair, traffic and parking problems, school admissions and registration with doctor surgeries. In Brighton and Hove potholes, refuse collection and weeds on the pavements have demanded time and attention from MPs who are supported by a team of constituency caseworkers. If the truth be told, it is these staff who do most of the casework on behalf of the MP.

Back in Westminster, the role of MPs is to scrutinise legislation and to hold the government to account but this has been watered down as MPs have increasingly become mere voting fodder for their party leaders. 

This arrangement where MPs have become glorified and well-paid social workers is, of course, a ridiculous nonsense. MPs have no direct authority and little expertise on most casework matters. They have no responsibility for schools, housing, street cleaning, traffic, parking, and planning matters. 

Council leader, Bella Sankey, doing the job of a council worker – this is not what councillors are elected to do (Photo: The Argus)

On the other hand, local councillors are responsible for all these. But local councillors, too, have lost their way. They debate and pass resolutions on national and international matters, none of which is the responsibility of local councils. Meanwhile, they have highly publicised action days where they make a big show on social media of them removing graffiti and cutting back weeds. This is not the role of a local councillor. Councils employ staff to do these tasks, and whenever I see a councillor having one of these action days, especially when they are part of the administration, it is a signal that they as councillors have spectacularly failed in their role and they are trying to look good while merely papering over the cracks of failing services.

The role of councillors should be the setting of strategies, priorities and standards for council officers to implement, and ensuring that these strategies are carried out. In Brighton and Hove we see the complete reversal of roles, where officers take a lead on strategic matters and all-too-often police their councillors’ actions and statements. Whereas councillors should be the representatives of their voters, there is a breed of council staff called ‘community engagement officers’. I have witnessed these officers moderating what a councillor can say at community meetings and councillors deferring to them. 

Brighton and Hove City Council is having to find cuts . I would suggest that councillors get rid of community engagement officers and that they resume that role. While they are about it, they should clear out the overwhelming majority of strategy officers, policy co-ordinators, and community safety, diversity and inclusion officers. They make the council look busy and might make some people with vested interests feel good but they rarely benefit the people of the city.  

Friends, Enemies, Political Frienemies and the Poll Tax

(This item first appeared on 23rd November 2022 in my ‘Brighton and Beyond’ column in the Brighton Argus)

I love reading plaques on park benches and am often left speculating about the lives and loves of the people being remembered. I was amused by one plaque in a London park that read: “In memory of Roger Bucklesby who hated this park and everyone in it.” The plaque is there but sadly, I understand, there never was a Roger Bucklesby.

I also like obituaries, the juicier the better! I once saw a lovely obituary of someone who was described as an expert in conflict resolution. It ended by saying that he had been married and divorced four times!  The Irish author, Brendan Behan, said: “There is no such thing as bad publicity except your own obituary.”

Never speak ill of the dead, we are told. Sadly, in today’s political world, we make up for that by speaking ill of the living. Rarely do politicians praise their opponents such is the adversarial nature of political dialogue. By contrast, those on your own side are praised and defended no matter how inadequate, ludicrous, corrupt or ghastly they might be.

That is why I like the slot on Times Radio called ‘Political Frienemies’. It brings together political opponents who, away from partisan exchanges, are, in fact, friends. There are some remarkable friendships, such as Michael Portillo and Diane Abbott, and Jacob Rees-Mogg and Jess Phillips. Tony Benn and the Revd. Ian Paisley were also friendly and very fond of each other. 

Martin McGuinness and Revd Ian Paisley

Even life-long enemies can end up as friends. Paisley and Martin McGuinness, two people who were so diametrically opposed to each other throughout the ‘Troubles’, became close friends when they became First and Second Ministers in the Northern Ireland devolved administration. So close, in fact, that they were referred to as the ‘Chuckle Brothers’. 

In the 1990s, when I was still a member of the Labour Party, there was an attempt to have a few of us expelled from the Party because, as councillors, we had repeatedly broken the ‘whip’ (voted against our party in council votes). The final straw was our opposition to the Poll Tax. Joyce Gould, at the time the Labour Party’s Director of Organisation and now a member of the House of Lords, led the purge. She liked the description ‘Witchfinder General’ so much that it is the title of her autobiography.

While Baroness Gould was very effective nationally in having members of Militant and others on the left expelled, a few of us in Brighton became one of her very few failures as she was unable to achieve that objective. I resigned from the Party a couple of years later, not because of the Groucho Marx adage that I didn’t want to be a part of anything that allowed people like me to be a member. It was because of cheap point-scoring by Jack Straw, then Labour’s Shadow Home Secretary, in which he targeted street drinkers and those begging. While I have been vocal about my own views about both street drinking and begging, it seemed like a cheap shot and beneath the dignity of a future Home Secretary to conduct himself in that way and, because of my professional role, I wanted to play no part in that party. I have been politically homeless ever since.

