1.
Privy Council of the United Kingdom
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Her Majestys Most Honourable Privy Council, usually known simply as the Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. Its membership mainly comprises senior politicians, who are present or former members of either the House of Commons or the House of Lords, the Council also holds the delegated authority to issue Orders of Council, mostly used to regulate certain public institutions. The Council advises the sovereign on the issuing of Royal Charters, which are used to grant special status to incorporated bodies, otherwise, the Privy Councils powers have now been largely replaced by the Cabinet of the United Kingdom. The Judicial Committee consists of judges appointed as Privy Counsellors, predominantly Justices of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. The Privy Council of the United Kingdom was preceded by the Privy Council of Scotland, the key events in the formation of the modern Privy Council are given below, Witenagemot was an early equivalent to the Privy Council of England. During the reigns of the Norman monarchs, the English Crown was advised by a court or curia regis. The body originally concerned itself with advising the sovereign on legislation, administration, later, different bodies assuming distinct functions evolved from the court. The courts of law took over the business of dispensing justice, nevertheless, the Council retained the power to hear legal disputes, either in the first instance or on appeal. Furthermore, laws made by the sovereign on the advice of the Council, powerful sovereigns often used the body to circumvent the Courts and Parliament. During Henry VIIIs reign, the sovereign, on the advice of the Council, was allowed to enact laws by mere proclamation, the legislative pre-eminence of Parliament was not restored until after Henry VIIIs death. Though the royal Council retained legislative and judicial responsibilities, it became an administrative body. The Council consisted of forty members in 1553, but the sovereign relied on a smaller committee, by the end of the English Civil War, the monarchy, House of Lords, and Privy Council had been abolished. The remaining parliamentary chamber, the House of Commons, instituted a Council of State to execute laws, the forty-one members of the Council were elected by the House of Commons, the body was headed by Oliver Cromwell, de facto military dictator of the nation. In 1653, however, Cromwell became Lord Protector, and the Council was reduced to thirteen and twenty-one members, all elected by the Commons. In 1657, the Commons granted Cromwell even greater powers, some of which were reminiscent of those enjoyed by monarchs, the Council became known as the Protectors Privy Council, its members were appointed by the Lord Protector, subject to Parliaments approval. In 1659, shortly before the restoration of the monarchy, the Protectors Council was abolished, Charles II restored the Royal Privy Council, but he, like previous Stuart monarchs, chose to rely on a small group of advisers. Under George I even more power transferred to this committee and it now began to meet in the absence of the sovereign, communicating its decisions to him after the fact. Thus, the British Privy Council, as a whole, ceased to be a body of important confidential advisers to the sovereign and it is closely related to the word private, and derives from the French word privé
2.
Order of the Companions of O. R. Tambo
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The Order of the Companions of O. R. Tambo is a South African honour. It was instituted on 6 December 2002, and is granted by the President of South Africa, to citizens who have promoted South African interests. The order is named after the late Oliver Tambo, who was the African National Congresss president-in-exile for many years, the symbol represents the meeting of diverse spiritual energies, and the snakes represent solidarity and support. The South African coat of arms is displayed on the reverse, the ribbon is white, with recurring grey symbols down the centre. All three classes are worn around the neck, recipients are also presented with a carved wooden walking stick, which has a serpent wound around the shaft and a spoon-shaped head displaying the badge of the order and the national arms. The walking stick symbolises support and solidarity, and a commitment to stand by the recipient in return
3.
Harold Wilson
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James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, KG, OBE, PC, FRS, FSS was a British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1964 to 1970 and 1974 to 1976. Wilson narrowly won the 1964 election, going on to win an increased majority in a snap 1966 election. Wilsons first period as Prime Minister coincided with a period of low unemployment and relative economic prosperity, in 1969 Wilson sent British troops to Northern Ireland. After losing the 1970 general election to Edward Heath, he spent four years as Leader of the Opposition before the February 1974 general election resulted in a hung parliament. A period of crisis was now beginning to hit most Western countries. He took little action to pursue the Labour Party constitutions stated dedication to such nationalisation, Labour Party historians see his years in office as lost opportunities for major reforms. However, in keeping with the mood of the 1960s his government sponsored liberal changes in a number of social areas and his stated ambition of substantially improving Britains long-term economic performance remained largely unfulfilled. He lost his energy and drive in his second government 1974–76 and accomplished little as the split over Europe. Wilson was born at 4 Warneford Road, Huddersfield, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England and he came from a political family, his father James Herbert Wilson was a works chemist who had been active in the Liberal Party and then joined the Labour Party. His mother Ethel was a schoolteacher before her marriage, and her brother, when Wilson was eight, he visited London and a later-to-be-famous photograph was taken of him standing on the doorstep of 10 Downing Street. He was a supporter of his football club, Huddersfield Town. Wilson won a scholarship to attend Royds Hall Grammar School, his grammar school in Huddersfield in Yorkshire. In December 1930, his father, working as an industrial chemist, was made redundant and he moved to Spital on the Wirral, Cheshire in order to do so. Wilson was educated in the Sixth Form at the Wirral Grammar School for Boys, at Oxford, Wilson was moderately active in politics as a member of the Liberal Party but was strongly influenced by G. D. H. Cole. He graduated in PPE with an outstanding first class Bachelor of Arts degree, with alphas on every paper in the examinations. Biographer Roy Jenkins says, Academically his results put him among prime ministers in the category of Peel, Gladstone, Asquith, and no one else. What he was superb at was the assimilation of knowledge, combined with an ability to keep it ordered in his mind. He continued in academia, becoming one of the youngest Oxford dons of the century at the age of 21 and he was a lecturer in Economic History at New College from 1937, and a Research Fellow at University College
4.
Keith Joseph
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Keith Sinjohn Joseph, Baron Joseph, CH, PC, QC, known as Sir Keith Joseph, 2nd Baronet, for most of his political life, was a British barrister and politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he served in the Cabinet under four prime ministers, Harold Macmillan, Sir Alec Douglas-Home, Edward Heath and Margaret Thatcher. He was a key influence in the creation of what came to be known as Thatcherism and the subsequent decline of one-nation conservatism, Keith Joseph was the first to introduce the concept of the social market economy into Britain, an economic and social system inspired by Christian democracy. He also co-founded the Centre for Policy Studies writing its first publication, Joseph was the son of a wealthy and influential Jewish family. His father, Samuel Joseph headed the vast family construction and project-management company, Bovis, at the end of his term he was created a baronet. On the death of his father on 4 October 1944, 26-year-old Keith inherited the baronetcy, Joseph was educated at Lockers Park School in Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire, followed by Harrow School and Magdalen College, Oxford, where he studied Jurisprudence, obtaining first class honours. Shortly thereafter he was elected a Fellow of All Souls College, after the end of the war, he was called to the Bar. Following his father, he was elected as an Alderman of the City of London and he was a Director of Bovis, becoming chairman in 1958, and became an underwriter at Lloyds of London. He was married twice, firstly, in 1951 to Hellen Guggenheimer, after their divorce in 1985, he married Yolanda Sherriff in 1990. He failed to be elected to the seat of Barons Court in West London by 125 votes in the 1955 election. He was elected to parliament in a by-election for Leeds North East in February 1956 and he was swiftly appointed as a Parliamentary Private Secretary. After 1959, Sir Keith had several posts in the Macmillan government at the Ministry of Housing. In the Night of the Long Knives reshuffle of 13 July 1962 he was made Minister for Housing and Local Government and he introduced a massive programme to build council housing, which aimed at 400,000 new homes per year by 1965. He wished to increase the proportion of owner-occupied households, by offering help with mortgage deposits, Housing was an important issue at the 1964 election and Joseph was felt to have done well on television in the campaign. In opposition, Joseph was spokesman on Social Services, and then on Labour under Edward Heath and he was one of twelve founder members of the NCSWD, the National Council for Single Woman and Her Dependants on 15 December 1965. Despite Josephs reputation as a right-winger, Heath promoted him to Trade spokesman in 1967, in the run-up to the 1970 election Joseph made a series of speeches under the title civilised capitalism, in which he outlined his political philosophy and hinted of cuts in public spending. At the Selsdon Park Hotel meeting, the Conservative Party largely adopted this approach, despite his speeches against bureaucracy, Joseph found himself compelled to add to it as he increased and improved services in the National Health Service. However, he grew increasingly opposed to the Heath governments economic strategy, Joseph became interested in the economic theory of monetarism as formulated by Milton Friedman, and much earlier by Enoch Powell, and persuaded Mrs Thatcher to support it
5.
