The Lord Donoughue | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2018 | |
| Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Farming and the Food Industry | |
| In office 2 May 1997 – 29 July 1999 | |
| Prime Minister | Tony Blair |
| Preceded by | Tim Boswell |
| Succeeded by | The Baroness Hayman |
| Member of the House of Lords | |
| Life peerage 26 June 1985 | |
| Director of theNumber 10 Policy Unit | |
| In office 8 March 1974 – 4 May 1979 | |
| Prime Minister | Harold Wilson James Callaghan |
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Succeeded by | John Hoskyns |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1934-09-08)8 September 1934 (age 91) |
| Political party | Labour |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 4 |
| Alma mater |
|
Bernard Donoughue, Baron Donoughue (born 8 September 1934) is a British politician, academic, businessman and author. He is a member of theLabour Party.[1][2]
According to his autobiography, Donoughue was born into poverty. He is the son of Thomas Joseph Donoughue and Maud Violet Andrews.[3] He was educated at CampbellSecondary Modern School[citation needed] andNorthampton Grammar School.[4] He studied at theUniversity of Oxford, first atLincoln College,[4] where he obtained first-class honours in Modern History in 1957,[3] then atNuffield College, where he graduated with a D.Phil. on theAmerican Revolution.[3] The early stages of his research were pursued asCharles and Julia Henry Fellow atHarvard University.[3] Donoughue moved into an academic career at theLondon School of Economics (LSE) (Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, and Reader: 1963–1974).[3][5]
Donoughue went into politics to be "associated with Labour governments which defended the interests of working people and underprivileged people."[6]Always at the centre of London, the capital and of politics, education and business, Donoughue was a member of the editorial staff ofThe Economist in 1959 and 1960 when a young Labour activist supportingHugh Gaitskell. He was senior research officer of the Political and Economic Planning Institute between 1960 and 1963.[7]
Out of government from 1979 to 1981, Donoughue was development director of theEconomist Intelligence Unit, and in 1982-83 was assistant editor ofThe Times until his dismissal by the new right-wing owner,Rupert Murdoch. He gave his opinion in an interview with theNew Statesman:
I’m very proud of that fact I was sacked by Murdoch. That’s an honour! There are quite a number of us with that honour, of course.
Donoughue was atTheTimes during Murdoch's takeover and in his first year as proprietor, and he holds the media mogul responsible for what he dubs "a diminution in the values of our society".News International were in the throes of a business revolution inFleet Street: at its hub was the end of a closed shop for the skilled craftsmen of the print 'chapters' who zealously guarded their trade secrets. Murdoch's actions broke up the old union grip on the news print media; former journalists likeTony Benn were incensed but the Labour Party were helpless to resist the changes from opposition.[8] At the time he lived inHampstead and Highgate, whereJohn McDonnell was the party's candidate for a seat won by theConservative Party in the 'landslide' election of 1983.[9]
For a long time a lecturer close to young people, he was asked by the Wilson government to join the founding Sports Council, an advisory body to harness amateur physical recreation. Twenty years later he would make his first speech in the Lords on Sporting Events (controls) bill.[10]
Wilson took notice of Donoughue's communication skills, displayed in his career at the LSE and in his journalism, when he was appointed head of thepolicy research unit in 1974.[11] Two years before that, there had been a flurry of questions in both houses about whether these unaccredited "political" advisers were paid from public funds. Wilson expanded the department in No.10, and it had a profound influence on policy formation.[12] For the first time the Official Report published the salaries; and as being part of the Civil Service department.[13]
Donoughue continued to head the policy research unit under Wilson's successor,James Callaghan, and he held the office until the defeat of the Labour Party in 1979.[14] He was an admirer and close friend of Callaghan, whose relaxed 'beer and sandwiches' approach to political interaction contrasted to the intensity of successive prime ministerial conceited wisdom[clarification needed] that demanded heavy studying.[citation needed]
On 21 May 1985 he was created alife peer as Baron Donoughue,ofAshton in theCounty of Northampton.[15][2]
Donoghue was an Opposition Labour spokesman for Energy, Heritage and Treasury matters from 1991 to 1992.[2] In 1997Tony Blair appointed him ajunior minister at theMinistry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, in which role he served until 1999.[2] He later joined the Countryside Alliance against New Labour's policy on Hunting with Dogs, and theFoot-and-mouth disease outbreak.[clarification needed]
From November 1995, shortly after theEurosceptics had been defeated by the Major government, Donoughue, still a staunchly Labour peer, was appointed to the Lords Works of Arts committee. He was not removed from this duty when a different civil dispensation came to power in 1997, until a clash with the New Labour leadership, but he was later appointed a trustee of theVictoria County History.
Donoghue is aclimate change denialist and a trustee of theGlobal Warming Policy Foundation (a climate denialistthink tank).[16]
He is a member ofLabour Friends of Israel.[17]
In the early 1980s he was one of the sources inside Whitehall used by the writers of the comedy seriesYes Minister, the other one beingBaroness Falkender.[18]
He was head of research and investment policy of Grieveson Grant and Co Stockbrokers from 1982 to 1986 and head of international research and director of Kleinwort Grieveson Securities Ltd from 1986 to 1988, a branch arm of the investment bank.[19] Following this, Donoughue was executive vice-chair of LBI from 1988 to 1991 and director ofTowcester Racecourse Ltd from 1992 to 1997.[20]
Donoughue helped found theBritish Horse Industry Confederation in 1999[21][22] and was a Consultant Member until 2003.[2] This coincided with appointment that September with co-option onto the joint Lords and Commons committee tasked with the responsibility of drafting a new Gambling bill. The outcome would be the licensing of so-called Big Casinos and a general release of universal internet betting rights. On 22 Dec 2015 he declared a gift to the bookmakers union.[23] The radical change to the status quo proved a revolution in working people's experience of gaming that would indirectly cause remedial action on payday loans.[2]
Donoughue became chairman of theSPRC when it was founded in 2003, and as of 2016 was still in that role.[24] The SPRC is a non-profit organisation operating on a cost recovery basis that
is responsible for the integrity of the starting price (SP). The majority of bets on British horseracing struck with bookmakers in betting shops and other off-course outlets are paid out according to the SP. The job of the Commission is to ensure that the returned price accurately reflects the price available on-course at the off.[24]
He is an honorary fellow of the LSE,[25] and was a visiting professor of Government there from 2000 to 2011/2012.[26]
Donoughue was married to Carol Ruth Goodman from 1959 until their divorce in 1989; they have two sons and two daughters. He married Sarah, Lady Berry, widow of SirAnthony Berry, in 2009.[27]
Donoughue was chairman of theLondon Symphony Orchestra from 1979 to 1991, patron from 1989 to 1995, and has been an associate since 2000.
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| Preceded by | Gentlemen Baron Donoughue | Followed by |
