Dick Leonard | |
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| Member of Parliament forRomford | |
| In office 18 June 1970 – 28 February 1974 | |
| Preceded by | Ron Ledger |
| Succeeded by | Michael Neubert |
| Majority | 2,760 (5.2%) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Richard Lawrence Leonard (1930-12-12)12 December 1930 |
| Died | 24 June 2021(2021-06-24) (aged 90) London, England |
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Richard Lawrence Leonard (12 December 1930 – 24 June 2021) was a British writer, journalist andLabour politician who served asMember of Parliament (MP) forRomford from 1970 to 1974.[2] He was apro-Europeansocial democrat and had been a supporter of the late Labour foreign secretaryAnthony Crosland, who championedGaitskellism.[3]
Leonard was born inEaling,Middlesex, on 12 December 1930, the son of Cyril and Kate (née Whyte) Leonard, ofGreenford.[4][5] He attended Ealing Grammar School and theInstitute of Education, University of London, where he acquired a teacher training qualification (he had been awarded a place to study at theLondon School of Economics, but lost it after refusing to abide by the stipulation that he completeNational Service prior to matriculation).[1] Leonard worked as a school teacher from 1953 to 1955, and from 1960 to 1968 as a journalist and broadcaster. From 1968 to 1970 he was a senior research fellow (for theSocial Science Research Council) at theUniversity of Essex, where he also graduated with anMA degree in political science.[2]
Leonard joined theLabour Party as a teenager in 1945.[6] He was Deputy General Secretary of theFabian Society, a Labour-affiliated think tank, from 1955 to 1960, and founded the organisation's youth wing, theYoung Fabians, in 1960. He became a member of the executive committee of the Fabian Society in 1972, serving until 1980. He was also the Society's chairman from 1977 to 1978.[2]
Leonard first stood forParliament in1955, when he contestedHarrow West for Labour, a constituency which included his native Pinner. At the time, this was asafe seat for theConservative Party, and he was thus unsuccessful in standing against their incumbentMember of Parliament, in an election which saw the Conservatives re-elected nationally. Fifteen years later, at the1970 general election, he stood in themarginal Labour-held seat ofRomford. Despite his party going intoopposition, Leonard retained the seat.[1]
In Parliament, he introduced the Council Housing Bill in 1971, and the Life Peers Bill in 1973. He was also a member of the Speaker's Conference on Electoral Law from 1972 to 1974. During his time in theHouse of Commons, he wasParliamentary Private Secretary toAnthony Crosland, and was regarded as an important associate of Crosland within the ranks of the party's 'intellectual' right wing. Leonard was, however, strongly in favour of entry to theEuropean Economic Community (EEC), and unlike Crosland (who was ambivalent on the matter) he was one of 69 Labour rebels who defied the party's three-line whip to vote in favour of the Conservative Government's application to join the EEC in October 1971.[7]
Leonard stood down at the subsequentFebruary 1974 general election, when there were major changes made to his constituency boundaries, which saw Romford gained by the Conservatives even as Labour was returned to power.[2]
Leonard was a trustee for the Association of London Housing Estates from 1973 to 1978, and from 1978 to 1981, Chairman of the Library Advisory Council. From 1974 to 1985 he was Assistant Editor ofThe Economist.[8] Leonard served as the Brussels andEuropean Union correspondent inBrussels forThe Observer (London) from 1989 to 1997. He was also the Brussels correspondent forEurope magazine from 1992 to 2003.[2]
He remained in Brussels until 2009, and wrote on Belgian politics inThe Bulletin. He also wrote on European affairs inThe Guardian (London), theFinancial Times, theTimes Literary Supplement andEuropean Voice. He had also contributed toProspect magazine, and leading newspapers in the US, Canada, Japan, India, Australia and New Zealand. From 1987 to 1994, Leonard was a European Advisor toThe Publishers Association.[2]
He was a visiting professor at theFree University of Brussels from 1988 to 1996, and a Senior Adviser at theCentre for European Policy Studies from 1994 to 1999. In 2003, he became a Senior Research Associate at theForeign Policy Centre in London.[2]
Leonard remained a loyal right-winger within the Labour Party throughout the 1970s, an association that survived Crosland's untimely death in 1977. However, in January 1982 he announced that he had recently decided to join theSocial Democratic Party (SDP) because he felt that Labour "had grievously lost its way."[9] He never played a major role in the SDP, and rejoined Labour following the party's defeat in the1992 general election.[1] In his final years, he was a friend and supporter ofKeir Starmer.[4]
In later years, he had been critical ofBritain's 2016 vote to leave the European Union and wanted Brexit to be reversed.[10] In a 2018 letter toThe Guardian, Leonard voiced his disapproval of Labour leaderJeremy Corbyn removingOwen Smith from theshadow cabinet, and urgedConstituency Labour parties to put forward motions asking for asecond referendum onBrexit.[6]
In 2021, Leonard wrote to his local newspaper, theCamden New Journal, to say that whilst he would give his first preference vote in theLondon mayoral election to Labour's incumbentSadiq Khan, he would be giving his second preference to Richard Hewison, a candidate standing under the slogan 'Rejoin EU: Brexit is broken'. Leonard stated that "it is important to keep alive the prospect of a long-time aspiration to which many adhere."[11]
In 1963, Leonard marriedIrène Heidelberger-Leonard ofBad Godesberg, Germany, the daughter of the late Dr Ernst Heidelberger and Dr Gertrud Heidelberger. She is a scholar of postwar German literature, and the couple had two children:Mark Leonard, an expert on foreign policy, andMiriam Leonard, a classical scholar. He lived inCamden,[12] north west London, and listed his recreations as "walking, book-reviewing, family pursuits".[2]
Leonard died from prostate cancer at his home on 24 June 2021, at the age of 90, and is buried on the eastern side ofHighgate Cemetery.[4][12]
Leonard had written or co-authored a number of books on contemporary and historical British politics, particularly focusing on Britain's prime ministers. His 2020 bookBritish Prime Ministers from Walpole to Salisbury: The 18th and 19th Centuries was well received by fellow authorsPatrick Diamond andDavid Marquand.[13]
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Critical studies, reviews and biography
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
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| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forRomford 1970–Feb. 1974 | Succeeded by |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Chairman of theFabian Society 1977–1978 | Succeeded by |
