Wilfrid Andrew Burke (23 November 1889 – 18 July 1968) was a British Trade union organiser and politician who achieved high office in the Labour Party and served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Burnley for 24 years. He was briefly in the Attlee government as Assistant Postmaster-General. After leaving the government he concentrated on party work, fighting Bevanites and serving as Chairman of the National Executive Committee. Early life Burke was born in Liverpool, and went to Oulton College in the city. Burke then trained as a teacher and worked as such for several years, before going into commerce in Manchester in 1918. At the same time he joined the National Union of Distributive and Allied Workers, which later became the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers. Manchester politics In 1920, Burke became Manchester area organiser for the union. His branch was a large one and Burke obtained its strong support, which saw him elected to the executive council of the Labour Party in Manchester; there he was helped by his work in his spare time campaigning for the party. At the 1924 general election, Burke was the Labour candidate for Manchester Blackley; the seat was held by Philip Oliver for the Liberal Party. Burke ended up coming narrowly third as Oliver lost the seat to the Conservative Party. Burke was thought to have polled well. Burke was readopted as Labour candidate for the seat in March 1925. Before the 1929 general election came, he had fought several municipal elections. The contest was assessed by The Times as turning on the extent to which Labour encroached on the Liberal vote. Despite his campaigning experience Burke remained in third place, and Oliver regained his seat by 888 votes. Burke stood again in the 1931 general election, but was heavily defeated. Member of Parliament for Burnley In October 1932, Burke was adopted as Labour Party candidate for Burnley, a constituency which had up until 1931 by party leader Arthur Henderson. The sitting member who had beaten Henderson was Vice-Admiral Gordon Campbell VC, a First World War hero elected as a 'National' candidate and not a Conservative; Campbell decided to stand as a Liberal National but was still reckoned to have a difficult fight. After a tough fight Burke won by 4,195 votes. Textile industry Burnley was based on the textile industry and Burke concentrated on this subject when he arrived