Margaret Grace Bondfield was a British Labour Party politician, trade unionist and women's rights activist. She became the first female cabinet minister, and the first woman to be a privy counsellor in the UK, when she was appointed Minister of Labour in the Labour government of 1929–31. She had earlier become the first woman to chair the General Council of the Trades Union Congress (TUC).
Bondfield in 1919
A modern (2009) photograph of the main street in Chard, Somerset, Bondfield's home town
Brighton in the 1890s
Beatrice and Sidney Webb, c. 1895; they were among Bondfield's early socialist acquaintances.
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