David Ennals, Baron Ennals
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David Hedley Ennals, Baron Ennals PC was a British Labour Party politician and campaigner for human rights. He served as Secretary of State for Social Services from 1976 to 1979, in 1939 he was a reporter on the Walsall Observer and during World War II he served in the Royal Armoured Corps from 1941 to 1945. Commissioned into Reconnaissance Corps in 1942 and posted to 3rd Reconnaissance Corps and he served in North Africa, Italy and the Rhine Crossing. He failed to return from a patrol during the Normandy campaign in June 1944. He was invalided out with the rank of Lieutenant, Ennals stood unsuccessfully as a Liberal candidate for Richmond in the 1950 general election and again in 1951. He later joined the Labour Party and served as secretary to the department at the Labour Partys head office. In 1964 he was elected as the Member of Parliament for Dover, following the 1966 election, Harold Wilson appointed Ennals as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Army. He moved to become Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department in 1967 under James Callaghan before being appointed as a Minister of State for Social Services in 1968 and he lost his government post and his seat following Labours defeat in the 1970 general election. However, in Wilsons Resignation Honours, he was sworn of the Privy Council, Ennals returned to parliament representing Norwich North following the February 1974 general election and was appointed Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs. In 1976 he became Secretary of State for Social Services, which he held until Labour lost power in 1979, during his tenure he appointed Sir Douglas Black to produce the Black Report into health inequality. After losing his seat in the election of 1983, he was created a life peer, as Baron Ennals. Following his exit from parliament in 1970, Ennals became Campaign Director for the National Association for Mental Health and he became Chairman in 1984, and served as President from 1989 to 1995. After serving as secretary to the United Nations Association from 1952 to 1957, he became Chairman in 1984, as well as Chairman of the Gandhi Foundation, which he held until 1995. Ennals also served as Chairman of the Anti-Apartheid Movement, from 1960-1964 and he joined the Tibet Society of the UK, the first Tibet support group in the world, established in 1959, and became its Chairman for a number of years. He campaigned energetically and enthusiastically with it and various other UK, Ennals married Eleanor Maud Caddick on 10 June 1950, and they had four children before they divorced in 1977. Later that year he married Katherine Gene Tranoy, ennalss younger brother, Martin Ennals, was a human rights activist and Secretary-General of Amnesty International. His son, Sir Paul Ennals, is chief executive of the National Childrens Bureau and he died in 1995 of pancreatic cancer at his home in Belsize Park, London. The Lord Ennals PC Dalyell, Tam, hansard 1803–2005, contributions in Parliament by David Ennals
6.
Shirley Williams
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Shirley Vivian Teresa Brittain Williams, Baroness Williams of Crosby, CH, PC is a British politician and academic who represents the Liberal Democrats. Originally a Labour Member of Parliament and Cabinet Minister, she was one of the Gang of Four rebels who founded the Social Democratic Party in 1981. Between 2001 and 2004, she served as Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords and, from 2007 to 2010, born in Chelsea, London, Williams was the daughter of political scientist and philosopher Sir George Catlin and the feminist and pacifist writer Vera Brittain. During the Second World War, she was evacuated to Minnesota in the United States for three years, in 1950, she became the first woman to chair the Oxford University Labour Club. After graduating as a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy, Politics and Economics, Williams was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship, on returning to Britain, she began her career as a journalist, working firstly for the Daily Mirror and then for the Financial Times. In 1960, she became General Secretary of the Fabian Society, in government, she rose quickly to a junior ministerial position and, between 1971 and 1973, served as Shadow Home Secretary. In 1974, she became Secretary of State for Prices and Consumer Protection in Harold Wilsons cabinet, when Wilson was succeeded by James Callaghan in 1976, she became Secretary of State for Education and Paymaster General, holding both cabinet positions at the same time. While in office between 1976 and 1979, Williams advocated the comprehensive system and the abolition of grammar schools. In June 2012, she cited comprehensive schools as her greatest achievement, stating, I have never in any way regretted them, the problem was that in many places they were heavily skimmed because people kept grammar schools in place beside them. As her daughter Rebecca approached secondary school age, Williams moved into the catchment area of the state-subsidised Godolphin and Latymer School, Williams lost her seat when the Labour Party was defeated in the 1979 general election. Her defeat was one of the most prominent of the election, since then, she has appeared on many television and radio discussion programmes in Britain – in particular, the BBCs Question Time, where she has made more appearances than anyone else. They were joined by 28 other Labour MPs and one Conservative, later that year, following the death of the Conservative MP Sir Graham Page, she won the Crosby by-election and became the first SDP member elected to Parliament. Two years later, however, having become the SDPs President, in the 1987 general election, Williams stood for the SDP in Cambridge, but lost to the sitting Conservative candidate Robert Rhodes James. She then supported the SDPs merger with the Liberal Party that formed the Liberal Democrats, nonetheless, she remained active in politics and public service in Britain, the United States and internationally. During these years, Williams helped draft constitutions in Russia, Ukraine, upon Shirley Williams elevation to the House of Lords in 1993, she returned to the United Kingdom and continued a more public life, but has maintained a close association with Harvard University. Baroness Williams remained a member of the House of Lords. Williams served as United Nations Special Representative to the Former Yugoslavia, Williams was also an attendee of the 2013 and the 2010 Bilderberg conferences in Watford, Hertfordshire, England, and Sitges, Spain, respectively. Her interest and commitment to education continued, and she served as Chair of Judges of the British Teaching Awards, Williams was a member of the Top Level Group of UK Parliamentarians for Multilateral Nuclear Disarmament and Non-proliferation, established in October 2009
7.
John Silkin
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John Ernest Silkin, PC was an English left-wing Labour politician and solicitor. He was the son of Lewis Silkin, 1st Baron Silkin. He was educated at Dulwich College, the University of Wales and Trinity Hall, Silkin served in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve from 1942 to 1946. He was commissioned as a sub-lieutenant in 1943, serving in the East Indies Fleet, Eastern Fleet and Pacific Fleet aboard HMS King George V and HMS Formidable and he was demobilised in 1946 and returned to Cambridge. Silkin was admitted as a solicitor in 1950 and worked for his fathers law practice in London and he contested the seat of St Marylebone for the Labour Party at the 1950 general election, West Woolwich in 1951 and South Nottingham in 1959. He served as a councillor in the Metropolitan Borough of St Marylebone and was elected to the House of Commons for the first time in July 1963 and he served as the Labour Member of Parliament for Deptford and for Lewisham, Deptford. He was appointed to the Privy Council in 1966 and he served as a Government Chief Whip and as the deputy leader of the House of Commons. He was appointed as the Minister of Public Buildings and Works and he served as the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. In opposition, Silkin was a candidate in the 1980 Labour leadership election following the resignation of James Callaghan. He served as Opposition Spokesman on Industry, Shadow Leader of the House of Commons, Shadow Defence Secretary, silkins publication Changing Battlefields, The Challenge to the Labour Party appeared posthumously. His papers were given to the Churchill Archives Centre by his widow in February 1990 and these cover his Parliamentary and Ministerial career, as well as his other public interests, such as the Channel Tunnel, the European Economic Community and the dairy industry. He was married to the actress Rosamund John from 1950 until his death in 1987 and their son Rory L. F. Silkin was born in 1954
8.
James Callaghan
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As Prime Minister, he had some successes, but was chiefly remembered for the Winter of Discontent in 1978–79. During a very cold winter, his battle with trade unions led to strikes that seriously inconvenienced the public. On 18 November 1967, the government devalued the pound sterling and he sent the British Army to support the police in Northern Ireland, after a request from the Northern Ireland Government. After Labour lost the 1970 election, Callaghan played a key role in the Shadow Cabinet, when Prime Minister Harold Wilson resigned in 1976, Callaghan defeated five other candidates to be elected as his replacement. This was followed by a defeat in the general election. Callaghan was born at 38 Funtington Road, Copnor, Portsmouth, England and he was named after his father, also James Callaghan, who was a Royal Navy Chief Petty Officer. He had a sister, Dorothy Gertrude Callaghan. He attended Portsmouth Northern Secondary School and he gained the Senior Oxford Certificate in 1929, but could not afford entrance to university and instead sat the civil service Entrance Exam. At the age of 17, Callaghan left to work as a clerk for the Inland Revenue, while at the Inland Revenue offices in Kent, in 1931, he joined the Maidstone branch of the Labour Party. In 1934, he was transferred to Inland Revenue offices in London, laski encouraged him to stand for Parliament, although later on he requested Callaghan several times to study and lecture at the LSE. Callaghan joined the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve as an Ordinary Seaman in World War II from 1942 where he served in the East Indies Fleet and was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant in April 1944. While training for his promotion, his examination revealed that he was suffering from tuberculosis so he was admitted to the Royal Naval Hospital Haslar in Gosport near Portsmouth. After he recovered, he was discharged and assigned to duties with the Admiralty in Whitehall and he was assigned to the Japanese section and wrote a service manual for the Royal Navy The Enemy Japan. Callaghan would become the last British prime minister to be an armed forces veteran, whilst on leave, Callaghan was selected as a Parliamentary candidate for Cardiff South. He narrowly won the party ballot with twelve votes against the next highest candidate George Thomas with eleven. During 1945 he was assigned to the East Indies Fleet and served on HMS Queen Elizabeth in the Indian Ocean, after VE Day, along with other prospective candidates he returned to the United Kingdom to stand in the general election. Labour won a victory on 26 July 1945 bringing Clement Attlee to power. Callaghan won his Cardiff South seat in the 1945 UK general election and he defeated the sitting Conservative incumbent candidate, Sir Arthur Evans, by 17,489 votes to 11,545
9.
