The Lord Hattersley | |||||||||||||||||
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 Hattersley in 2012 | |||||||||||||||||
| Deputy Leader of the Labour Party | |||||||||||||||||
| In office 2 October 1983 – 18 July 1992 | |||||||||||||||||
| Leader | Neil Kinnock | ||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Denis Healey | ||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Margaret Beckett | ||||||||||||||||
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| Secretary of State for Prices and Consumer Protection | |||||||||||||||||
| In office 10 September 1976 – 4 May 1979 | |||||||||||||||||
| Prime Minister | James Callaghan | ||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Shirley Williams | ||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Office abolished | ||||||||||||||||
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| Member of the House of Lords | |||||||||||||||||
| Life peerage 24 November 1997 – 19 May 2017 | |||||||||||||||||
| Member of Parliament forBirmingham Sparkbrook | |||||||||||||||||
| In office 15 October 1964 – 8 April 1997 | |||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Leslie Seymour | ||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Constituency abolished | ||||||||||||||||
| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||
| Born | Roy Sydney George Hattersley (1932-12-28)28 December 1932 (age 92) Sheffield, England | ||||||||||||||||
| Political party | Labour | ||||||||||||||||
| Spouses | |||||||||||||||||
| Alma mater | University of Hull | ||||||||||||||||
| Profession | Journalist | ||||||||||||||||
| Signature |  | ||||||||||||||||
Roy Sydney George Hattersley, Baron Hattersley,PC FRSL (born 28 December 1932) is a British politician, author and journalist fromSheffield.[1] A member of theLabour Party, he was MP forBirmingham Sparkbrook for over 32 years from 1964 to 1997, and served asDeputy Leader of the Labour Party from 1983 to 1992.[1]
Roy Hattersley was born on 28 December 1932 inSheffield, West Riding of Yorkshire, toEnid Brackenbury and Frederick Roy Hattersley (1902–1973;[2] also known by his middle name),[3] who married in the 1950s.[4] His mother was a city councillor, and later served asLord Mayor of Sheffield (1981). His father, at various times a police officer, clerk at Sheffield town hall, and chairman of the council's Health Committee,[5][6] was a former Roman Catholic priest,[4] the parish priest at St Joseph's atShirebrook inDerbyshire,[7] who renounced the church and left the priesthood to cohabit with Hattersley's mother, Enid, a married woman at whose wedding he had officiated two weeks earlier; Frederick ultimately died an atheist.[8]
Hattersley was a socialist and Labour supporter from his youth, electioneering at the age of 12 for his local MP and city councillors, beginning in 1945. He attendedSheffield City Grammar School[9] passing theeleven-plus (locally known as the "scholarship") on his second attempt in 1945 and went from there to study at theUniversity of Hull. Having been accepted to read English at theUniversity of Leeds,[10] he was diverted into reading Economics at Hull when told by a Sheffield colleague of his mother that it was necessary for a political career.
At university, Hattersley joined the Socialist Society (SocSoc) and was one of those responsible for changing its name to the "Labour Club" and affiliating it with the non-alignedInternational Union of Socialist Youth (IUSY) rather than the Soviet-backedInternational Union of Students. Hattersley became chairman of the new club and later treasurer, and he went on to chair theNational Association of Labour Student Organisations. He also joined the executive of the IUSY.
After graduating Hattersley worked briefly for a Sheffield steelworks and then for two years with theWorkers' Educational Association. He married his first wife, Molly, who became a headteacher and educational administrator. In 1956 he was elected to the City Council as Labour representative for Crookesmoor and was, very briefly, aJP. On the Council he spent time as chairman of the Public Works Committee and then the Housing Committee.
