The Lord Richard | |
|---|---|
_Richard.jpeg) Official portrait, 1980 | |
| In office 2 May 1997 – 27 July 1998 | |
| Prime Minister | Tony Blair |
| Preceded by | The Viscount Cranborne |
| Succeeded by | The Baroness Jay of Paddington |
| |
| In office 18 July 1992 – 2 May 1997 | |
| Leader |
|
| Preceded by | The Lord Cledwyn of Penrhos |
| Succeeded by | The Viscount Cranborne |
| European Commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs | |
| In office 6 January 1981 – 5 January 1985 | |
| President | Gaston Thorn |
| Preceded by | Henk Vredeling |
| Succeeded by | Peter Sutherland |
| British Ambassador tothe United Nations | |
| In office 2 June 1974 – 21 December 1979 | |
| Prime Minister | |
| Preceded by | Donald Maitland |
| Succeeded by | Anthony Parsons |
| Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Army | |
| In office 13 October 1969 – 19 June 1970 | |
| Prime Minister | Harold Wilson |
| Preceded by | James Boyden |
| Succeeded by | Ian Gilmour |
| Member of theHouse of Lords Lord Temporal | |
| In office 14 May 1990 – 18 March 2018 Life peerage | |
| Member of Parliament forBarons Court | |
| In office 15 October 1964 – 8 February 1974 | |
| Preceded by | Bill Carr |
| Succeeded by | Constituency abolished |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Ivor Seward Richard (1932-05-30)30 May 1932 Cardiff, Wales |
| Died | 18 March 2018(2018-03-18) (aged 85) Lambeth, London, England |
| Political party | Labour |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 4[1] |
| Education | |
| Alma mater | Pembroke College, Oxford |
Ivor Seward Richard, Baron Richard,PC, QC (30 May 1932 – 18 March 2018) was a BritishLabour politician who served as amember of Parliament (MP) from 1964 until 1974. He was also a member of theEuropean Commission and latterly sat as alife peer in theHouse of Lords.
Born inCardiff, Wales,[1] Ivor Richard was educated atSt. Michael's School, an independent school inLlanelli, Carmarthenshire, followed byCheltenham College, an independent school inCheltenham, Gloucestershire, andPembroke College at theUniversity of Oxford.[1]
Lord Richard had been an active member of theLabour Party and theFabian Society since University and stood for Parliament inKensington South in thegeneral election of 1959. This was one of the most prosperous constituencies in the whole country, and he came third, but it was intended as no more than an opportunity to try his campaigning skills. For the1964 election, Richard was adopted as candidate forBaron's Court, a highly marginal constituency betweenHammersmith andFulham. Baron's Court had seen knife-edge contests before, and the presence of theBBC television centre nearby ensured good media coverage.
Richard won the seat by just over 1,000 votes. In Parliament he served briefly as an assistant toDenis Healey asSecretary of State for Defence and was appointed as Minister for the Army in 1969. He was lucky to keep his seat despite the swing to the Conservatives in the 1970 election, and he became an opposition spokesman on telecommunications. He lost this job when he voted in favour of joining theEuropean Communities (Common Market) in 1971, but was swiftly reappointed as a Foreign Affairs spokesman.
However, the Baron's Court seat was too small to survive the redistribution that took effect in 1974. Richard found it difficult to find a new seat, aspro-Europeanism was not popular within the Labour Party. He was eventually chosen at the last minute to fightBlyth against the sitting Labour MP who had been deselected in a row over his allegations of the corruption of the local Labour Party. With no background in the area and a popular opponent, Richard was defeated convincingly.