First Secretary of State
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First Secretary of State is an honorific title occasionally used within the Government of the United Kingdom. The title, which implies seniority over all other Secretaries of State, has no powers or authority attached to it beyond that of any other Secretary of State. The title is not always in use, so there have sometimes been extended gaps between successive holders of the title, the most lengthy of which being the 25 years between 1970 and 1995. The last holder was George Osborne, having held the post from May 2015 until July 2016, the post of Deputy Prime Minister had been created in 1942 for Clement Attlee, the leader of the Labour Party in Winston Churchills wartime coalition ministry. The post indicated that the holder ranked second in government, after the Prime Minister, for this reason, the Deputy Prime Minister concurrently held other offices, entitling him to a place in cabinet. The title First Secretary of State indicated the rank as a Secretary of State. The title was created in 1962 for Deputy Prime Minister R. A. Butler, michael Heseltine and John Prescott were also relieved of their cabinet portfolios when serving as Deputy Prime Minister, and were therefore additionally appointed First Secretary of State. In 1964, Prime Minister Harold Wilson established the alternative usage, Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
10.
Michael Stewart, Baron Stewart of Fulham
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Robert Michael Maitland Stewart, Baron Stewart of Fulham CH PC was a British Labour politician and Fabian Socialist who served twice as Foreign Secretary in the first cabinet of Harold Wilson. While at university, Stewart was President of the Oxford Union and he began his career as an official in the Royal Household during 1931. During World War II, Stewart served in the Middle East, joining the Intelligence Corps in 1942 and he was promoted to captain in 1944. On 26 July 1941 he married Mary Birkinshaw, later Baroness Stewart of Alvechurch and they were one of the few couples who both held titles in their own right. Soon after his election, he was made a junior whip, then a junior minister, as Under-Secretary of State for War. Stewart was Fabian Summer School Director in 1952 and Lecturer in 1954 and he was Fabian New Year School lecturer in 1954–55 and Publicist in 1956. Stewart is listed as a member of the Fabian Society International Bureau Committee during 1957–58 and was mentioned in Fabian News Nov–Dec 1964 as a member of the Fabian Executive Committee. When Harold Wilson became Prime Minister in 1964, Stewart was appointed Secretary of State for Education and he was promoted to Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs in January 1965. He was described by the press as relatively unknown to the public but was well known within Fabian Socialist circles. He became Secretary of State for Economic Affairs in 1966, from 1966 to 1968, he was First Secretary of State. He returned to the Foreign Office from 1968 to 1970, if Id done that I should have known that I was encouraging in Africa the principle of tribal secession – with all the misery that could bring to Africa in the future. A committed pro-European, Stewart was Leader of the Labour Delegation to the Council of Europe in June 1970 and he served as a member of the European Parliament from 1975 to 1976. Stewart was made a member of the Privy Council in 1964 and he was appointed a Companion of Honour in the 1969 New Year Honours. He retired from the House of Commons in 1979, Stewart was elevated to the House of Lords, being created a life peer with the title Baron Stewart of Fulham, of Fulham in Greater London on 5 July 1979. He died in 1990, aged 83
11.
Michael Heseltine
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Michael Ray Dibdin Heseltine, Baron Heseltine, CH, PC is a British Conservative politician and businessman. He was a Member of Parliament from 1966 to 2001, and was a prominent figure in the governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major including serving as Deputy Prime Minister under the latter. In 1990 he stood for the leadership of the Conservative Party against Margaret Thatcher and although he was unsuccessful in his bid, his action triggered Thatchers eventual resignation. Heseltine entered the Cabinet in 1979 as Secretary of State for the Environment and he was Secretary of State for Defence from 1983 to 1986. In the latter role he was instrumental in the battle against the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. Heseltine was considered an adept media performer and a charismatic minister and he resigned from the Cabinet in 1986 over the Westland Affair and returned to the back benches. He lost to John Major on the second ballot, Major later returned Heseltine to the Cabinet. As a key ally of Major, Heseltine rose to become President of the Board of Trade and, from 1995, Deputy Prime Minister and he declined to seek the leadership of the party following Majors 1997 election defeat, but remained a vocal advocate for modernisation in the party. Heseltine was seen as a One Nation Tory, epitomised by his support for the regeneration of the City of Liverpool, the subsequent transformation of Liverpool, with his support, saw Heseltine having the award of Freeman of the City of Liverpool bestowed upon him in 2012. Michael Heseltine was born in Swansea in Wales, the son of Rupert Heseltine and he is a distant descendant of Charles Dibdin. His fathers ancestors were farm labourers in Pembrey and his mother originated in West Wales and his maternal great-grandfather worked at the Swansea docks. His maternal grandfather, James Pridmore, founded West Glamorgan Collieries Ltd, Heseltine was brought up in relative luxury at No. Heseltine told Tatler interviewer Charlotte Edwardes in 2016, At prep school, every member was named after a member of the tit family, the Marsh Tit, the Blue Tit. He once feared the story reach the press, I just know if that had got out when I was in active politics. He enjoyed angling in Brynmill Park and won a junior competition and he was educated at Shrewsbury School. Julian Critchley recounted a story from his student days of how he plotted his future on the back of an envelope, a more detailed apocryphal version has him writing down, millionaire 25, cabinet member 35, party leader 45, prime minister 55. He became a millionaire and was a member of the cabinet from the age of 41. In the 1970s and 1980s Heseltines conference speech was often to be the highlight of the Conservative Party Conference despite his views being well to the left of the then leader Margaret Thatcher and he was eventually elected to the committee of the Oxford Union after five terms at the University
12.
Robert Carr
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Leonard Robert Carr, Baron Carr of Hadley, PC was a British Conservative Party politician. Robert Carr was educated at Westminster School and Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, after graduation he applied his knowledge of metallurgy at John Dale & Co, the family metal engineering firm. He was elected Member of Parliament for Mitcham in 1950 and served there until 1974 when the seat was merged, in 1971 he escaped injury when The Angry Brigade anarchist group exploded two bombs outside his house. More than thirty years later a member of the group issued an apology to Carr. In 1972 he served a period as Lord President of the Council and was then appointed Home Secretary after the resignation of Reginald Maudling. After his defeat in the first ballot of the 1975 Conservative leadership contest and he was created a life peer as Baron Carr of Hadley, of Monken Hadley, North London, in 1976. Carr died in 2012 at the age of 95, he was survived by his wife Joan, leigh Rayments Historical List of MPs Hansard 1803–2005, contributions in Parliament by Robert Carr
13.
Secretary of State for Transport
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Her Majestys Principal Secretary of State for Transport is the member of the cabinet responsible for the British Department for Transport. The office used to be called the Minister of Transport and has merged with the Department for the Environment at various times. The current Secretary of State for Transport is Chris Grayling, the Secretary of State is supported by a small team of junior Ministers. Each Minister is a Member of Parliament from either the House of Commons or the House of Lords, the number of Ministers supporting the Secretary of State for Transport vary from time to time, but is usually about 3. The titles given to these Ministers also vary, currently the positions are held by one Minister of State for Transport and two Parliamentary Under-Secretaries of State for Transport. From 2003 until June 2007 the role of Secretary of State for Transport was combined with the role of Secretary of State for Scotland, the names provided in the sections below are those who have served in a position equivalent to the Secretary of State for Transport. The Ministry of Civil Aviation was created by Winston Churchill in 1944 to look at ways of using aircraft. The new Conservative Government in 1951 appointed the same Minister to Transport and Civil Aviation, Colour key, Conservative Labour National Liberal Colour key, Conservative The Ministry was renamed back to the Ministry of Transport on 14 October 1959. Colour key, Labour Not an official member of the cabinet, Colour key, Conservative Colour key, Conservative The Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions was created in 1997 for Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott. Critics argued from the outset that this was a mistake and that a post of Secretary of State for Transport was needed in its own right. Colour key, Labour After Byers resignation, such a division was made, with the portfolios of Local Government, during the lifetime of DTLGR, John Spellar served as Minister of State for Transport with a right to attend Cabinet. John Spellar Colour key, Conservative Labour Ministry of Civil Aviation Aerodrome Fire Service Track record, Transport secretaries
14.
Secretary of State for International Development
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The post was created in 1997 when the Department for International Development was made independent of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. A separate Ministry of Overseas Development was established by Harold Wilson when he came to office in 1964, the first three holders of the office served in the Cabinet, but from 29 August 1967 the office was demoted. Under Edward Heath, the Ministry was re-incorporated into the Foreign, the Minister of State had day-to-day responsibility. Under the Labour government of the 1970s, Reg Prentice sat in the Cabinet during his term, the post is currently held by Priti Patel
15.
