List of British Jews

The first Jews arrived in Britain with the Romans but it wasn't until the arrival of William the Conqueror in 1066 that organized Jewish communities first appeared. These existed until 1290 when the Jewish population was expelled by Edward I. (Hence plays such as The Jew of Malta and The Merchant of Venice were written when England was essentially devoid of Jews.) Jews were readmitted in 1656 by Oliver Cromwell, and emancipation took place in 1858. In the late 19th century there was mass Jewish immigration from anti-semitic Russia, and the 1930s saw an influx of refugees from Nazism. The Jewish population peaked at 450,000, but has since declined due to low birth rate, intermarriage and emigration. The current population according to the 2001 Census is around 240,000 (though many experts consider this an underestimate), most of whom live in London. The following is a list of some prominent British Jews.

Political figures

MPs

British Members of Parliament listed chronologically by first election date (in brackets):

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• Sir Henry Drummond Wolff (1830-1908), diplomat, son of Joseph Wolff (Jewish father; raised Christian)
• Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield (1837), Conservative Prime Minister (family converted to Anglicanism)
• Lionel de Rothschild (1847, admitted 1858), Liberal MP, first openly Jewish MP
• Sir George Jessel (1868), Solicitor General, later Master of the Rolls
• Herbert Samuel, 1st Viscount Samuel (1902), Liberal cabinet minister & leader
• Rufus Isaacs, 1st Marquess of Reading (1904), Liberal cabinet minister & Viceroy of India. The only British Jew to elevated to a Marquessate.
• Alfred Mond, 1st Baron Melchett (1906), Liberal Cabinet Minister 1916-22
• Manny Shinwell, Lord Shinwell (1922), Labour cabinet minister & Chairman
• Leslie Hore-Belisha, 1st Baron Hore-Belisha (1923), Liberal cabinet minister
• Sir Frank Meyer (1924), Conservative MP
• Jack Diamond, Baron Diamond of the City of Gloucester (1945), Labour cabinet minister and SDP leader in the House of Lords
• Ian Mikardo (1945), Labour MP
• Keith Joseph, Baron Joseph (1956), Conservative cabinet minister
• Reginald Freeson (1964), Labour minister
• Sir Anthony Meyer (1964), Conservative MP (Jewish father, Sir Frank Meyer MP)
• Greville Janner, Lord Janner of Braunstone, (1970), Labour MP
• Sir Gerald Kaufman (1970), Labour cabinet minister
• Clement Freud (1973), Liberal MP
• Leon Brittan, Baron Brittan of Spennithorne (1974), Conservative cabinet minister, European Commissioner
• Nigel Lawson, Baron Lawson of Blaby (1974), Conservative Chancellor of the Exchequer
• Sir Malcolm Rifkind (1974), Conservative cabinet minister
• Jack Straw (1979), Labour cabinet minister (Home Secretary, Foreign Secretary) (Jewish grandmother)
• Edwina Currie (1983), Conservative minister
• Michael Howard (1983), Conservative cabinet minister & leader
• Peter Mandelson (1992), Labour cabinet minister, European Commissioner (Jewish father)
• Barbara Roche (1992), Labour minister
• Margaret Hodge (1994), Labour minister
• Louise Ellman (1997), Labour MP
• Oona King (1997), Labour MP, second black female MP (Jewish mother)
• Oliver Letwin (1997), Conservative shadow chancellor
• Lynne Featherstone (2005), Liberal Democrat MP

Other

• Stephen Lander, Former head of MI5
• Peter Benenson, founder of Amnesty International
• Nicky Gavron, Deputy Mayor of London
• Victor Gollancz, publisher and political activist
• Sidney Hart, Trade Unionist
• Józef Rotblat, anti-nuclear campaigner, Nobel Peace Prize (1995)
• Krystyna Skarbek, World War 2 spy
• Sir Julius Vogel, Prime Minister of New Zealand
• Walter Wolfgang, a founder of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament