The Lord Beith | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Official portrait, 2019 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chair of theLiaison Committee | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 21 July 2010 – 30 March 2015 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Alan Williams | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Andrew Tyrie | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 11 April 1992 – 12 February 2003 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Leader | Paddy Ashdown Charles Kennedy | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Russell Johnston | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Menzies Campbell | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Deputy Leader of theLiberal Party | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 1985–1988 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Leader | David Steel | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | John Pardoe (1979) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Russell Johnston (Liberal Democrats) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Member of the House of Lords | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Assumed office 19 October 2015 as alife peer | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Member of Parliament forBerwick-upon-Tweed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 8 November 1973 – 30 March 2015 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Antony Lambton | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Anne-Marie Trevelyan | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1943-04-20)20 April 1943 (age 82) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Political party | Liberal(before 1988) Liberal Democrats(1988–present) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spouses | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Children | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alma mater | Balliol College, Oxford Nuffield College, Oxford | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Website | Official website | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Alan James Beith, Baron Beith (born 20 April 1943), is a BritishLiberal Democrat politician who representedBerwick-upon-Tweed as itsMember of Parliament (MP) from 1973 to 2015.[1][2]
From 1992 to 2003 he wasDeputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats. By 2015 he was the longest-serving member of his party'sHouse of Commons delegation, and was the last Liberal Democrat MP to have experience ofParliament in the 1970s.
Beith was elevated as alife peer in the2015 Dissolution Honours list,[3] and took his title and a seat on theHouse of Lords opposition benches on 23 November 2015.[4]
The son of John Beith, ofScottish extraction, he was born in 1943 atPoynton inCheshire. He was educated atThe King's School, Macclesfield before going toBalliol College, Oxford, where he readPhilosophy, Politics and Economics graduating in 1964. He then pursued postgraduate studies atNuffield College, receiving aBachelor of Letters (BLitt) degree.[5]
In 1966, Beith began his career as a Politicslecturer at theUniversity of Newcastle upon Tyne. In 1969 he was elected as aCouncillor onHexham RuralDistrict Council and, in 1970, he was also elected toCorbridgeparish council. He contested Berwick-upon-Tweed as theLiberal candidate at the1970 general election but was heavily defeated by the sittingConservative MPAntony Lambton.
Beith became a member ofTynedaleDistrict Council in 1973. Later that year, Antony Lambton resigned as an MP following aFleet Street exposé. At theensuing by-election on 8 November 1973, Beith was narrowly elected by 57 votes, becoming Berwick's first Liberal MP since 1945.
Just three months after his by-election success, Beith was out canvassing hisconstituents again at theFebruary 1974 general election, being returned to Parliament with an increased majority of 443. Later that same year and still less than a year after entering the House of Commons, Beith had to contest the constituency for a third time in less than a year at theOctober 1974 general election, retaining his seat with a slender majority of 73 votes.[6] He held his seat with comfortable majorities in the eight further elections he stood in.
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Beith was appointed to theBBC Advisory Council in 1974, and served as a member until 1984. On the election ofDavid Steel asLiberal Leader in 1976, Beith became the Party'sChief Whip in theCommons.[7] After the1983 general election, he was appointed Liberal Spokesman forConstitutional Affairs. He was elected as Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party in 1985, in both cases continuing his duties as a Commons Chief Whip.
After the1987 general election, Beith concentrated his efforts as Liberal Spokesman forTreasury Affairs and stood down from being Liberal Chief Whip after eleven years in post. In 1988, the Liberal andSocial Democratic parties merged, initially as the Social and Liberal Democrats.
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Beith stood againstPaddy Ashdown in the firstleadership election in 1988, an election which Ashdown won by a large margin. Beith stayed on asDeputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats following the1992 general election under Ashdown until 2003, and was sworn of thePrivy Council in 1992. In 1994, he became theLiberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesperson and continued in post underCharles Kennedy'sleadership. After the2001 general election he briefly became Lib Dem spokesperson for theLord Chancellor's Department, but left the Lib Demfrontbench in 2002, though remaining its Deputy Leader until the following year.
After standing down from theLib Dem frontbench he chaired the CommonsConstitutional Affairs, andJustice Committees. Following SirMenzies Campbell's resignation asLeader of the Liberal Democrats on 15 October 2007, Beith was encouraged to stand as a prospective compromise candidate for the Lib Dem leadership. However, via his personal website, he announced his decision not to stand for election as party leader.
