Tom Howard (politician)

Thomas Patrick "Tom" Howard (13 March 1880 – 9 July 1949) was an Australian politician. Before entering parliament he was Secretary of the Trades and Labour Council. In 1933, in the wake of the Great Depression, Howard was elected to the South Australian House of Assembly for Adelaide, representing the Lang Labor group, a faction of the Labor Party supporting the ideas of Jack Lang, the Premier of New South Wales. In April, however, he and fellow Lang Labor MP Bob Dale left the party after disputes with leader Doug Bardolph, forming their own breakaway group, the South Australian Lang Labor Party. In June 1934 the various Labor factions were reunited. Howard was defeated at the next election in 1938.