Tonight, the annual Sydney Silverman Lecture will be held in Pendle.

Our guest is Jon Cruddas, the latest in a long line of interesting and thought provoking speakers.

The diminutive Sydney Silverman was barely five feet tall. He sat below the gangway where Dennis Skinner now sits. His feet barely touching the floor. He represented Nelson and Colne, now absorbed into my Pendle constituency, for an astonishing 33 years.

Emrys Hughes’ 1969 biography, “Sydney Silverman: Rebel in Parliament” describes him as “a socialist and a thorn in the flesh of every British Government – especially when the Party in power was his own.”

His successful Private Member’s Bill abolished the death penalty.

In the 1966 election, Patrick Downey stood against him as the Hanging candidate – Downey the father of Lesley Ann Downey, a tragic victim of the Moors Murderers. And, yet, Silverman won that election.

He was a pacifist, a conscientious objector in the First World War, and imprisoned for it. 

He campaigned for nuclear disarmament.

Silverman died on 9 February 1968. The Guardian obituary described him as “the champion of the underdog”.

Our local paper, the Nelson Leader, didn’t pull its punches. “It is no use pretending Sydney Silverman was the area’s most loveable character. It just would not be true.”

“He was a prickly little man. Irascible. Testy. Touchy. Quick to take offence. Slow to forgive a mistake. And extraordinarily sensitive to opposition or criticism.”

Goodness me! Would someone like that get selected, let alone elected, today?

His obituary in the New York Times had him battling on all fronts: “The objects of his wrath included the Conservatives, the Royal family, the United States and, on frequent occasions, the leadership of his own party.”

It wouldn’t happen today.