On 19 May 2009, Beith was the first MP to declare his candidacy to succeedSpeakerMichael Martin, who stood down from the position on 21 June 2009. Beith pledged he was "willing to take on the task of leading reform" were heelected as Commons Speaker.[8] Conservative MPJohn Bercow won, becoming the 157th Speaker of the House Commons of the United Kingdom.[9]
Beith wasknighted in the2008 Birthday Honours.[10]
On 22 May 2009, Beith was reported byThe Daily Telegraph to have claimed £117,000 insecond home allowances while his wife,Baroness Maddock, claimed £60,000 Lords expenses for sharing the same address.[11]
Replying in writing on both their behalf toThe Telegraph journalist'sexposé: "It would be quite wrong for the taxpayer to pay twice for the same costs, so we have shared the costs, either by sharing the cost of rent, or by my wife using her allowance towards costs incurred (she normally claims only half the Lords' overnight allowance)", he argued in defence.[12]
At theMay 2010 general election he was returned as MP for Berwick; however, his majority was reduced by a substantial swing to the Conservatives.
Beith served as Chairman of the CommonsJustice[13] and of theLiaison Select Committees until retiring in 2015.
He was one of only four Liberal Democrat MPs to vote against the third reading of theMarriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill.[14] He was the only Liberal Democrat MP to oppose recognisingPalestine as a state in the Commons vote on 13 October 2014.[15][16]
Beith campaigned throughout his years in the House of Commons for theA1 road to be made adual carriageway inNorthumberland.[17]
On 7 August 2013, Beith announced that he would retire as an MP at thenext election, as he would by the time of the election have representedBerwick-upon-Tweed for 42 years.[18] He was announced as alife peer in the2015 Dissolution Honours and was createdBaron Beith, of Berwick-upon-Tweed in the County of Northumberland, on the afternoon of 19 October.[19]
Beith is more left-leaning and liberal in social issues, and more right-leaning and conservative economically.
Beith has only voted for reducingVAT once, on 13 December 2008; from then on he voted for raising it.[20] Beith supports higher taxes foralcohol.[21] He always voted against amansion tax.[22] He also has voted for reducingcapital gains tax[23] andcorporation tax. He has voted for raisingthe threshold for paying income tax.
He voted against theMarriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 in its third reading.[24] Beith also voted for smoking bans[25] and against a hunting ban.[26] He supports lowering the voting age to 16.[27] TheLiberal Democrats generally support assisted dying; he has voted against it.[28]
Beith was married in 1965 to Barbara Ward, and they had a son and a daughter. His first wife died in 1998, and he then married in 2001Diana Maddock (née Derbyshire), formerly MP forChristchurch (1993–1997).[29]
Until her death on 26 June 2020, Lord Beith and Baroness Maddock divided their time between homes atBerwick-upon-Tweed,Northumberland, andLondon SW1; they were one of the few married couples both titled intheir own right.[30] Lord Beith serves asPresident of theHistoric Chapels Trust, a charity he helped to found and of which he was Chair of Trustees between 2001 and 2014. He is also President of Northumberland Hospital Radio and of theNational Liberal Club.[31]
Lord Beith is a circuitlay preacher for theMethodist church, a role that he has undertaken for nearly 60 years. In 2016 the Methodist church in Berwick upon Tweed presented a certificate to Beith in recognition of his 50 years of service to that church.[32] In 2013 Lord Beith wrote an essay entitled "Should the State forgive?" for the bookLiberal Democrats do God, which discussed the theological interplay between the Christian understanding of forgiveness and a government's criminal justice system.[33] He is a past President of theLiberal Democrat Christian Forum.[34]
He reportedly speaks French, Norwegian, Swedish and Welsh, and is a keen supporter ofheritage matters.[35]
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forBerwick-upon-Tweed 1973–2015 | Succeeded by |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Liberal Chief Whip in theHouse of Commons 1977–1985 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded byas Deputy Leader of the Liberals | Deputy Leader of theLiberal Party (position abolished) 1985–1988 | Succeeded byasDeputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats |
| Preceded by | Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats 1992–2003 | Succeeded by |
| Orders of precedence in the United Kingdom | ||
| Preceded by | Gentlemen Baron Beith | Followed by |
| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