Tony Greenwood, Baron Greenwood of Rossendale
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Arthur William James Anthony Greenwood, Baron Greenwood of Rossendale, PC was a prominent British Labour Party politician in the 1950s and 1960s. In 1933 he visited India as a member of the British Universities Debating Team, after university Greenwood continued with political work, which included debating trips to the USA and some freelance journalism. He began, but did not complete, studies for the Bar at the Middle Temple, early employment consisted of a spell as economic secretary to an industrialist and then, in 1938-9, work for the National Fitness Council. In the summer of 1942 he joined the Royal Air Force, in December 1944 he was seconded to the War Cabinet Offices, to work with Monckton on an inquiry into the Mulberry harbours. Greenwood joined the Labour Party at the age of 14 and was a candidate for Colchester before the war. He led the Labour group on Hampstead Borough Council from 1945 until 1949, following boundary changes, he moved to represent Rossendale in 1950. He was vice-chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party in 1950-1, and was in the Shadow Cabinet from 1951 to 1952 and he also served on the partys National Executive Committee from 1954 to 1960 and became the first Chair of Labour Friends of Israel in 1957. Greenwood was the left wing challenger to Hugh Gaitskell in the 1961 leadership election when he received the support of just over a quarter of the Labour MPs. He served successively from 1964 to 1969 as Secretary of State for the Colonies, Minister of Overseas Development and Minister for Housing, on 22 September 1970, he was created a life peer as Baron Greenwood of Rossendale, of East Mersea, in the County of Essex. From 1977 to 1979 he was Chairman of the House of Lords Select Committee on the European Communities, while in the Lords, Greenwood held a number of business directorships. An oil exploration company, and Chairman of Greenwood Development Holdings Ltd and he was Chairman of Integrated Professional Development Service and a Director of Pochin Ltd. He was Pro-Chancellor of the University of Lancaster from 1972 to 1978 and he became Chairman of the Anglo-Israel Association in 1972, was a Trustee of the Jerusalem Educational Trust and Chairman of the Labour Friends of Israel. He gave support to charitable organisations and was a founding member of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. Greenwood married Gillian Crawshay-Williams, an artist and a great-granddaughter of Thomas Huxley and they had two daughters, Susanna and Dinah. He died in April 1982 aged 70
16.
Member of the European Parliament
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A Member of the European Parliament is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament was first established, MEPs were directly appointed by the governments of states from among those already sitting in their own national parliaments. Since 1979, however, MEPs have been elected by universal suffrage. Each member state establishes its own method for electing MEPs – and in some states this has changed over time –, in some member states the MEPs are elected to represent a single national constituency, in others they are elected from sub-national regions. For a list of current MEPs, see Members of the European Parliament 2014–2019, from 1 January 2007, when Romania and Bulgaria joined the EU, there were 785 MEPs, but their number was reduced to 736 at the elections in 2009. With effect from the elections held in May 2014 the number has risen again and now stands at 751, with member state having at least six. Elections are held every five years, on the basis of universal adult suffrage. The electoral area may be subdivided if this will not generally affect the nature of the voting system. Any election threshold on the level must not exceed five percent. As the number of MEPs granted to each state has arisen from treaty negotiations. No change in this configuration can occur without the consent of all national governments. The most recent elections to the European Parliament were the European elections of 2014 and they were the largest simultaneous transnational elections ever held anywhere in the world, since nearly 500 million citizens were eligible to vote. The European Parliament has a turnover of members compared to some national parliaments. For instance, after the 2004 elections, the majority of elected members had not been members in the parliamentary session. Only one has served continuously since the first elections in 1979, MEPs are organised into seven different cross-nationality political groups, except the 15 non-attached members known as non-inscrits. The two largest groups are the European Peoples Party and the Socialists & Democrats and these two groups have dominated the Parliament for much of its life, continuously holding between 50 and 70 percent of the seats together. No single group has held a majority in Parliament. Although, the European groups, between 2004 and 2009, were more cohesive than their US counterparts
17.
European Parliament
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The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union. Together with the Council of the European Union and the European Commission, the Parliament is composed of 751 members, who represent the second-largest democratic electorate in the world and the largest trans-national democratic electorate in the world. It has been elected every five years by universal suffrage since 1979. However, voter turnout at European Parliament elections has fallen consecutively at each election since that date, voter turnout in 2014 stood at 42. 54% of all European voters. The Parliament is the first institution of the EU, and shares equal legislative and it likewise has equal control over the EU budget. Finally, the European Commission, the body of the EU, is accountable to Parliament. In particular, Parliament elects the President of the Commission, and it can subsequently force the Commission as a body to resign by adopting a motion of censure. The President of the European Parliament is Antonio Tajani, elected in January 2017 and he presides over a multi-party chamber, the two largest groups being the Group of the European Peoples Party and the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats. The last union-wide elections were the 2014 elections, the European Parliament has three places of work – Brussels, the city of Luxembourg and Strasbourg. Luxembourg is home to the administrative offices, meetings of the whole Parliament take place in Strasbourg and in Brussels. Committee meetings are held in Brussels, the Parliament, like the other institutions, was not designed in its current form when it first met on 10 September 1952. One of the oldest common institutions, it began as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and it was a consultative assembly of 78 appointed parliamentarians drawn from the national parliaments of member states, having no legislative powers. Its development since its foundation shows how the European Unions structures have evolved without a master plan. Some, such as Tom Reid of the Washington Post, said of the union, nobody would have designed a government as complex. Even the Parliaments two seats, which have switched several times, are a result of various agreements or lack of agreements, the body was not mentioned in the original Schuman Declaration. It was assumed or hoped that difficulties with the British would be resolved to allow the Council of Europes Assembly to perform the task, a separate Assembly was introduced during negotiations on the Treaty as an institution which would counterbalance and monitor the executive while providing democratic legitimacy. The wording of the ECSC Treaty demonstrated the desire for more than a normal consultative assembly by using the term representatives of the people. Its early importance was highlighted when the Assembly was given the task of drawing up the treaty to establish a European Political Community
18.
Blackburn (UK Parliament constituency)
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Blackburn is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by Kate Hollern of the Labour Party. It has elected Labour MPs since its re-creation in 1955, the constituency encompasses the town of Blackburn in the North West of England. It borders four other constituencies, Ribble Valley to the north, Hyndburn to the east, Rossendale and Darwen to the south, the electoral wards in the Blackburn seat fought at the UK general election in 2010 were entirely within the district of Blackburn with Darwen. For more details, see the Politics section of the Blackburn article, Blackburn was first enfranchised by the Reform Act 1832, as a two member constituency, and was first used at the 1832 General Election. It was abolished for the 1950 General Election, when it was replaced by two new single member constituencies, Blackburn East and Blackburn West. After its re-establishment in 1955, the constituency was initially a marginal, over 50% more people used postal votes in the 2005 General Election in Blackburn than in 2001. Unlike in 1997 and 2001, the BNP had a candidate, in August 2011, Jack Straw announced he had no plans to retire, despite hitting 65 earlier that month. On 25 October 2013, Straw announced that he would stand down as Blackburns MP at the next election, in March 2014, Kate Hollern was selected, via an all women shortlist, as the candidate for Labour for the 2015 General Election, and held the seat. General Election 1939/40, Another General Election was required to place before the end of 1940
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Jack Straw
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John Whitaker Straw is an English politician who served as the Member of Parliament for Blackburn from 1979 to 2015. Straw served in the Cabinet from 1997 to 2010 under the governments of Tony Blair and he held two of the traditional Great Offices of State, as Home Secretary from 1997 to 2001 and Foreign Secretary from 2001 to 2006 under Blair. From 2007 to 2010 he served as Lord Chancellor and the Secretary of State for Justice throughout Browns Premiership, Straw is one of only three individuals to have served in Cabinet continuously under the Labour government from 1997 to 2010, the others being Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling. In February 2015 Channel 4 Dispatches and The Daily Telegraph accused Straw of impropriety following a meeting set up with a fictitious Chinese company. Straw strongly denied the allegations and referred himself to Parliament’s Commissioner for Standards, in September 2015 the Commissioner for Standards dismissed all allegations that he had brought the House of Commons into disrepute and criticised Channel 4 and the Daily Telegraph’s conduct. Jack Straw was born in Buckhurst Hill in Essex, the son of Walter Arthur Whitaker Straw, an insurance salesman, after his father left the family, Straw was brought up by his mother on a council estate in Loughton. Known to his family as John, he started calling himself Jack while in school, in reference to Jack Straw, Straw is of 1/8th Jewish descent. Jack Straw was educated at Brentwood School and the University of Leeds and he graduated with a 2,2 degree in Law. He was alleged by the Foreign Office to have disrupted a student trip to Chile to build a youth centre and they branded him a troublemaker acting with malice aforethought. Led by Straw, Labour Society disaffiliated itself from the Labour Party, Straw was then elected president of the Leeds University Union. At the 1967 National Union of Students Conference, he ran for office in the NUS. In April 1968, he stood unsuccessfully for election as NUS President, however, he was elected as NUS President in 1969, holding this post until 1971. In 1971, he was elected as a Labour councillor in the London Borough of Islington, in 2007 the Union Council reinstated his life membership and place on the Presidents Board. Straw subsequently qualified as a barrister at Inns of Court School of Law and he is a member of The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple and remains active in lecturing to fellow members and students. Between 1971 and 1974, Jack Straw was a member of the Inner London Education Authority, and Deputy Leader from 1973 to 1974. He served as an adviser to Barbara Castle at the Department of Social Security from 1974 to 1976. From 1977 to 1979, Straw worked as a researcher for the Granada TV series, Straw stood unsuccessfully as the Labour parliamentary candidate for the safe Conservative Tonbridge and Malling constituency in the February 1974 election. He was later selected to stand for Labour in its safe Blackburn seat at the 1979 General Election, Straw was selected to stand for Parliament for the Lancashire constituency of Blackburn in 1977, after Barbara Castle decided not to seek re-election there
20.
