Lord Barnett Janner was a Jewish British politician and communal leader.

Janner was born in Lithuania and moved with his family to Barry, South Wales, when he was six months old. He was educated at Cardiff University, became a solicitor, and was a Liberal member of Parliament for Whitechapel (1931–1935), and then a Labour member for Leicester (1945–1970). He was president of the Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland (1950) and president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews (1955–1964). Janner was known in Parliament as the spokesman on Zionist matters and formed a pro-Zionist parliamentary group of which he was the secretary.

Janner was knighted in 1965 and in 1970, when he retired from the House of Commons, he was made a life peer. His son GREVILLE EWAN JANNER (1928– ) became Labour member of Parliament for Leicester after his father's retirement, serving as an M.P. from 1970 to 1997. A barrister, Greville Janner also held a wide variety of communal leadership positions and was president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews from 1979 to 1985. Like his father, he was given a life peerage upon his retirement from the House of Commons, as Baron Janner of Braunstone.

Sources: Encyclopaedia Judaica. © 2008 The Gale Group. All Rights Reserved.