Labour call for blue plaque for late Harlow MP Stan Newens
History / Tue 28th Oct 2025 at 09:57am
A HARLOW Labour councillor is pressing Harlow Council to place a blue plaque on the council building in memory of the late MP Stan Newens.
Mr Newens represented Harlow in Westminster from 1964 to 1970 and again from 1974 to 1983. He was also a Member of the European Parliament.
Bush Fair councillor Kay Morrison asked councillor Dan Swords the following question at council.
“As many will be aware, requests re the placing of Blue Plaques have been made to Harlow Council recently.
My question concerns the request made by the Newens family who asked that a plaque commemorating the life and work of Stan Newens be placed on a Council building (preferably the Civic Centre). Stan Newens was a much-loved, much-respected MP who warrants this recognition. The request was refused.
The family would like the plaque to be affixed and displayed prominently; unfortunately, the construction of the external walls of their home renders it an unsuitable surface.
When was the decision to refuse such requests made by Harlow Council, by which committee and what was the justification?
Reply from Councillor Dan Swords (Leader of the Council):
The council has held a long-established position stretching back many years that no blue plaques from the Civic Society are placed on any council-owned buildings. This is for both logistical and practical reasons.
Those blue plaques that have been put on buildings or property around the town have always been on privately owned properties. The council is happy to work with the Civic Society to identify other suitable buildings or locations for specific plaques if this is desired. The council does not have a committee system of governance.
doreen
2025-10-28 10:59:15
I agree with Councillor Dan Swords for once - Spooky !
Adam
2025-10-28 11:49:13
Why would we celebrate Stan, he was an avid socialist who wrote at least three books on Nicolae Ceaușescu, including "The Man, his ideas, and his Socialist Achievements". Nicolae Ceaușescu was of the most evil dictators going who's ruthless secret police (the Securitate) that suppressed any form of opposition. His regime was responsible for widespread human rights violations, including the destruction of villages and forced displacement of citizens, as well as locking sick children into asylums. This is not a man who should be remembered.
David Forman
2025-10-28 14:17:58
Stan Newens was a prominent member of the Movement for Colonial Freedom which later became Liberation. Stan became its President in latter years. He joined Fenner Brockway in this cause and stood up for oppressed people. Stan was also a peace campaigner having been a CND activist and a conscientious objector during the Korean War, a result of which he volunteered for four years service in the coal mines in Staffordshire. I think the paragraph from his Times newspaper obituary sums him up: "A frequent critic of the Wilson government’s support for the US bombing raids on Vietnam, he was unmoved by Wilson’s appeals for military backing and was suspended by the party for regularly defying the whips in votes on defence, spending cuts and statutory pay controls." If one wishes to see the measure of Stan Newens, then one can do no better than listen to Jeremy Corbyn's tribute on the Liberation website at https://liberationorg.co.uk/liberation-news/liberation-agm/
David Forman
2025-10-28 14:20:10
For completeness, please see Stan Newens obituary in The Times: https://www.thetimes.com/uk/article/stanley-newens-obituary-5z5m020kj
Colleen Morrison
2025-10-28 14:27:15
Stan Newens deserves a blue plaque in his beloved Harlow more than anyone, because, he devoted most of his long life to working so hard for Harlow, and he gave so much to our town and its people. Stan was our first MP, and what a great MP he was, I was one of his constituents and I remember that nothing was ever too much trouble for Stan. He was a fundamentally fair man and MP, he didn't care what party you supported, Conservative, Labour, Liberal or whatever, he fought equally hard for you regardless. Stan had a rebel's heart. When Harlow's Labour Council decided to build on 32 acres of Harlow's Town Park and they would not listen to Stan, who totally opposed this, he told them, okay, we'll fight you, and he did. Stan helped co-found HOOP! (Hands Off Our Park) to fight and beat his own Labour Council. I was one of 8 members of HOOP! who, with Stan's help, stood for election to Harlow Council to defend our town park and Harlow's green spaces against the Labour Council. Stan also founded Harlow Civic Society to fight for decent standards in Harlow's built environment and for our much loved green spaces, he was Chair of the society for many years. Stan was a life long campaigner, I campaigned with him against overdevelopment and for a traffic bypass for Harlow and he worked his heart out. Stan campaigned into his late 80s, fuelled by his love of Harlow and his sentiments were almost always in the right place: for the people, for Harlow, for decent standards. It would be unthinkable for there not to be a blue plaque for Stan Newens in his beloved Harlow: the question is where this should go.