Chesterfield
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Chesterfield is a market town and a borough in Derbyshire, England. It lies 24 miles north of Derby and 11 miles south of Sheffield, the borough – which includes the settlements of Whittington, Brimington and Staveley – had a population of 103,800 in 2011. Chesterfield is the second largest town in the county of Derbyshire. Archaeological examination of the town has traced its beginnings to the 1st century AD and the construction of a Roman fort, later an Anglo-Saxon village grew up on the site. The name Chesterfield derives from the Anglo-Saxon words caester and feld, Chesterfield received its market charter in 1204. It still has a moderately sized market of about 250 stalls held three days a week, the town sits on a large coalfield, which formed a major part of the areas economy until the 1980s. Little visual evidence of the remains today. The towns best known landmark is the Church of St Mary and All Saints, popularly known for its crooked spire, Chesterfield was in the Hundred of Scarsdale. The town received its charter in 1204 from King John. The charter constituted the town as a borough, granting the burgesses of Chesterfield the same privileges as those of Nottingham. In 1266, it was the site of the Battle of Chesterfield, elizabeth I granted a charter of incorporation in 1594, creating a corporation consisting of a mayor, six aldermen, six brethren, and twelve capital burgesses. This remained the governing charter until the borough was reformed under the Municipal Corporations Act 1835, the borough originally consisted only of the township of Chesterfield, but it was extended in 1892 to parts of some surrounding townships. In 1920 there was an extension when the borough absorbed New Whittington. Chesterfield benefited greatly from the building of the Chesterfield Line – part of the Derby to Leeds railway, during the work, a sizeable seam of coal was discovered during the construction of the Clay Cross Tunnel. This and the local ironstone were promptly exploited by Stephenson, who set up a company in Clay Cross to trade in the minerals, during his time in Chesterfield, Stephenson lived at Tapton House, and remained there until his death in 1848. He is interred in Trinity Church, in 2006, a statue of Stephenson was erected outside Chesterfield railway station. Chesterfield is located on the confluence and valleys of the River Rother and River Hipper at the Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Yorkshire Coalfield. The town also lies in the foothills of the Pennines
21.
Derbyshire
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Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire, in 2003 the Ordnance Survey placed Church Flatts Farm at Coton in the Elms as the furthest point from the sea in Great Britain. The city of Derby is a unitary authority area, but remains part of the county of Derbyshire. The non-metropolitan county contains 30 towns with between 10,000 and 100,000 inhabitants, there is a large amount of sparsely populated agricultural upland, 75% of the population live in 25% of the area. Further occupation came with the Upper Paleolithic and Neolithic periods of the Stone Age when Mesolithic hunter gatherers roamed the hilly tundra, evidence of these nomadic tribes has been found in limestone caves located on the Nottinghamshire border. Deposits left in the date the occupancy at around 12,000 to 7,000 BCE. Burial mounds of Neolithic settlers are also situated throughout the county and these chambered tombs were designed for collective burial and are mostly located in the central Derbyshire region. There are tombs at Minninglow and Five Wells that date back to between 2000 and 2500 BCE, three miles west of Youlgreave lies the Neolithic henge monument of Arbor Low, which has been dated to 2500 BCE. It is not until the Bronze Age that real signs of agriculture, in the moors of the Peak District signs of clearance, arable fields and hut circles were discovered after archaeological investigation. However this area and another settlement at Swarkestone are all that have been found, during the Roman invasion the invaders were attracted to Derbyshire because of the lead ore in the limestone hills of the area. They settled throughout the county with forts built near Brough in the Hope Valley, later they settled around Buxton, famed for its warm springs, and set up a fort near modern-day Derby in an area now known as Little Chester. Several kings of Mercia are buried in the Repton area, following the Norman Conquest, much of the county was subject to the forest laws. To the northwest was the Forest of High Peak under the custodianship of William Peverel, the rest of the county was bestowed upon Henry de Ferrers, a part of it becoming Duffield Frith. In time the area was given to the Duchy of Lancaster. Meanwhile, the Forest of East Derbyshire covered the county to the east of the River Derwent from the reign of Henry II to that of Edward I. The main rivers in the county are the River Derwent and the River Dove which both join the River Trent in the south. The varied landscapes within Derbyshires have been formed mainly as a consequence of the underlying geology, the oldest rocks occur in the northern, more upland half of the county, and are mostly of Carboniferous age, comprising limestones, gritstones, sandstones and shales. In its north-east corner to the east of Bolsover there are also Magnesian Limestone rocks of Permian age, across both regions can be found drift deposits of Quaternary age – mainly terrace and river gravel deposits and boulder clays
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Chiltern District
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Chiltern is one of four local government districts of Buckinghamshire in south central England. It is named after the Chiltern Hills on which the region sits, the main towns in the district are Amersham and Chesham which are both served by London Undergrounds Metropolitan line. It was formed on 1 April 1974 by the merger of the Chesham Urban District, the parishes that make up Chiltern District are, Amersham Ashley Green Chalfont St. The Conservative and Unionist Party, most commonly known as the Conservatives or Torys also increased their seats on the council. The composition of the council is as follows, Along with the Aylesbury Vale district, the major roads through the district are the A413 and the A404, the two meeting in Amersham. Railway services are provided by Chiltern Railways and London Undergrounds Metropolitan line, the Great Central Main Line carried traffic between London and Manchester until 1966, the section to Aylesbury is all that remains, and is now part of the London to Aylesbury Line. The railway stations in the district are, Great Missenden, Amersham, Chalfont and Latimer and Chesham, police stations are in Amersham and Chesham. In May 2008, the district was assessed by Bank of Scotland, in May 2006, a report commissioned by British Gas showed that housing in Chiltern produced the 4th highest average carbon emissions in the country at 7,421 kg of carbon dioxide per dwelling. List of organisations within the district
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Buckinghamshire
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Development in this region is restricted by the Metropolitan Green Belt. Other large settlements include the county town of Aylesbury, Marlow in the south near the Thames and Princes Risborough in the west near Oxford. Some areas without rail links to London, such as around the old county town of Buckingham. The largest town is Milton Keynes in the northeast, which with the area is administered as a unitary authority separately to the rest of Buckinghamshire. The remainder of the county is administered by Buckinghamshire County Council as a non-metropolitan county, in national elections, Buckinghamshire is considered a reliable supporter of the Conservative Party. A large part of the Chiltern Hills, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, runs through the south of the county and attracts many walkers, in this area older buildings are often made from local flint and red brick. Chequers, an estate owned by the government, is the country retreat of the incumbent Prime Minister. To the north of the county lies rolling countryside in the Vale of Aylesbury, the Thames forms part of the county’s southwestern boundary. Notable service amenities in the county are Pinewood Film Studios, Dorney rowing lake, many national companies have offices in Milton Keynes. Heavy industry and quarrying is limited, with agriculture predominating after service industries, the name Buckinghamshire is Anglo-Saxon in origin and means The district of Buccas home. Buccas home refers to Buckingham in the north of the county, the county has been so named since about the 12th century, however, the county has existed since it was a subdivision of the kingdom of Mercia. Historically, the biggest change to the county came in the 19th century, Buckinghamshire is a popular home for London commuters, leading to greater local affluence, however, some pockets of relative deprivation remain. As a result, most county institutions are now based in the south of the county or Milton Keynes, the county can be split into two sections geographically. The county includes parts of two of the four longest rivers in England, the River Thames forms the southern boundary with Berkshire, which has crept over the border at Eton and Slough so that the river is no longer the sole boundary between the two counties. The River Great Ouse rises just outside the county in Northamptonshire and flows east through Buckingham, Milton Keynes, the main branch of the Grand Union Canal passes through the county as do its arms to Slough, Aylesbury, Wendover and Buckingham. The canal has been incorporated into the landscaping of Milton Keynes, the southern part of the county is dominated by the Chiltern Hills. The two highest points in Buckinghamshire are Haddington Hill in Wendover Woods at 267 metres above sea level, quarrying has taken place for chalk, clay for brickmaking and gravel and sand in the river valleys. Flint, also extracted from quarries, was used to build older local buildings
24.
