Barnett Stross

Sir Barnett Stross (25 December, 1899 – 13 May, 1967) was a British doctor and politician. He served twenty years as a Labour Party Member of Parliament, but after his death came under suspicion of having been involved with Czechoslovakian intelligence.

Medical training

Stross was born in Poland to a Jewish family, who brought him to Britain at the end of the First World War when they became political refugees; they settled in Leeds, where Stross was able to continue his education at Leeds Grammar School. He then went to the University of Leeds where he studied medicine, qualifying in 1926.

Doctors' practice

He chose to set up in practice in the Potteries area of north Staffordshire. Two years later he appeared before a committee of inquiry into silicosis as an expert witness on behalf of the pottery workers; this became a passionate cause and successive government schemes providing compensation for people suffering from pneumoconiosis and silicosis were established as a result of his campaigning.

Political involvement

After Stross became honorary Medical adviser to the Pottery Worker's Society, he joined the Labour Party in 1930. He was also involved with the North Staffordshire Miners' Federation and an active member of the Socialist Medical Association. In 1937 he was elected to Stoke-on-Trent City Council, on which he served until 1952 (during the later part of this period he was an Alderman). He spent the Second World War lecturing on behalf of the Ministry of Food; during one lecture, a German bomb scored a direct hit on the lecture hall and Stross had to be dug out of the rubble; he was seriously injured.

Elected to Parliament

At the 1945 general election Stross was elected as Labour MP for Stoke-on-Trent's Hanley division. His medical experience was often called upon when other MPs, Lords and members of the public present in the Palace of Westminster fell ill. He concentrated on industrial illnesses and opposed smoking because of lung damage.

Czechoslovak interests

However, Stross did not confine himself to medical issues. He also led a campaign to rebuild Lidice, a Czechoslovak village which had been destroyed by Nazi forces during the Second World War in a 1942 massacre. Stross was honoured by the Czechoslovak government for this work with the White Lion of Czechoslovakia, and became Chair of the British-Czechoslovakia Society, although he used this point to highlight human rights abuses under the Communist government. He also had a strong interest in historic art and buildings, and was named to the Historic Buildings Council in 1964.

Ministerial career

Stross received a Knighthood in the New Years' Honours list of 1964. When Labour won the 1964 general election, he was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Health. However he left office in February 1965 and in July 1965 announced his retirement from the House of Commons due to concerns about his own health. He stood down at the 1966 general election, and died just over a year later.

Espionage claims

Two years after Stross' death, the Czech intelligence defector Josef Frolik named him as having been an agent of Czechoslovakia. According to Frolik, Stross (code-named "Gustav") had provided "interesting information about the domestic and foreign policies of the Labour Party while it was in opposition". Stephen Dorril and Robin Ramsay's book "Smear! Wilson and the Secret State" claims that such information as Stross supplied could have been obtained by writing to Transport House (the headquarters of the Labour Party).

References

• M. Stenton and S. Lees, "Who's Who of British MPs" Vol. IV (Harvester Press, 1981)
• Obituary, "The Times", 15 May 1967.