Barry Williams (politician)

Barry Williams (Alfred Barry Williams; 7 February 1928 - August 2005) was a boilermaker, trade union official, and Communist politician in the United Kingdom.

He was one of three children of Elizabeth and Alfred John Williams; his father was also a boilermaker. He was the first of three children, born on 7 February 1928 in Liverpool, Merseyside, United Kingdom. He grew up in Liverpool and served an apprenticeship as a boilermaker at the firm of Francis Morton & Co. Engineers in Garston, Liverpool, England.

Williams was drafted for National Service in the British Army's RAMC in 1946 and was posted to Palestine as part of the force administering the British Mandate. On returning to the UK he worked for various employers including shipbuilders and repairers Grayson Rollo and Clover and Cammell Laird and the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board as a plater, a sub-division of boilermaker trade.

He was a leading figure in the UK labour movement in the second half of the 20th century, twice running for General Secretary of the Boilermakers' Society in highly contentious elections. He was elected Vice President of the Liverpool Trades Council in 1970, later becoming its President. Williams also came up with the idea for the 1981 People's March for Jobs from Liverpool to London. He was also elected to the national executive of the Communist Party of Great Britain, representing it at the founding congress of the Workers Party of Ethiopia in 1984 where he delivered a speech on the party's behalf.

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