Labour Party (UK)
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The Labour Party is a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom. Labour later served in the coalition from 1940 to 1945. Labour was also in government from 1964 to 1970 under Harold Wilson and from 1974 to 1979, first under Wilson and then James Callaghan. The Labour Party was last in government from 1997 to 2010 under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, beginning with a majority of 179. Having won 232 seats in the 2015 general election, the party is the Official Opposition in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the party also organises in Northern Ireland, but does not contest elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly. The Labour Party is a member of the Party of European Socialists and Progressive Alliance. In September 2015, Jeremy Corbyn was elected Leader of the Labour Party, the first Lib–Lab candidate to stand was George Odger in the Southwark by-election of 1870. In addition, several small socialist groups had formed around this time, among these were the Independent Labour Party, the intellectual and largely middle-class Fabian Society, the Marxist Social Democratic Federation and the Scottish Labour Party. In the 1895 general election, the Independent Labour Party put up 28 candidates, Keir Hardie, the leader of the party, believed that to obtain success in parliamentary elections, it would be necessary to join with other left-wing groups. Hardies roots as a lay preacher contributed to an ethos in the party led to the comment by 1950s General Secretary Morgan Phillips that Socialism in Britain owed more to Methodism than Marx. The motion was passed at all stages by the TUC, the meeting was attended by a broad spectrum of working-class and left-wing organisations—trades unions represented about one third of the membership of the TUC delegates. This created an association called the Labour Representation Committee, meant to coordinate attempts to support MPs sponsored by trade unions and it had no single leader, and in the absence of one, the Independent Labour Party nominee Ramsay MacDonald was elected as Secretary. He had the task of keeping the various strands of opinions in the LRC united. The October 1900 Khaki election came too soon for the new party to campaign effectively, only 15 candidatures were sponsored, but two were successful, Keir Hardie in Merthyr Tydfil and Richard Bell in Derby. Support for the LRC was boosted by the 1901 Taff Vale Case, the judgement effectively made strikes illegal since employers could recoup the cost of lost business from the unions. In their first meeting after the election the groups Members of Parliament decided to adopt the name The Labour Party formally, the Fabian Society provided much of the intellectual stimulus for the party. One of the first acts of the new Liberal Government was to reverse the Taff Vale judgement, the Peoples History Museum in Manchester holds the minutes of the first Labour Party meeting in 1906 and has them on display in the Main Galleries. Also within the museum is the Labour History Archive and Study Centre, the governing Liberals were unwilling to repeal this judicial decision with primary legislation
25.
Alma mater
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Alma mater is an allegorical Latin phrase for a university or college. In modern usage, it is a school or university which an individual has attended, the phrase is variously translated as nourishing mother, nursing mother, or fostering mother, suggesting that a school provides intellectual nourishment to its students. Before its modern usage, Alma mater was a title in Latin for various mother goddesses, especially Ceres or Cybele. The source of its current use is the motto, Alma Mater Studiorum, of the oldest university in continuous operation in the Western world and it is related to the term alumnus, denoting a university graduate, which literally means a nursling or one who is nourished. The phrase can also denote a song or hymn associated with a school, although alma was a common epithet for Ceres, Cybele, Venus, and other mother goddesses, it was not frequently used in conjunction with mater in classical Latin. Alma Redemptoris Mater is a well-known 11th century antiphon devoted to Mary, the earliest documented English use of the term to refer to a university is in 1600, when University of Cambridge printer John Legate began using an emblem for the universitys press. In English etymological reference works, the first university-related usage is often cited in 1710, many historic European universities have adopted Alma Mater as part of the Latin translation of their official name. The University of Bologna Latin name, Alma Mater Studiorum, refers to its status as the oldest continuously operating university in the world. At least one, the Alma Mater Europaea in Salzburg, Austria, the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, has been called the Alma Mater of the Nation because of its ties to the founding of the United States. At Queens University in Kingston, Ontario, and the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, British Columbia, the ancient Roman world had many statues of the Alma Mater, some still extant. Modern sculptures are found in prominent locations on several American university campuses, outside the United States, there is an Alma Mater sculpture on the steps of the monumental entrance to the Universidad de La Habana, in Havana, Cuba. Media related to Alma mater at Wikimedia Commons The dictionary definition of alma mater at Wiktionary Alma Mater Europaea website
26.
St Hugh's College, Oxford
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St Hughs College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford. It is located on a 14. 5-acre site on St Margarets Road and it was founded in 1886 by Elizabeth Wordsworth as a womens college, and accepted its first male students in its centenary year in 1986. It enjoys a reputation as one of the most attractive colleges because of its extensive, in its 125th anniversary year, the college became a registered charity under the name The Principal and Fellows of St Hughs College in the University of Oxford. As of July 2013, the financial endowment was £25.7 million. St Hughs was founded in 1886 by Elizabeth Wordsworth to help the number of women who find the charges of the present Halls at Oxford. Using money left to her by her father, who had been Bishop of Lincoln and she named the college after one of her fathers 13th-century predecessors, Hugh of Avalon, who was canonised in 1220, and in whose diocese Oxford had been. The college was initially accommodated in properties in Norham Road, Norham Gardens and its first six students were Annie Moberly, Jessie Annie Emmerson, Charlotte Jourdain, Constance E. Ashburner, Wilhemina J. de Lorna Mitchell and Grace J. Parsons. Students were required to ask the Principal before accepting invitations to friends. Records show that rent was between £18 and £21 a term depending on the size of the room, with fires being charged extra. The college began to move to its present site in 1913 and this house was situated on the corner of St Margarets Road and Banbury Road, and was owned by University College. The first book was a copy of Sales Koran, which was given to the college by the then Bishop of Tokyo, the college soon took over other properties nearby. The leasehold of No.4 St Margarets Road was acquired in 1919, the leasehold of No.82 Woodstock Road was donated to the college by Dr Joan Evans in 1924 and No.89 Banbury Road was purchased from Lincoln College for £7,000 in 1927. The college obtained the freehold to the site in 1927. The freeholds of Nos. 1-4 St Margarets Road and 74-82 Woodstock Road were purchased from St Johns College in 1931 and 1932 respectively, the college received a Royal Charter in 1926. Between 1935 and 1936 No.1 St Margarets Road was demolished, brick huts were constructed in the college grounds with space for 300 beds. Between 1940 and 1945, over 13,000 servicemen and women were treated at the college, advances in medicine discovered at the hospital meant the mortality rate for brain-penetrating injuries fell from 90% to 9%. Staff and students were relocated to Holywell Manor, Savile House, in 1943 the college acquired the leasehold of No 72 Woodstock Road from Dame Gertrude Whitehead for £1,500. It was used as a club for American soldiers during the war, in 1946, it was leased to the University of Paris as Maison Française, an Anglo-American educational establishment
27.
United Kingdom general election, 1945
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The United Kingdom general election of 1945 was held on 5 July 1945, with polls in some constituencies delayed until 12 July and in Nelson and Colne until 19 July, because of local wakes weeks. The results were counted and declared on 26 July, owing in part to the time it took to transport the votes of those serving overseas and this resulted in Labour winning its first majority government, and a mandate to implement its postwar reforms. The 12. 0% national swing from the Conservative Party to the Labour Party remains the largest ever achieved in a British general election. Held less than two months after VE Day, it was the first general election since 1935, as general elections had been suspended during the Second World War. Attlee, Leader of the Labour Party, refused Churchills offer of continuing the Wartime Coalition until the Allied defeat of Japan, Parliament was dissolved on 15th June. It resulted in the defeat of the government led by Winston Churchill and the landslide victory of the Labour Party led by Clement Attlee. Henry Pelling, noting that polls showed a steady Labour lead after 1942, equally, though voters respected and liked Churchills wartime record, they were more distrustful of the Conservative Partys domestic and foreign policy record in the late 1930s. This was the first election in which Labour gained a majority of seats, the election was a disaster for the Liberal Party, as it lost all its urban seats, while their leader Archibald Sinclair lost his own rural Scottish seat. Baines says the defeat marked its transition from being a party of government to a party of the political fringe, the 8 seats won by National Labour in 1935 were not defended. With World War II coming to an end in Europe, the Labour Party decided to out of the wartime national coalition government. King George VI dissolved Parliament, which had been sitting for ten years without an election, what followed was perhaps one of the greatest swings of public confidence of the twentieth century. In May 1945, the month in which the War in Europe ended, Churchills approval ratings stood at 83%, Labour won overwhelming support while Churchill. Was both surprised and stunned by the defeat suffered by the Conservatives. The greatest factor in Labours dramatic win appeared to be the policy of social reform, the Beveridge Report, published in 1942, proposed the creation of a Welfare State. It called for a turn in British social policy, with provision for nationalised healthcare, expansion of state-funded education, National Insurance. The report was extremely popular, and copies of its findings were widely purchased, the Labour Party adopted the report eagerly. The Conservatives accepted many of the principles of the report, Labour offered a new comprehensive welfare policy, reflecting a consensus that social changes were needed. The Conservatives were not willing to make the concessions that Labour proposed
28.
