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List of British Jewish politicians

This is a list of Jews who served as politicians in the United Kingdom and its predecessor states or who were born in the United Kingdom and had notable political careers abroad.

Jewish party leaders

Jewish MPs

A law in place until the 1850s stated that no member of the Jewish religion could be elected to Parliament. Some Christian denominations were similarly prohibited. If elected, a member would be excluded if he refused to swear an oath of abjuration with a strong Christian wording.

British Members of Parliament listed chronologically by first election date (in brackets)

Pre–1900

  • Sampson Eardley (1770–1802) – Father was Jewish. Eardley was baptised. Tory MP.
  • Lord George Gordon (1774–1780) – Converted to Judaism
  • Manasseh Masseh Lopes (1802–1806, 1807–1808, 1812–1819, 1820–1829) – Lopes converted to Christianity in 1802, and later the same year he entered Parliament as a Tory MP
  • Ralph Lopes (1814–1819, 1831–1837, 1841–1847, 1849–1854) – Conservative MP.
  • Ralph Bernal (1818–1841, 1842–1852) – His father was Jewish, but Bernal was baptised. Whig MP
  • David Ricardo (1819–1823) – Ricardo converted to Christianity in 1793. Whig MP
  • David Ricardo (the younger) (1832–1833) – His father had been Jewish, but Ricardo was baptised. Liberal MP
  • Benjamin Disraeli (1837–1876) – Conservative MP and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Born Jewish but baptised at an early age.
  • John Lewis Ricardo (1841–1862) – Liberal MP
  • Ralph Bernal Osborne (1841–1874) – His grandfather was Jewish, but Bernal Osborne was baptised. Liberal MP
  • Lionel de Rothschild (1847–1868, 1869–1874) – Liberal MP.
  • Osman Ricardo (1847–1865) – His father had been Jewish, but Ricardo was baptised. Whig MP.
  • David Salomons (1851–1852, 1859–1873) – Liberal MP.
  • Massey Lopes (1857–1885) – Conservative MP
  • Mayer Amschel de Rothschild (1859–1874) – Liberal MP
  • Bernhard Samuelson (1859–1895) – Liberal MP
  • Francis Henry Goldsmid (1860–1878) – Liberal MP
  • Albert Grant (1865–1868, 1874) – Conservative MP
  • Frederick Goldsmid (1865–1866) – Liberal MP
  • Nathan Rothschild (1865–1885) – Liberal MP
  • Joseph d'Aguilar Samuda (1865–1880) – Liberal MP
  • Julian Goldsmid (1866–1896) – Liberal and later Liberal Unionist MP
  • Henry Samuelson (1868–1885) – Liberal MP
  • George Jessel (1868–1873) – Liberal MP
  • Henry Lopes (1868–1876) – Conservative MP
  • John Simon (1868–1888) – Liberal MP
  • Farrer Herschell (1874–1885) – Liberal MP
  • Saul Isaac (1874–1880) – Conservative MP
  • Henry Drummond Wolff (1874–1885) – Conservative MP
  • Arthur Cohen (1880–1888) – Liberal MP
  • Henry de Worms (1880–1895) – Conservative MP
  • Harry Levy-Lawson (1885–1892, 1893–1895, 1905–1906, 1910–1916) – Liberal and later Liberal Unionist MP
  • Lionel Louis Cohen (1885–1887) – Conservative MP
  • Lewis Henry Isaacs (1885–1892) – Conservative MP
  • James Alfred Jacoby (1885–1909) – Liberal MP
  • Samuel Montagu (1885–1900) – Liberal MP
  • Ferdinand de Rothschild (1885–1898) – Liberal and later Liberal Unionist Party MP
  • Herbert Jessel (1896–1906, 1910–1918) – Liberal Unionist and later Conservative MP
  • Sydney Stern (1891–1895) – Liberal MP
  • Herbert Leon (1891–1895) – Liberal MP
  • Benjamin Cohen (1892–1906) – Conservative MP
  • Coningsby Disraeli (1892–1906) – Conservative MP
  • Henry Lopes (1892–1900) – Conservative MP
  • Gustav Wilhelm Wolff (1892–1910) – Conservative MP
  • Harry Marks (1895–1900, 1904–1910) – Conservative MP
  • Harry Samuel (1895–1906, 1910–1922) – Conservative MP
  • Arthur Strauss (1895–1900, 1910–1918) – Liberal Unionist Party and later Conservative MP
  • Sigismund Mendl (1898–1900) – Liberal MP
  • Walter Rothschild (1899–1910) – Liberal Unionist and later Conservative MP
  • Edward Sassoon (1899–1912) – Liberal Unionist MP

1900–1939

1940–1973

1974–2000

2000–present

Jewish peers

There have also been many Jewish members of the House of Lords, some of whom are listed below.

Jewish founders of political parties and organisations

Jewish politicians with careers abroad

See also

Bibliography

References