Friends of the Month: Cllr Duncan Enright

Friends of LabourList are vital in supporting our work. Every month, we celebrate one of our Friends and learn a little more about them. This month, we spoke to Councillor Duncan Enright, Deputy Leader of West Oxfordshire District Council and one-time rival of David Cameron.

Who is your Labour hero?

Barbara Castle. We were very close, like family, when I was a young activist I was her aide at Conference. During my time with her we entered complex negotiations with Gordon Brown over second pensions (SERPS) in the run-up to 1997, and she combined forensic detail with a dedicated team of researchers and experts on policy with her electric speaking style which spoke to the heart of every member.

When and why did you join the Labour Party?

I joined on my 15th birthday in 1979, in the last gasp of the Callaghan Government. I am from a Labour family – my dad was a councillor, MEP and MP and my grandmother led the first all-women strike since the matchgirls which was at the Liquorice factory in Pontefract, with GMB. I joined to fight for fairness and justice in Britain and the world – work in progress.

Tell us about your Labour journey

After learning my craft, including a spell as Chair of Pontefract & Castleford Young Socialists, I went to Oxford where I was Student Union President and local branch campaigner and loosely involved in performative student politics (my contemporaries were called Miliband, Gove, Stride and Boris!) I’ve always been more interested in politics where you actually do something – councils, unions, campaigns – than dressing up and giving fancy speeches (though that can also be fun!) I stood first for council in 1990 in a Surrey County by-election where I was able to increase the vote quite a bit but couldn’t stop the Lib Dem taking the seat.

After a couple of other attempts when returning to Oxford, I was elected in 1993 to Oxfordshire County Council, representing the Iffley division for four years. During this time I also stood to be MEP for Oxfordshire and Bucks East and then against Michael Heseltine in 1997.

In January 2011 I won a snowy by-election to become the only non-Tory on Witney Town Council in West Oxfordshire, and it is the proudest thing in my life that since 2019 it has been a Labour & Cooperative Council, saying yes to partnerships and activity undreamt of during the Tory decades.

In 2015 I stood against David Cameron in the General Election. We had “CAME(w)RON(g) ❌ ENRIGHT ✅ posters on the back of buses. He squeaked home with a (still large but) reduced majority. Cameron never stood again… In the 2016 by-election when he ran away from Brexit, I was so proud to see the Labour family visiting Witney to pound the mean Cotswold streets, laying the groundwork for future council election success (though we didn’t get close in the by-election it foreshadowed our council wins).

If you could say one thing to the Prime Minister, what would it be?

Come to Witney and see a market town with its problems and successes. I am convinced, like him, that towns in all parts of the country – Witney, Pontefract, Morpeth, St Ives, Warrington, Aldershot, Ryde – have so much to contribute, and that devolution and ambition go hand in hand. People who live in a place are best placed to decide what happens there. The North-South divide matters, but the city-town divide is also real and needs addressing. 

Why is LabourList important?

I’ve been a reader and supporter since the very start. The Labour movement needs an independent (of any factions) and supportive home for news, views and comment. LabourList emerged at the time when traditional sources like Tribune were stuttering, or were unable to provide the objectivity and reach that a non-factional source offers. It is really valuable for Labour to have a critical friend and commentator, a host for contributions and ideas from across the movement. It is really hard to maintain.

Why did you become a Friend of LabourList?

I became a Friend because I value LabourList and want to see it continue to succeed. It performs a very useful role in Labour, and I also want Labour to succeed of course – that feels more likely with LabourList around. It is only a modest donation to become a Friend, and certainly something worth supporting. I went to a quiz night and enjoyed that, and will certainly try to come to other LabourList Friends events. Oh, and I am also a friend for the glory and adulation it brings, so don’t hesitate to become one now and join me to bathe in the light of a socialist dawn!

Would you like to be a future Friend of the Month? Learn a little more about our community, and what becoming a Friend can offer you, here.