Member of Parliament

He was narrowly elected as the Member of Parliament for Paddington North in a 1969 by-election, following the death of the left-wing Labour incumbent, Ben Parkin. Coming five years into Labour leader Harold Wilson's term as Prime Minister, there was a large swing to the opposition Conservative Party, and Latham held the seat for Labour by just 517 votes (3.4%). The same year, he became Treasurer of the civil rights advocacy group Movement for Colonial Freedom, which was renamed Liberation in 1970. He remained in this role until 1979.^[1]

Following the 1970 general election, which saw Latham hold his seat with an increased majority, he championed the cause of the Irish Nationalist MP Bernadette Devlin, who had been imprisoned for incitement to riot. He visited her in Armagh prison, and secured an agreement that she could deal with her constituency correspondence.^[2] After the February 1974 general election (owing to boundary changes), Latham became MP for Paddington.

In Parliament, he was founder, and joint chairman, of the All-Party Group for Pensioners from 1971 to 1979. He was also chairman of the Tribune Group of soft-left Labour MPs from 1975 to 1976 (and its treasurer from 1977 to 1979). From 1977 to 1986, he was chairman of the Greater London Labour Party. At the 1978 local elections, Latham stood for election to Chase Cross ward (based around the area of that name) in Romford, but lost out to the Conservative candidates. His wife, Ruby, who had first been elected to Mawney (also in Romford) in 1971, lost her seat at that election.^[3][4]

In 1979, Latham lost his Paddington seat to the Conservative John Wheeler by 106 votes (0.3% of the total). It was so close that Latham asked for three recounts, and the result was not declared until late on the Friday morning.^[2]

After Parliament

In 1981, Latham was shortlisted to be Labour's candidate for the forthcoming Bermondsey by-election, but lost out to Peter Tatchell (who failed to be elected).^[2] With boundary changes, Latham's former Paddington seat was largely replaced by Westminster North for the 1983 general election. Latham contested Westminster North, but it was held by the Conservatives. From 1983 to 1984, he was a non-executive Director of the London Transport Board.^[1]

At the 1986 local elections, Latham was again elected to the London Borough of Havering as a councillor, representing the Brooklands ward in Romford.^[5] He was once again Leader of the Labour Group, holding this title from 1986 to 1998. From 1986 to 1990, he was Leader of the Opposition, and then, from 1990 to 1996, Leader of the Council. Latham was also Vice-President of the Association of Metropolitan Authorities.^[1]

Latham was challenged over his leadership in 1995 and 1997. On the latter occasion, it followed discussions over the effect on the party of Liberal Democrat activist Terry Hurlstone's conviction for assaulting Latham. This incident occurred in March 1996, during an argument over Latham's friendship with Hurlstone's estranged wife, Liberal Democrat Group Leader Cllr Caroline Hurlstone. At the time, Latham was running a minority administration and was dependent on the votes of Liberal Democrat councillors. In May 1996, Hurlestone defected to the Labour Party.^[6]

That month, rumours of an affair between Hurlstone and Latham were said to have led to other defections on the council, which eventually led to the end of the ruling Lib-Lab coalition. In December 1996, Terry Hurlstone, a former Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate, was convicted of common assault, but cleared of theft, having been accused of stealing a notebook from Latham.^[7][8]

Caroline was an English teacher who had won Channel 4's Fifteen to One quiz show twice, and appeared as a contestant on the BBC's Mastermind.^[9] In January 1997, Hornchurch Constituency Labour Party passed a motion of no confidence in Latham; however, in May that year, the Labour Group voted him back in as Group Leader. Latham resigned as Group Leader in December 1997, leading to Labour regaining control of the council. Latham stood down as a councillor at the 1998 local elections.^[10] He later married Caroline, who had become known as Caroline Warren. At the 1998 elections, she stood for re-election as a Labour candidate in St Edward's ward, but was not elected.^[11][12]

During his career, Latham was Vice-President of Labour Action for Peace, and a member of the British Campaign for Peace in Vietnam and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. In keeping with these left-wing stances, he resigned from the Labour Party in May 2003 over the Iraq War (instigated by a Labour government) and other issues. However, he rejoined the party in 2007.^[1]