Here is some further information on Plymouth's MP during the Second World War, Lesley Hore-Belisha...

Isaac Leslie Hore-Belisha was born in Plymouth in 1893. Standing as a Liberal Party member he was elected as the Member of Parliament for Plymouth Devonport in 1923. By 1934 he had become a Government Minister, first for Transport and later as Secretary of State for War.

He resigned from Government in 1940 and later resigned from the Liberal Party (1942). He then sat in Parliament, describing himself a National Independent MP.

When the war ended, he was briefly appointed Minister for National Insurance by Winston Churchill in the Conservative Caretaker Government of 1945.

In the 1945 General Election he stood as a National Independent in the Plymouth Devonport constituency. He was defeated by the Labour candidate, Michael Foot.

Hore-Belisha then joined the Conservative Party. In 1954 he was elevated to the peerage as Baron Hore-Belisha, of Devonport in the County of Devon.

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Image credits: Top left: Leslie Hore-Belisha (centre) and Mrs Hore-Belisha arriving by DH Rapide at Roborough for adoption meeting in 1945. Plymouth and West Devon Record Office 1418/2189 © Western Morning News. Bottom right: Ref: 3328: Election Bill for Leslie Hore-Belisha, 1945, © Plymouth Arts and Heritage Service.