Ronald Atkins

Who is Ronald Atkins?

Ronald Henry Atkins is a British Labour Party politician. At 93 years of age, Ronald Atkins was the eldest member of Preston City Council, until he stepped down in 2010.

Atkins was educated at Barry County School and the University of London. He became a teacher at a college of further education and a tutor and lecturer for the National Council of Labour Colleges. He was a councillor on Braintree Rural District Council 1952-61 and served on the Mid-Essex education committee of Essex County Council.

Atkins contested Lowestoft in 1964. He was twice Member of Parliament for the marginal Preston North constituency, from 1966 to 1970, and from February 1974 to 1979 - when he lost to the very-similarly named Conservative, Robert Atkins. The margin of defeat was just 29 votes. He is currently the second-oldest surviving former MP, after John Freeman.

His daughter Charlotte Atkins was the Labour MP for Staffordshire Moorlands from 1997 until 2010.