Austen Harry Albu (21 September 1903 – 23 November 1994) was a British Labour Member of Parliament for Edmonton for 25 years.

Personal life

Albu was born in London in 1903 to Ferdinand and Beatrice Albu. He was educated at Tonbridge School, Kent, and the City and Guilds College. He married his first wife, Rose Marks, in 1929. They had two sons before her death in 1956. In 1958, he married the Anglo-Austrian social psychologist Marie Jahoda.

Career

During the 1930s and early 1940s, Albu worked at Aladdin Industries in Greenford. In the later 1940s, he was Deputy President of the Governmental Sub-Commission of the British Control Commission in Germany during the Allied occupation following World War II, where he advocated the establishment of a centrally planned economy for the country, thus favouring the social democratic approach. Returning to Britain in 1947, he was the Deputy Director of the British Institute of Management for a short period until his election to parliament. Albu first won his Edmonton seat at a by-election in 1948, and held it until his retirement at the February 1974 general election. From 1965 to 1967, he was the Minister of State for Economic Affairs. He later joined the Social Democratic Party (SDP). He was a Fellow of Imperial College of Science and Technology. He was also a writer of several essays, the most cited being Socialism and the study of man. He is also attributed as one of the authors of New Fabian Essays (1952).