THE Labour Party has once again selected a leader who shares an enjoyment of cricket with those in the wider movement.

Before him, Ed Miliband was a known fan of Geoffrey Boycott and the current incumbent has made no secret of his passion for both football and cricket.

There are those on the left who seem surprised with the enthusiasm for a sport so long associated with the elite.

Not surprising you might think when you consider that the three Test players to reach high office have been Tories.

Lord Harris was under-secretary for India, Stanley Jackson served as Tory chairman and Alfred Littleton became colonial secretary.

These positions seem to endorse the association between cricket and colonialism.

They also hint at class and privilege.

Cricket may have started from folk pastimes in an agricultural age but it became codified in the public schools, where many future Conservative, and some Labour, MPs would have been taught its gentlemanly values.

However, the sport has an alternative origin and history that owes less to codes than to a means of pleasure to alleviate the rigours of working life.

It is these interconnections, between cultural pursuits and politics, that fascinates so many.

This fascination is documented among Labour’s leaders. Clement Attlee, for example, installed a news ticker-tape at No 10 solely to get the County Championship scores.

He was said to be annoyed when the machine was used to report the detail of government.

Harold Wilson was captain of his first XI at Huddersfield Grammar School.

Tony Blair’s relationship with cricket will always be tainted by one of the most unremarkable opening ceremonies for a world event.

The Labour Prime Minister had to preside in typical English weather over a rather pathetic firework display when opening the 1999 World Cup.

It is to George Lansbury, though, that I became intrigued following Bob Holman’s article in the Morning Star (September 8) in which he mentioned that the one-time Labour leader had helped lay a cricket pitch in Brisbane in preparation for the England tourists.

Lansbury wasn’t converted to cricket’s enshrined ethos in the public education system.

Indeed, as the son of a migrant who worked as a timekeeper for railway contractors, Lansbury’s enjoyment would more likely have come from games in the streets.

Following the death of his father, the 16-year-old Lansbury followed in the family trade heaving coal. He worked nights mainly and was known to share his spare time between watching cricket and attending meetings.

He sought inspiration in Christian ideals and joined the Whitechapel Church Young Men’s

Association in 1875.

They were involved in organising events for the community, among which were cricket matches.

In 1884 Lansbury and his young family responded to appeals from the colonies for British migrants by emigrating to Queensland, Australia.

On arrival, he realised that he had been subject to a cruel propaganda campaign and that Australian towns were filled with the unemployed.

He described the desperate search for a job as “the very hell of competition.”

Having the demands of a young family, he sought whatever he could to make ends meet, working at stone-breaking in a quarry, farm-labouring and in a slaughter-house.

This was a society devoid of social services and trade unions: where comfort from the church was supplemented by its acceptance of the virtues of free competition.

In early 1885, Lansbury helped lay the cricket pitch at Brisbane’s Exhibition Grounds, where an England XI was expected to meet one of Brisbane’s local sides.

It was hoped that the fan would get to see his heroes perform.

The English squad that toured Australia in 1884-5 was a professional 12, with all but one player, Surrey’s JM Read, from a northern county.

Like Lansbury, they were in foreign climes with the sole aim of making a living.

Touring sides were a commercial concern rather than representatives of the nation’s best 11 players.

Cricket was an occupation for the professional and he was expected to work hard for his share of the spoils.

The England team played a gruelling 33 matches in all, eight of which were 11-a-side contests and the remainder against 22s, 18s and 15s.

There were five contests that would be recorded as Test matches.

Lansbury returned to Britain shocked by his experiences and became an ardent feminist, socialist and critic of colonial immigration policies.

He didn’t get to see England play as an offer of a higher-paid job delivering parcels took him away.

It remains to be seen whether Jeremy Corbyn will find invites thrust upon him from Lord’s or The Oval, or whether he would find the time to attend.

A commitment to public service broadcasting, though, should ensure that the BBC will continue to broadcast cricket on the radio, with maybe the possibilities of some free-to-air Tests? This would be a fine legacy.