The incoming Labour Government appointed him in June 1974 as the UK Permanent Representative to the UN, where he served for five years. Richard played a role in trying to bring together the sides in the Middle East and Rhodesia conflicts.[2] He became a figure of controversy after the then US Ambassador,Daniel Patrick Moynihan, criticised the UN for passing a resolution stating thatZionism was a form of racism, and Richard denounced him for behaving "like theWyatt Earp of international politics."[citation needed]
Richard presided as chairman over theGeneva Conference onRhodesia from 28 October to 14 December 1976. The conference was called to implement the terms of Henry Kissinger's agreement with Prime MinisterIan Smith of Rhodesia from the previous month on the creation of an interim government to preside. At the same time, a new majority-rule constitution was written.[3]: 212–213 But the various African nationalists from Rhodesia refused to recognise the agreement and no progress was made during the six weeks of the conference. Smith was scathing in his treatment of Richard in his memoirs, citing Richard's "lack of integrity and courage" in failing to hold to the terms of the Kissinger agreement.[3]: 222
The incoming Conservative government in 1979 replaced Richard within months. However, in 1980 he was chosen by the Labour Party to take one of the posts on the European Commission (replacingRoy Jenkins). It was known that he was the Labour Party's third choice for the position: former Treasury MinisterJoel Barnett had rejected an invitation, and the Conservative government had vetoed former Defence SecretaryFred Mulley. Richard took responsibility for Employment, Social Policy, Education and Training.
Richard returned to Wales in 1985 and was appointed Chairman of World Trade Centre Wales Ltd., which tried to attract international investors for Welsh business. He unsuccessfully sought the Labour nomination forCardiff West losing toRhodri Morgan.[4] In 1990, his name was included on a list of Labour Party 'Working Peers', and was created alife peer on 14 May 1990 taking the titleBaron Richard, ofAmmanford in theCounty of Dyfed[5] and became an opposition spokesman in theHouse of Lords. His barrister's style led to his appointment as Leader of the Labour Peers from 1992, which brought with it appointment to thePrivy Council. Richard led Labour in the Lords during their final spell in their near 20-year opposition before the landslide victory in 1997. Richard attempted to step up the Labour attack and in late 1993 pioneered an unprecedented (for the House of Lords)Motion of No Confidence in the Government, although he acknowledged it was a symbolic gesture and would not bring down the government, due to the primacy of theHouse of Commons.[6]
When Labour won the 1997 election, Richard becameLord Privy Seal andLeader of the House of Lords. With Labour policy favouring a reform of the House starting with removing thehereditary peers, Richard began work on the new composition of the House but was shocked when he was suddenly removed at the first reshuffle in July 1998 to be replaced byBaroness Jay of Paddington. His thoughts on the reform of the House were published inUnfinished Business in 1999, and Richard became acritical friend of the Government.
Lord Richard latterly served as chairman of the parliamentary Joint Committee on the Draft House of Lords Reform Bill.[7]
Lord Richard died inLambeth,[8] London, in March 2018 at the age of 85.[9]
The Coalition Government in theNational Assembly for Wales invited Richard to chair acommission on the future powers of the Assembly from 2002. The report was published on 31 March 2004 and recommended that the Assembly have full primary legislative powers in devolved areas from 2011, a recommendation that was controversial with Wales' Labour MPs.
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forBarons Court 1964–1974 | Constituency abolished |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | British European Commissioner 1981–1985 Served alongside:Christopher Tugendhat | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Succeeded by | |
| Preceded by | European Commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs 1981–1985 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Leader of the Opposition in theHouse of Lords 1992–1997 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Leader of the House of Lords 1997–1998 | Succeeded by |
| Lord Privy Seal 1997–1998 | ||
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Leader of the Labour Party in the House of Lords 1992–1998 | Succeeded by |
| Diplomatic posts | ||
| Preceded by | British Ambassador to the United Nations 1974–1979 | Succeeded by |
 | ||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
| Referendums | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Devolved bodies | |||||
| Commissions |
| ||||
| Devolution legislation | |||||
| Committees | |||||
| UK Government departments |
| ||||
| Budget | |||||
| Proposed | |||||
| History | |||||
| Proposed alternatives | |||||
| Parties represented in Wales | |||||