I no longer call her Ms Gould or, to give her her proper title, Baroness Gould of Potternewton. I call her ‘Joyce’ as we subsequently have become friends. I was honoured recently to be invited to her 90th birthday party at the Hove Club. It was a lovely occasion attended by some of the great and the good of the local Labour Party including former MPs David Lepper and Des Turner, as well as the current incumbent in Hove, Peter Kyle.

I have also been able to brief her on housing issues as part of her activities in the House of Lords. While our reconciliation is hardly on the scale of McGuinness and Paisley, it is one that is complete and I retain a great deal of affection for Joyce and, hopefully, Joyce for me in spite of being one of her few failures!

Since being asked to write this column I have written about people who are no longer with us, such as the former Labour MP, Dennis Hobden, the late BHT Sussex Life President, Pat Norman, and my former council colleague, Ruth Larkin (the Best Mayor Brighton Never Had).  It isn’t a case of merely speaking well of the dead. I have great affection for each and hold them in high esteem, and would have said to them, if still living, what I wrote about them after they were taken from us.

I think we should pay greater tribute to people while they are still alive so that they know what we think of them and how much they are appreciated. 

Dennis Hobden: a politician who changed the landscape of Brighton

(This item first appeared in my ‘Brighton and Beyond’ column in the Brighton Argus on 12th October 2022)

Over the summer, as a fair weather cyclist, I regularly rode along the seafront and along the Undercliff Walk to Saltdean.  The only part of that route that I don’t enjoy is the stretch alongside the Marina mainly because of the proliferation of disappointing architecture.

More worryingly, there have been proposals in recent years to build tower blocks, including a forty story ‘Roaring Forties’ block.  That proposal was condemned by Councillor Nick Childs as a ‘Poundland Dubai’. I couldn’t agree more, as did the then Secretary of State, Michael Gove, who rejected the appeal against the City Council’s sensible decision to turn down the application. 

All this reminds me of the late Dennis  Hobden who was the first-ever Labour Member of Parliament in Sussex and who steered the Brighton Marina Act 1968 through Parliament. This Act paved the way for the construction of the Marina.  

Dennis  was a fascinating man, full of contradictions, who I had the pleasure of knowing for a decade or so. I shared with him the same birthday (although not the year!) along with Baby Spice, the golfer Jack Nicklaus, and Benny Hill!

Dennis  was the first Labour Member of Parliament for any seat in Sussex having been elected to represent Brighton Kemptown in 1964 with a majority of just seven votes. This victory came after seven recounts.  The person responsible for insisting on recount after recount was William ‘Nobby’ Clarke, a veteran councillor of 50 years, election agent, a railway porter, and the guest of honour at my wedding.  William Clarke Park (known also as ‘The Patch’) was named in Nobby’s honour.

Dennis  Hobden was a most interesting character. He was a spiritualist and a Freemason, both very unusual then and now within the Labour Party.

I first met him in 1983 when I became a Labour Party delegate to the Labour Group on the old Brighton Borough Council. I arrived early for my first meeting and Dennis  was the only other person in the room. His opening words to me were: “So what are you studying at the University?” He had a view that the drift to the left in the local party was all down to middle-class students who didn’t understand the working class base of Labour in Brighton.

When I told him that I wasn’t a student and mentioned my background as a conscientious objector from apartheid South Africa, any frostiness completely disappeared and he could not have been more friendly. When I was unexpectedly elected to Brighton Borough Council in a by-election in 1985, Dennis  sent me the loveliest note which I still treasure: “I pray that we will see the back of this Thatcher lot before I die, but I think I will be content with Labour winning Regency Ward”. 

And, no, he didn’t invite me to become a Freemason!

What was commendable about Dennis  was that he carried no airs and graces, nor a sense of superiority about having been a Member of Parliament, a quality shared with another former MP, David Lepper.

After he lost his seat in Parliament in 1970, Dennis  continued to serve as a councillor and was the Mayor of Brighton for a year.

He was a trade unionist, an officer in the Union of Post Office Workers. He served in Parliament for six years before losing his seat to the Conservative, Andrew Bowden, who held it for the next 27 years before the seat was won by Labour’s Des Turner.

Dennis  wrote a column for the Argus under the pseudonym, Robert Street, the name of an actual road that runs alongside the old Argus building off North Road in Brighton. It was the road in which Dennis  was born.

Dennis  was a man with a strong sense of fair play. When the Labour Group was rushed into a decision by its leadership to ask the then Chief Executive of the Borough Council to stand down, Dennis  felt that it was an unacceptable way to treat a long-serving public official whose only crime was to be a slightly boring, non-partisan and not very dynamic. He was, nevertheless, a highly competent, local government officer. Dennis  resigned from the Labour Group in protest, not wanting to be associated with this action.

Dennis  died far too young, in 1995, aged just 75, having had a heart attack a few years earlier.  He would have loved to have seen the election of the 1997 Labour government, but I suspect he would have despaired at the number of former student politicians elected. What he would think about today’s political class would be unprintable.

