Jewish Parliamentarians

July 2008 marks the 150th anniversary of the passing of the Oath Act which enabled Jews to become members of parliament without taking the Oath of Allegiance 'on the true faith of a Christian'. Lionel de Rothschild was the first to be allowed to swear on the Old Testament, using less contentious wording. Since that time there have been just over 200 Jewish MPs, and to mark the anniversary Lord Janner and Derek Taylor have written a history of the work and achievements of these MPs. The book describes the background to the political scene and includes a short biography of each of the MPs. Among the many Jewish MPs of particular renown have been Rufus Isaacs, Herbert Samuel, Leslie Hore-Belisha, Manny Shinwell, Harold Lever, Keith Joseph, Leon Brittan, Nigel Lawson, Malcolm Rifkind and Michael Howard. There have, however, also been Jewish MPs who have won the VC, created the House of Commons Jazz Club and been famed for the quality of the catering they supervised in the House. There have also been three crooks.