He was Minister of Town and Country Planning in the Government of Clement Attlee from 1945 until he retired in 1950. Silkin was raised to the peerage as Baron Silkin, of Dulwich in the County of London, in the 1950 Birthday Honours. Although Samuel refused a knighthood as Attorney-General, he eventually became a life peer as Baron Silkin of Dulwich, of North Leigh in the County of Oxfordshire.
37th United Kingdom Parliament. 38th United Kingdom Parliament]
Silkin worked as a solicitor (Lewis Silkin Limited Liability Partnership, the London law firm where he practised, still bears his name), before becoming a member of the London County Council in 1925. He chaired the LCC Town Planning and the Housing and Public Health Committees and was a member of the Central Housing Advisory Committee.
He was elected as Member of Parliament (Member of Parliament) for Peckham in 1936, and was a member of the Select Committee on National Expenditure.
The other two, Samuel and John, both followed him into Parliament and became members of the Privy Council as well as Government Ministers.