United Kingdom general election, 1979
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The United Kingdom general election of 1979 was held on 3 May 1979 to elect 635 members to the British House of Commons. The Conservative Party, led by Margaret Thatcher, ousted the incumbent Labour government of James Callaghan with a majority of 43 seats. The election was the first of four election victories for the Conservative Party. Callaghan had made agreements with the Liberals, the Ulster Unionists, the Conservative campaign employed the advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi and pledged to control inflation as well as curbing the power of the trade unions. The Liberal Party was damaged by allegations that its former leader Jeremy Thorpe had been involved in a homosexual affair, the Liberals were now being led by David Steel, meaning that all three major parties entered the election with a new leader. The election saw a 5. 2% swing from Labour to the Conservatives, the largest swing since the 1945 election, Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister, and Callaghan was replaced as Labour leader by Michael Foot in 1980. Results for the election were broadcast live on the BBC, and presented by David Dimbleby and Robin Day, with Robert McKenzie on the Swingometer and it was the first general election to feature Rick Wakemans song Arthur on the BBCs coverage. After suffering a vote of no confidence on 28 March 1979, Callaghan succeeded Harold Wilson as Labour Prime Minister after the latters surprise resignation in April 1976. Although published opinion polls suggested that he win, private polls commissioned by the Labour Party from MORI had suggested the two main parties had much the same level of support. However, events would soon overtake the Labour government, a series of industrial disputes in the winter of 1978–79, dubbed the Winter of Discontent, led to widespread strikes across the country and seriously hurt Labours standings in the polls. When the Scottish National Party withdrew support for the Scotland Act 1978, as the previous election had been held in October 1974, Labour could have held on until the autumn of 1979 if it had not been for the lost confidence vote. Margaret Thatcher had won her partys 1975 leadership election over former leader Edward Heath, David Steel had replaced Jeremy Thorpe as leader of the Liberal Party in 1976, after allegations of homosexuality and conspiracy to murder his former lover forced Thorpe to resign. The Thorpe affair led to a fall in the Liberal vote after what was thought to be a breakthrough in the February 1974 election and this was the first election since 1959 to feature three new leaders for the main political parties. The three main parties all advocated cutting income tax, Labour and the Conservatives did not specify the exact thresholds of income tax they would implement but the Liberals did, claiming they would have income tax starting at 20% with a top rate of 50%. The Labour campaign reiterated their support for the National Health Service and full employment, in an early campaign broadcast, Callaghan asked, The question you will have to consider is whether we risk tearing everything up by the roots. The Labour Party manifesto The Labour way is the way, was issued on 6 April. The Conservatives campaigned on issues, pledging to control inflation. They also employed the advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi who created the Labour Isnt Working poster, the Conservative campaign was focused on gaining support from traditional Labour voters who had never voted Conservative before, first-time voters, and people who had voted Liberal in 1974
29.
House of Commons of the United Kingdom
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The House of Commons of the United Kingdom is the lower house of the countrys parliament. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster, officially, the full name of the house is, The Honourable the Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Parliament assembled. The House is a body consisting of 650 members known as Members of Parliament. Members are elected to represent constituencies by first-past-the-post and hold their seats until Parliament is dissolved, under the Parliament Act 1911, the Lords power to reject legislation was reduced to a delaying power. The Government is primarily responsible to the House of Commons and the prime minister stays in office only as long as he or she retains the support of a majority of its members. Although it does not formally elect the prime minister, the position of the parties in the House of Commons is of overriding importance, by convention, the prime minister is answerable to, and must maintain the support of, the House of Commons. Since 1963, by convention, the minister is always a member of the House of Commons. The Commons may indicate its lack of support for the Government by rejecting a motion of confidence or by passing a motion of no confidence, confidence and no confidence motions are sometimes phrased explicitly, for instance, That this House has no confidence in Her Majestys Government. Many other motions were considered confidence issues, even though not explicitly phrased as such, in particular, important bills that form a part of the Governments agenda were formerly considered matters of confidence, as is the annual Budget. Parliament normally sits for a term of five years. Subject to that limit, the minister could formerly choose the timing of the dissolution of parliament. By this second mechanism, the government of the United Kingdom can change without a general election. In such circumstances there may not even have been a party leadership election, as the new leader may be chosen by acclaim. A prime minister may resign if he or she is not defeated at the polls. In such a case, the premiership goes to whoever can command a majority in the House of Commons, in practice this is usually the new leader of the outgoing prime ministers party. Until 1965, the Conservative Party had no mechanism for electing a new leader, when Anthony Eden resigned as PM in 1957 without recommending a successor and it fell to the Queen to appoint Harold Macmillan as the new prime minister, after taking the advice of ministers. By convention, all ministers must be members of the House of Commons or of the House of Lords, a handful have been appointed who were outside Parliament, but in most cases they then entered Parliament either in a by-election or by receiving a peerage. Since 1902, all ministers have been members of the Commons
30.
Gwyneth Dunwoody
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Gwyneth Patricia Dunwoody was a British moderate Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Exeter from 1966 to 1970, and then for Crewe from 1974 to her death in 2008. She had a reputation as a fiercely independent parliamentarian, described as intelligent, obstinate, opinionated, Dunwoody was born in Fulham, London, where her father was Labour parliamentary agent. Both of her grandmothers were suffragettes, and all four grandparents were Labour party loyalists and she attended the Fulham County Secondary School for Girls, now known as the Fulham Cross Girls School, and the Notre Dame Convent in Battersea. She left school aged 16, and became a journalist with a newspaper in Fulham, covering births, marriages. She joined the Labour Party in 1947, and spoke at the 1948 Labour party conference in Scarborough and she worked as an actress in repertory and as a journalist in the Netherlands, learning fluent Dutch, before suffering a bout of tuberculosis. She married John Dunwoody in 1954, the year he qualified as a doctor. Her husband became a general practitioner based in Totnes in Devon and they had two sons and a daughter. Her husband stood as Labour candidate in the safe Conservative seat of Tiverton in 1959, meanwhile, Dunwoody was a councillor on Totnes Borough Council from 1963-6. Her husband was elected as Labour MP for Falmouth and Camborne in 1966. He served as a Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the Department of Health, a well-regarded orator at the Labour Party Conference, John Dunwoody was spoken of as a future leader of the Party but lost his seat in the 1970 general election and did not return to Parliament. Dunwoody stood as the Labour Party candidate for the Exeter seat in the 1964 general election and she was elected as Member of Parliament for Exeter in 1966, emulating her husband in Falmouth and Camborne. Like her husband, she served as a junior minister, as a Parliamentary Secretary at the Board of Trade. From 1970 to 1975, she was Director of the Film Producers Association of Great Britain and she returned to the House of Commons after the February 1974 general election, becoming MP for the safe Labour seat of Crewe, having received the sponsorship of the National Union of Railwaymen. Dunwoody was also a Member of the European Parliament between 1975 and 1979 at a time when MEPs were nominated by national parliaments — MEPs have been elected since 1979. In 1983, Dunwoody stood for election as Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, alongside Peter Shore, the position was won by Roy Hattersley, and Dunwoody came last out of the four candidates with 1. 3% of the Electoral College. She did not return to office, but served as a front bench spokesman on, by turns, transport, health. She also served on the Labour National Executive Committee for seven years, from 1981 to 1988 and she resisted the Militant group in her constituency and later opposed all-women shortlists. In 1983, boundary changes abolished the constituency of Crewe and created the constituency of Crewe and Nantwich and she narrowly won the election in 1983 by 290 votes
31.
