Albert Raymond Blackburn (11 March 1915 – 3 November 1991) was a British Labour Party politician who served as Member of Parliament for the Birmingham King's Norton and Birmingham Northfield constituencies. Early life Blackburn was born on 11 March 1915 in Bournemouth, Hampshire (now Dorset). He was the son of Dr A. E. Blackburn. He was educated at the private Rugby School. Military service He served in the British Army during World War II. On 21 January 1940, having completed his officer training at Sandhurst, he was commissioned into the East Yorkshire Regiment as a second lieutenant. He was given the service number 113779. On 1 July 1942, he transferred from the East Yorkshire Regiment to the Royal Regiment of Artillery. He reached the rank of captain. On 4 January 1955, having been convicted of a crime by the civil authorities, he was "removed from the Army". Political career Blackburn stood unsuccessfully for the Common Wealth Party in the 1943 Watford by-election. He then won the King's Norton seat for Labour at the 1945 general election, defeating the sitting Conservative MP Basil Arthur John Peto but at the 1950 general election switched to the newly created Northfield seat. He left Parliament the following year. Blackburn's political career, which began promisingly with his maiden speech being praised by Winston Churchill, was blighted by his alcoholism with the first of a series of arrests for drunkenness coming in 1947. Falling into further legal difficulties Blackburn was declared bankrupt in 1952 and imprisoned in 1956 for fraud regarding the illegal use of a caravan site, and for unlawfully inducing people to buy shares in a worthless company. He served 16 months in prison. He publicly acknowledged his drink problem and even wrote a 1959 book discussing how alcohol had ruined his career. Moral and judicial crusader After disappearing from the public view for a time Blackburn returned as a moral crusader, working closely with anti-pornography campaigner Lord Longford. His other campaigns included a failed drive against gambling and attempts to prosecute the films Mera ur kärlekens språk and Language of Love for gross indecency, the former successfully, the latter unsuccessfully. Although Mera ur kärlekens språk was the sequel of Language of Love Blackburn opted to prosecute the later film first. Blackburn also took part in a number of prominent legal challenges of major constitutional significance, including R v Commissioner of Metropolitan Police, ex