Colleen Morrison
2025-10-28 14:38:07
I do not believe Stan's plaque should be placed on Harlow's Civic Centre, Stan had to fight Harlow councils too many times for him to want it to be there and it just not an appropriate place. The plaque cannot go on Stan's house because plaques have to viewable by passers by and the view of Stan's house is blocked by rows of houses and bushes. I believe Stan would want his plaque to in be a location seen by many people and next to his dear friend, Sir Frederick Gibberd. Stan's plaque belongs in Harlow Water Gardens, on the wall next to Sir Freddie's.
resident
2025-10-28 15:16:50
I agree with Collen
Adam
2025-10-28 15:17:13
David F - He was so for the oppressed he loved a brutal eastern European dictator, over thrown for vile repression. He cared not for the oppressed he just wanted to point score against the west just like Corbyn.
Colleen Morrison
2025-10-28 15:40:34
Adam, Stan made a dreadful error of judgement regarding Ceaușescu, who later emerged as an appalling socialist dictator. But we all make mistakes, don't we?
Brian
2025-10-28 16:31:01
What was newens war record?or did he get out of that one.Like foot.
Adam
2025-10-28 16:34:17
One can make a mistake to but to write three times about him, nope sorry it was obvious even in the 70s the man was vile. He talked about his achievements, giving legitimacy. There is making an error of judgement then there is backing evil, sorry he gave legitimacy to a very evil person who killed tens / hundreds of thousands. But then he is in good company in the labour party, they killed millions in Iraq in an illegal war.
Brian
2025-10-28 16:39:26
Fair do,s newens was to young for ww2 so I withdraw my comment.
Colleen Morrison
2025-10-28 17:10:31
Brian, he was too young for service during WW2, as you state, however, he was conscripted as a 'Bevin Boy, to work down as a miner from 1943 until 1948.
Colleen Morrison
2025-10-28 17:18:30
Brian, apologies, I got the dates wrong, Stan did his National Service as a Bevin Boy, as a coalface miner for three years from 1952.
Colleen Morrison
2025-10-28 17:27:10
Stan did eventually criticise Ceaușescu, though far too late, he should have done it sooner.
Ak
2025-10-28 17:33:20
There should be a blue plaque for Stan, he was a great champion for Harlow, as MP, as historian, and prominent advocate of our civil society. By the standards of those judging him by mistakes alone, they would deny Churchill a plaque as well (Gallipoli, Dieppe, etc).
Brian
2025-10-28 19:41:44
Ak Churchill does not need a plaque,decent people know what he achieved for this country.That's good enough.
Colleen Morrison
2025-10-28 21:04:48
Churchill has a blue pack, at the Victoria Theatre in Old Harlow, where he used to speak.
Brian
2025-10-29 01:59:33
OK Colleen,I'm surprised that Stan newens started his national service in 1952 as he would have been 22,I thought national service started at 18.
Tommy
2025-10-29 02:04:17
English Heritage have a dead for at least 20 years rule - Revisit this some time after 2041.
Colleen Morrison
2025-10-29 08:25:06
Brian, I've checked Stan's Guardian biography and this states "As a conscientious objector to the Korean war, he [Stan Newens] did his national service as a coalface miner for three years from 1952." Before you pull me up regarding National Service being of only 18 months duration, the period was extended to 2 years during the Korean War, c 1950 - 1953. I suppose there may well have been modifications to the eligible ages during that war.
Colleen Morrison
2025-10-29 08:41:09
"English Heritage have a dead for at least 20 years rule - Revisit this some time after 2041" Tommy. Harlow Civic Society, which I believe is responsible for this plaque, have their own rules. I was a Civic Society Committee member, but don't ask me what the rules in respect of their Blue Plaques were, as I was never sure. Have a look at Sir Frederick Gibberd's Blue Plaque and you'll see this was produced by Harlow Civic Society. The society normally ask for donations to cover the cost of Blue Plaque's. I would have thought Harlow Labour Party and Stan's friends would cover the cost of his. The plaques used to cost c £1,000 including installation costs, but this is likely to have increased in these shockingly inflationary times.
Colleen Morrison
2025-10-29 08:42:49
Sir Frederick Gibberd's Blue Plaque in Harlow Water Gardens. https://openplaques.org/plaques/42944
David Forman
2025-10-29 09:40:05
I thank Colleen Morrison for such a sterling effort in supporting the cause of a Blue Plaque for Stan Newens. It has to be remembered that Stan was also a Member of the European parliament as well as an MP. I will remember him showing me his library and discussions on political history. We won't see his sort again any time soon, certainly not in the Labour Party. But well done to the local Labour Party for raising this.
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