James Keir Hardie was a Scottish trade unionist and politician. He was a founder of the Labour Party, and served as its first parliamentary leader from 1906 to 1908.
Hardie in 1905 by G. C. Beresford
Hardie's family tree
Hardie as a young man
Hardie with Andrew Fisher, leader of the Australian Labor Party, in 1907. The two first met as young men during the 1881 Ayrshire coal miners' strike.
The Labour Party is a political party in the United Kingdom that has been described as an alliance of social democrats, democratic socialists, and trade unionists. The Labour Party sits on the centre-left of the political spectrum. In all general elections since 1922, Labour has been either the governing party or the Official Opposition. There have been six Labour prime ministers and thirteen Labour ministries. Since the 2010 general election, it has been the second-largest UK political party by the number of votes cast, behind the Conservative Party and ahead of the Liberal Democrats. The party holds the annual Labour Party Conference.
Keir Hardie, one of the Labour Party's founders and its first leader
Labour Party plaque from Caroone House, 14 Farringdon Street
Keir Hardie a founder of the Labour Party, speaking to trade unionist workers at Trafalgar Square, 1908
Political poster for the Labour Party during the December 1910 election