Manny Shinwell and the Krays
It’s one of the stranger stories of the London underworld of the 1960s - how the panjandrums of British politics became uncomfortably mixed up with the murky business activities of the Kray brothers, sexual intrigue and a bizarre plan to make millions from investing in Nigeria.
In the early sixties Ronnie and Reggie Kray were approached by Ernest Shinwell, with a plan which Ronnie fondly hoped would see ‘The Firm’ break out from their London base and become a much bigger business project.
Ernest’s father Emanuel (Manny Shinwell) was one of the big beasts of the Labour Party in the 1960s. He had been born in the East End in 1884, the son of a Polish-Jewish family. The family moved to Glasgow when Manny was 11 and, through his work as a machinist in a clothing factory, he became a keen union man. Shinwell became one of the key figures in ‘Red Clydeside’, organising and leading strikes and in 1919 receiving five months’ in prison for incitement to riot during the George Square disturbances in the city. By the mid 1960s, Manny was a pillar of the Labour party, having served as Secretary of State for War and Minister of Defence, before gently easing to the end of his political career as Chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party.
Shinwell junior was more interested in business than politics it seemed. For some time been trying to raise funds for a commercial and residential development in Enugu, Nigeria. Wisely perhaps, most prospective investors Shinwell had approached had turned him down flat, but the Krays’ business manager, Leslie Payne enthusiastically pushed for them to join those putting cash into the project. Ron was seduced by the idea, and it helped that Shinwell could entertain him at the Palace of Westminster, where he met Bob Boothby, one of the more colourful members from the Conservative side of the Lords.
Baron Boothby, KBE was a cousin of broadcaster Ludovic Kennedy and had a successful career as an author, broadcaster and politician himself. The bisexual Scotsman sat in the Commons for 35 years, serving at one point as parliamentary private secretary to Winston Churchill’s Chancellor of the Exchequer, and holding numerous other political offices. His cousin Ludovic confirmed that he fathered ‘at least three children by the wives of other men’, one of the cuckolds possibly being the future Prime Minister Harold Macmillan. The Queen Mother called him a ‘bounder but not a cad’, but it was perhaps unwise for Boothby to begin a gay relationship with Ronnie Kray.
Meanwhile, on trips to Nigeria, it seemed to the Krays that things were going well. They were lavishly entertained by the local bigwigs and Ron, rather ironically, was shown around the local jail. But things began to get less friendly, and it became obvious why many investors had steered clear. Leslie Payne was among members of the Kray entourage arrested, while Charlie Kray had his passport confiscated. The local authorities were demanding some £5000 said to be owed to unpaid local contractors.
Back in London, Ronnie and Reggie swiftly wired across the cash to release their cohorts, but the get-rich plan was swiftly starting to unravel. The project was haemorrhaging cash, and the new Enugu was resolutely failing to get built. Ronnie hoped to persuade Boothby to invest in the project, but a 1964 meeting between the pair ended in disaster when the Sunday Mirror got wind of things and ran a story about the ‘peer’ and the ‘gangster’. Nobody was named but it was clear who the two were. To make things even more uncomfortable for the authorities, the gay lover of Labour MP Tom Driberg was also at the meeting. Boothby decided the best defence was attack, and threatened to sue the paper, winning £40,000 out of court.
An emboldened Ronnie tried the same trick, but was rebuffed, though an unexpected result was that the papers became much warier of mentioning the Krays, for fear of attracting litigation. If they weren’t exactly being protected by friends in high places they certainly benefited by the assocation. The Krays began to believe they were untouchable, which may have have contributed to the later recklessness that saw them finally sent down for good. By then of course, the Nigeria project had collapsed totally - the Krays never really did break out of London.
Tom Driberg died in 1976, Bob Boothby and Manny Shinwell in 1986. Ronnie Kray died in 1995 and Reggie in 2000.