Greater Manchester
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Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million. Greater Manchester was created on 1 April 1974 as a result of the Local Government Act 1972, Greater Manchester spans 493 square miles, which roughly covers the territory of the Greater Manchester Built-up Area, the second most populous urban area in the UK. It is landlocked and borders Cheshire, Derbyshire, West Yorkshire, Lancashire, for the 12 years following 1974 the county had a two-tier system of local government, district councils shared power with the Greater Manchester County Council. The county council was abolished in 1986, and so its districts became unitary authority areas. However, the county has continued to exist in law and as a geographic frame of reference, and as a ceremonial county, has a Lord Lieutenant. A further devolution of powers to Greater Manchester is set to place upon the election of the inaugural Mayor of Greater Manchester scheduled for 2017. Before the creation of the county, the name SELNEC was used for the area. Since deindustrialisation in the century, Greater Manchester has become known as an exporter of media and digital content, for its guitar and dance music. Although the modern county of Greater Manchester was not created until 1974, there is evidence of Iron Age habitation, particularly at Mellor, and Celtic activity in a settlement named Chochion, believed to have been an area of Wigan settled by the Brigantes. Stretford was also part of the believed to have been occupied by the Celtic Brigantes tribe. The remains of 1st-century forts at Castlefield in Manchester, and Castleshaw Roman fort in Saddleworth, are evidence of Roman occupation. Much of the region was omitted from the Domesday Book of 1086, Redhead states that this was only a partial survey was taken. During the Middle Ages, much of what became Greater Manchester lay within the hundred of Salfordshire – an ancient division of the county of Lancashire, Salfordshire encompassed several parishes and townships, some of which, like Rochdale, were important market towns and centres of Englands woollen trade. The development of what became Greater Manchester is attributed to a tradition of domestic flannel and fustian cloth production. Infrastructure such as rows of terraced housing, factories and roads were constructed to house labour, transport goods, however, it was Manchester that was the most populous settlement, a major city, the worlds largest marketplace for cotton goods, and the natural centre of its region. In the 1910s, local government reforms to administer this conurbation as an entity were proposed. In the 18th century, German traders had coined the name Manchesterthum to cover the region in, however, the English term Greater Manchester did not appear until the 20th century. One of its first known recorded uses was in a 1914 report put forward in response to what was considered to have been the creation of the County of London in 1889
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Cabinet (UK)
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Ministers of the Crown, and especially Cabinet ministers, are selected primarily from the elected members of House of Commons, and also from the House of Lords, by the Prime Minister. Cabinet ministers are heads of government departments, mostly with the office of Secretary of State for, the collective co-ordinating function of the Cabinet is reinforced by the statutory position that all the Secretaries of State jointly hold the same office, and can exercise the same powers. The Cabinet is the ultimate decision-making body of the executive within the Westminster system of government in constitutional theory. The political and decision-making authority of the cabinet has been reduced over the last several decades. The Cabinet is the committee of Her Majestys Privy Council, a body which has legislative, judicial and executive functions. Its decisions are implemented either under the existing powers of individual government departments. Since the reign of King George I the Cabinet has been the executive group of British government. Both he and George II made use of the system, as both were not native English speakers, unfamiliar with British politics, and thus relied heavily on selected groups of advisers, the term minister came into being since the royal officers ministered to the sovereign. The name and institution have been adopted by most English-speaking countries, and this development grew out of the exigencies of the First World War, where faster and better co-ordinated decisions across Government were seen as a crucial part of the war effort. All these demanded a highly organised and centralised Government centred on the Cabinet, Cabinet ministers, like all ministers, are appointed and may be dismissed by the monarch at pleasure on the advice of the Prime Minister. The allocation and transfer of responsibilities between ministers and departments is generally at the Prime Ministers discretion. The extent to which the Government is collegial varies with political conditions, any change to the composition of the Cabinet involving more than one appointment is customarily referred to as a reshuffle, a routine reshuffle normally occurs every summer. The number in addition to the Prime Minister is currently 21, the Cabinet Secretary does not have a political appointment such as Secretary of State and is not a member of the Cabinet, but is the professional Head of Her Majestys Civil Service. In formal constitutional terms, the Cabinet is a committee of Her Majestys Most Honourable Privy Council, all Cabinet members are made Privy Counsellors shortly after appointment if not already Privy Counsellors, but only selected Privy Counsellors are appointed to the Cabinet or invited to attend. MPs and peers in the Cabinet use the style the Right Honourable The Cabinet has come to be made up almost entirely of members of the House of Commons, the Leader of the House of Lords is a member of the House of Lords. Otherwise it is rare for a peer to sit in the Cabinet, the Lord Chancellor was formerly the presiding officer of the House of Lords, but since 2007 need not be a member of the Lords, and members of the House of Commons have been appointed. The number of ministers who are peers has increased since 1997. Occasionally cabinet members are selected from outside the Houses of Parliament, harold Wilson appointed Frank Cousins and Patrick Gordon Walker to the 1964 cabinet despite their not being MPs at the time
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Pontefract
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Pontefract is a historic market town in West Yorkshire, England, near the A1 and the M62 motorway. Pontefracts motto is Post mortem patris pro filio, Latin for After the death of the father, support the son, at the end of the 11th century, the modern township of Pontefract consisted of two distinct and separate localities known as Tanshelf and Kirkby. Such a crossing point would have been important in the early days. Historians believe that, in all probability, it is this event which gives the township of Pontefract its modern name. The name Pontefract originates from the Latin for broken bridge, formed of the elements pons, Pontefract was not recorded in the 1086 Domesday Book, but it was noted as Pontefracto in 1090, four years after the Domesday survey. In 2007 a suspected extension of Ferrybridge Henge – a Neolithic henge – was discovered near Pontefract during a survey in preparation for the construction of a row of houses, once the survey was complete, the construction continued. The modern town is situated on an old Roman road, described as the Roman Ridge, the period of Yorkshires history between the demise of the Viking king Eric Bloodaxe in 954 and the arrival of the Normans in 1068 is known as the Anglo-Scandinavian age. The modern township of Pontefract consisted of two Anglo-Scandinavian settlements, known as Tanshelf and Kirkby, in Yorkshire, place-name locations often contain the distinctive Danish -by i. e. Kirkby. And even today, the streets in Pontefract are designated by the Danish word gate e. g. Bailygate. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle makes its first reference to Tanshelf in the year 947 when King Eadred of England met with the council of Northumbria to accept its submission. King Eadred did not enjoy Northumbrias support for long, and a year later the kingdom voted Eric Bloodaxe King of York, when the Doomsday Book was commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086 Tanshelf was still a sizeable settlement for the period. The town had a priest,60 petty burgesses,16 cottagers,16 villagers and 8 smallholders, Tanshelf also had a church, a fishery and three mills. Archaeologists have discovered the remains of the church on The Booths in Pontefract, off North Baileygate, the oldest grave dates from around 690. The church is likely to be at Tanshelf and may have similar to the church at Ledsham. The area which is now the market place was the original meeting place of the Osgoldcross wapentake. In the Anglo-Saxon period a part of the township of Pontefract was known by the Anglo-Scandinavian name of Kirkby. Pontefract Castle began as a motte and bailey castle, built before 1086. The de Lacys lived in the castle for more than two centuries and were holders of the castle and the Honour of Pontefract from 1067 until the death of Alice de Lacy in 1348, King Richard II was murdered at the castle in 1400
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Bradford
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Bradford /ˈbrædfərd/ is in the Metropolitan Borough of the City of Bradford in West Yorkshire, England, in the foothills of the Pennines 8.6 miles west of Leeds, and 16 miles northwest of Wakefield. Bradford became a borough in 1847, and received its charter as a city in 1897. Following local government reform in 1974, city status was bestowed upon the metropolitan borough. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, Bradford rose to prominence during the 19th century as a centre of textile manufacture. It was a boomtown of the Industrial Revolution, and amongst the earliest industrialised settlements, the textile sector in Bradford fell into decline from the mid-20th century. However, Bradford has faced challenges to the rest of the post-industrial area of Northern England, including deindustrialisation, social unrest. It was recorded as Bradeford in 1086, after an uprising in 1070, during William the Conquerors Harrying of the North, the manor of Bradford was laid waste and is described as such in the Domesday Book of 1086. It then became part of the Honour of Pontefract given to Ilbert de Lacy for service to the Conqueror, there is evidence of a castle in the time of the Lacys. The manor then passed to the Earl of Lincoln, John of Gaunt, The Crown and, ultimately, by the middle ages Bradford, had become a small town centred on Kirkgate, Westgate and Ivegate. In 1316 there is mention of a mill, a soke mill where all the manor corn was milled. During the Wars of the Roses the inhabitants sided with House of Lancaster, Edward IV granted the right to hold two annual fairs and from this time the town began to prosper. In the reign of Henry VIII Bradford exceeded Leeds as a manufacturing centre, Bradford grew slowly over the next two-hundred years as the woollen trade gained in prominence. During the Civil War the town was garrisoned for the Parliamentarians, Sir Thomas Fairfax took the command of the garrison and marched to meet the Duke of Newcastle but was defeated. The Parliamentarians retreated to Bradford and the Royalists set up headquarters at Bolling Hall from where the town was besieged leading to its surrender, the Civil War caused a decline in industry but after the accession of William and Mary in 1689 prosperity began to return. The launch of manufacturing in the early 18th century marked the start of the development while new canal. In 1801, Bradford was a market town of 6,393 people. Bradford was thus not much bigger than nearby Keighley and was smaller than Halifax. This small town acted as a hub for three nearby townships – Manningham, Bowling and Great and Little Horton, which were separated from the town by countryside
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