The Lord Stewart of Fulham | |
|---|---|
 Stewart in 1965 | |
| Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Foreign Affairs (1965–1966) | |
| In office 16 March 1968 – 19 June 1970 | |
| Prime Minister | Harold Wilson |
| Preceded by | George Brown |
| Succeeded by | Alec Douglas-Home |
| In office 22 January 1965 – 11 August 1966 | |
| Prime Minister | Harold Wilson |
| Preceded by | Patrick Gordon Walker |
| Succeeded by | George Brown |
| First Secretary of State | |
| In office 11 August 1966 – 6 April 1968 | |
| Prime Minister | Harold Wilson |
| Preceded by | George Brown |
| Succeeded by | Barbara Castle |
| Secretary of State for Economic Affairs | |
| In office 11 August 1966 – 29 August 1967 | |
| Prime Minister | Harold Wilson |
| Preceded by | George Brown |
| Succeeded by | Peter Shore |
| Secretary of State for Education and Science | |
| In office 16 October 1964 – 22 January 1965 | |
| Prime Minister | Harold Wilson |
| Preceded by | Quintin Hogg |
| Succeeded by | Anthony Crosland |
| Member of Parliament forFulham Fulham East (1945–1955) | |
| In office 5 July 1945 – 7 April 1979 | |
| Preceded by | William Astor |
| Succeeded by | Martin Stevens |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Robert Michael Maitland Stewart (1906-11-06)6 November 1906 |
| Died | 10 March 1990(1990-03-10) (aged 83) London, England |
| Political party | Labour |
| Spouse | |
| Alma mater | St. John's College, Oxford |
| Profession | Member of Parliament |
Robert Michael Maitland Stewart, Baron Stewart of Fulham,CH, PC (6 November 1906 – 10 March 1990) was a BritishLabour Party politician,life peer and Fabian Socialist who was aMember of Parliament for 34 years, and served twice asForeign Secretary in the first cabinet ofHarold Wilson.
The son of Robert Wallace Stewart, author and lecturer, and Eva Stewart née Blaxley, Robert Michael Maitland Stewart was born inBromley.[1] He was educated at Brownhill Road Elementary School,Catford,Christ's Hospital andSt. John's College, Oxford, where he graduated with a first classBA inPhilosophy, Politics and Economics in 1929.[2][3] Whilst at Oxford he was involved in student politics and was elected as President of theOxford Union forMichaelmas Term 1929. He was also the president of St John's Labour Club that same year.[1]
Stewart began his career as an official in the Royal Household during 1931. He worked for a short period with the Secretariat of theLeague of Nations, before becoming a schoolmaster, first at theMerchant Taylors' School in London, then atCoopers' Company's School,Mile End, and then atFrome,Somerset. DuringWorld War II, Stewart served in theMiddle East, joining theIntelligence Corps in 1942, before transferring to theArmy Educational Corps in 1943. He was promoted to captain in 1944.
On 26 July 1941 he marriedMary Birkinshaw, later Baroness Stewart of Alvechurch; they had no children.[4] They were one of the few couples who both held titles in their own right.
Stewart had contested theLewisham West constituency in 1931 and 1935, andFulham East in 1936; after the war he became MP for Fulham East 1945–55, then for Fulham 1955–74, andHammersmith, Fulham 1974–79. Soon after his initial election, he was made one of theLords Commissioners of the Treasury (more commonly known as a junior whip),[5] then a junior minister, asUnder-Secretary of State for War (1947–51) and later as Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Supply (May–October 1951). Following Labour's defeat in the1951 election, Stewart was a rising figure on the shadow front bench, serving as Shadow Minister of Education (1955–59) and then as Shadow Minister of Housing and Local Government (1959–64).
On May 21, 1952 during theBritish Malayan headhunting scandal, Stewart askedHenry Hopkinson in the House of Commons if the government intended to punish British soldiers caught posing with decapitated human heads in images taken during theMalayan Emergency and leaked by theDaily Worker. Hopkinson confirmed to Stewart that none of the British soldiers would be punished, claiming that said soldiers had never explicitly been forbidden from mutilating corpses.[6]
Stewart was Fabian Summer School director in 1952 and lecturer in 1954. He was Fabian New Year School lecturer in 1954–55 and publicist in 1956. He is listed as a member of the Fabian Society International Bureau Committee during 1957–58 and was mentioned inFabian News November – December 1964 as a former member of the Fabian Executive Committee.[1]
WhenHarold Wilson became Prime Minister in 1964, Stewart was appointedSecretary of State for Education and Science. He was promoted toSecretary of State for Foreign Affairs in January 1965 after his predecessorPatrick Gordon Walker's bid to regain aHouse of Commons seat in the1965 Leyton by-election failed.[7] He was described by the press as relatively unknown to the public but was extremely well known withinFabian socialist circles. He becameSecretary of State for Economic Affairs in 1966. From 1966 to 1968, he wasFirst Secretary of State. He returned to theForeign Office from 1968 to 1970. As foreign secretary, he was instrumental in supplying arms to support theNigerian military dictatorship's crushing of the secessionistRepublic of Biafra in theNigerian Civil War (when up to one million people died), later saying "It would have been quite easy for me to say: This is going to be difficult – let's cut off all connexion with the Nigerian Government. If I'd 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."[8]
A committedpro-European, Stewart was leader of the Labour Delegation to theCouncil of Europe in June 1970, and joint president of the Labour Committee for Europe withGeorge Brown andRoy Jenkins. He served as amember of the European Parliament from 1975 to 1976.[1]
Stewart was a supporter of aUnited Ireland, supporting a peaceful resolution to thepartition of Ireland.[9]
Stewart was made a member of thePrivy Council in 1964. He was appointed aMember of the Order of the Companions of Honour (CH) in the1969 New Year Honours.[10] He retired from the House of Commons in 1979. He was elevated to theHouse of Lords, being created alife peer with the titleBaron Stewart of Fulham, ofFulham inGreater London, on 5 July 1979.[11]
Brian Harrison recorded an oral history interview with Stewart, in March 1978, as part of the Suffrage Interviews project, titledOral evidence on the suffragette and suffragist movements: the Brian Harrison interviews.[12] Stewart discusses his teaching career and his connection with the Association for Education in Citizenship.
He died at a hospital in London on 10 March 1990, at the age of 83.[1]
Media related toMichael Stewart at Wikimedia Commons
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forFulham East 1945–1955 | Constituency abolished |
| New constituency | Member of Parliament forFulham 1955–1979 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Comptroller of the Household (government whip) 1945–1946 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Secretary of State for Education and Science 1964–1965 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs 1965–1966 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | First Secretary of State 1966–1968 | Succeeded by |
| Secretary of State for Economic Affairs 1966–1967 | Succeeded by | |
| Preceded by | Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs 1968 | Succeeded by Himself as Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs |
| Preceded by Himself as Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs | Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs 1968–1970 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded byas Secretary of State for Commonwealth Affairs | ||
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by New position | Leader of theEuropean Parliamentary Labour Party 1975–1976 | Succeeded by |
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