I remember Dennis  with great fondness. He was a dedicated public servant, thoughtful, complicated, a one-of-a-kind politician, with a wicked sense of humour. They don’t make them like that anymore.

Remembering Denis Hobden, former Member of Parliament, Councillor, Mayor of Brighton, and Trade Unionist

Earlier this year, the ‘Sage of Sussex’, Adam Trimingham, wrote an item in the Brighton Argus (22 January 2020) recalling the life of Denis Hobden.

Denis Hobden

Denis would have turned 100 in January. I share with him this birth date (not the year!) along with Baby Spice, the golfer Jack Nicklaus, and Benny Hill!

For those of you who don’t remember Denis, he was the first Labour Member of Parliament for any seat in Sussex, having been elected to represent Brighton Kemptown in 1964 with the majority of just seven votes. This was after six recounts.  The person reposibile for insisting on recount after recount  was William ‘Nobby’ Clark, a veteran councillor of 50 years, election agent, a railway porter, and the guest of honour at my wedding.  William Clarke Park (known also as The Patch) was named in Nobby’s honour.

Denis was an extraordinary character. He was a spiritualist and a Freemason, both very unusual within the Labour Party.

I first met Denis in around 1982 when I was elected to be a delegate to the Labour Group on the old Brighton Borough Council. I arrived early for my first meeting and Denis was the only other person who had arrived by then. His opening words to me were: “So what are you studying at the University?” He had a view that the drift in the local party was all down to middle-class students who didn’t understand the working class base of Labour in Brighton.

When I told him that I wasn’t a student and mentioned my background, any frostiness completely disappeared and he couldn’t have been more friendly. When I was unexpectedly elected in a by-election in 1985, Denis sent me the loveliest, personal note which I treasure to this day: “I pray that we will see the back of this Thatcher lot before I die, but I think I will be content with Labour winning Regency Ward”. And, no, he didn’t invite me to become a Freemason!

What was particularly commendable about Denis, was that he carried no airs and graces about having been a Member of Parliament, a quality that he shares with another former MP, David Lepper.

After he lost his seat in 1970, he continued to serve as a councillor and was Mayor of Brighton for a year.

One his main legacies was to see the Brighton Marina Act 1968 become law.  It paved the way for the construction of the Marina.

Denis was a trade unionist, an officer in the Union of Post Office Workers. He served in Parliament for six years before losing his seat to the Conservative, Andrew Bowden, who held it for the next 27 years before the seat was won by Labour’s Des Turner.

He wrote a column for the Argus using an pseudonym, Robert Street. Robert Street itself is an actual road that runs alongside the old Argus building off North Road, Brighton. It was the road in which Denis was born.

He died far too young, in 1995, aged 75.  He would have loved to see the election of the 1997 Labour government, but I suspect he would’ve despair that the number of student politicians elected.

I remember Denis with great fondness. He was a dedicated public servant, and he had a wicked sense of humour. They don’t make politicians like him anymore.

(23/07/22: This item was updated to correct the spelling of Denis which had been written as ‘Dennis’ at some points).

Filling in the blanks from the 1964 and 1986 Labour Groups

I am very grateful to Harry Steer for filling in the last remaining gaps from the 1964 Labour Group.  Harry is the last survivor from that era.  The missing councillors were: Arthur King, Jim Currie, Arthur Skinner, Dennis Woolley and Arthur Illman (who was actually an Alderman along with Bert Briggs and Stanley Deason). Thanks, too, to Pam Montgomery for mentioning her dad, Harry George, one of the 1964 Vintage.

The 1964 Labour Group included Harry Steer, Ray Blackwood, Dennis Hobden, Bert Briggs, Nobby Clarke, George Humphrey, Stanley Deason, Stan Fitch, Idwal Francis, Don Ranger, Bill Sheldon, Bert Clack, Graham Carter, Bob Millard, Harry George, Arthur King, Jim Currie, Arthur Skinner, Dennis Woolley and Arthur Illman.

Harry does make the point that in 1964 there were women Labour councillors.

As for the 1986 Labour Administration, the 24^th and final member, who I had omitted, was Jon Allen.  Thanks for all the hints and suggestions.  Several people mentioned were County Councillors because, until 1997, we had two tiers of local government which was replaced by the Unitary Authority.

So the complete list is: Ian Duncan, Mick Johnson, Joyce Edmond-Smith, Pat Hawkes, Ray Blackwood, Tehm Framroze, David Lepper, Chris Morley, Brian Fitch, Gill Sweeting, Christine Simpson, Jenny Backwell, Jacqui Lythell, Joe Townsend, Richard Stanton, Steve Bassam, Bob Davies, Nobby Clarke, Denis Hobden, Brennan Turner, Arthur King, Gill Haynes, Jon Allen and Andy Winter.

Can anyone remember who the Chief Whip was?  The one who imposed discipline on the Group?  You might just be surprised…..

How Labour took control, with the assistance of the Conservative Mayor, can be found in my tribute to that Mayor, Bob Cristofili.