His aim became aWestminster seat, and he was eventually selected for Labour to stand for election in theSutton Coldfield constituency but lost to the ConservativeGeoffrey Lloyd in1959. He kept hunting for prospective candidacies, applying for twenty-five seats over three years. In 1963 he was chosen as theprospective parliamentary candidate for the multi-racialBirmingham Sparkbrook constituency (following a well-known local 'character', Jack Webster) and facing a Conservative majority of just under 900. On 16 October 1964 he defeated the Conservative candidate, Michael J. Donnelly,and was elected with a majority of 1,254 votes; he was to hold the seat for the next eight general elections.
At first he wasParliamentary private secretary toMargaret Herbison, the Minister for Pensions. Hismaiden speech was on a housing subsidies bill. Still aGaitskellite, he also joined the 1963 Club.[clarification needed] He also wrote his firstEndpiece column forThe Spectator (the column moved toThe Listener in 1979, and then toThe Guardian).[citation needed]
Despite the support ofRoy Jenkins andTony Crosland he did not gain a ministerial position until 1967, joiningRay Gunter at the Ministry of Labour. He was reportedly disliked by Prime MinisterHarold Wilson as a "Jenkinsite". The following year he was promoted to Under Secretary in the same ministry, now led byBarbara Castle, and become closely involved in implementing the unpopularPrices and Incomes Act 1966. In 1969, after the fiasco overIn Place of Strife, he was promoted to deputy toDenis Healey, the Minister of Defence, following the death ofGerry Reynolds. One of his first jobs, while Healey was hospitalised, was to sign the Army Board Order – putting troops intoNorthern Ireland.
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TheLabour defeat of 1970 ended six years of Labour government. Hattersley held his seat – often increasing his majority – for the next 26 years, but he spent 21 of those years in Opposition. He was appointed Deputy Foreign Affairs Spokesman, again under Healey, which involved a lot of foreign travel. He also took a Visiting Fellowship to theHarvard Kennedy School. During this time he also became an enthusiastic supporter of theCommon Market, and his "drift to the political centre" put him at odds with much of theParliamentary Labour Party (PLP).
Hattersley was one of the sixty-nine "rebels" who voted with the Conservative government in favour of entry into the EEC, which precipitated the resignation ofRoy Jenkins as deputy leader (10 April 1972) and eventually a permanent split within Labour. (It was the adoption of a referendum on the EEC as shadow cabinet policy that caused Jenkins to resign.) For "standing by" the party, Hattersley was appointedShadow Defence Secretary 1972 to 1973 and laterShadow Secretary of State for Education.
In theWilson government of 1974, Hattersley was appointed the (non-cabinet) Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, and in the1975 New Year Honours, he was sworn of thePrivy Council.[11] Hattersley headed the British delegation to Reykjavik during the "Cod Wars", but was primarily given the task of renegotiating the terms of the UK's membership of the EEC. Following the resignation of Wilson he voted forJames Callaghan in the ensuing leadership contest to stopMichael Foot (a man "[who] for all his virtues ... could not become Prime Minister"). Under Callaghan he finally made it into the Cabinet asSecretary of State for Prices and Consumer Protection, a position he held until Labour's defeat in the1979 general election.
In 1979 Hattersley was appointed to shadowMichael Heseltine as the Minister for the Environment, contending with him over the cuts in local government powers and the "Right to Buy". Following the rise of the 'hard left', as demonstrated at the 1980 Labour Conference, Callaghan resigned. The leadership contest was between Healey and Foot, with Hattersley organising Healey's campaign. "An electorate [the PLP] deranged by fear" elected Foot. Healey was made deputy leader and Hattersley was appointedShadow Home Secretary, but felt that Foot was "a good man in the wrong job", "a baffling combination of the admirable and the absurd".[citation needed]
Healey was challenged for his post in 1981, following electoral rule changes, byTony Benn, retaining his post by 50.426% to 49.574%. Hattersley felt that "the Bennite alliance [although defeated] ... played a major part in keeping the Conservatives in power for almost twenty years". Hattersley also had very little regard for those Labour defectors who created theSDP in 1981. He helped found Labour Solidarity (1981–83) and credits the group with preventing the disintegration of the Labour Party.[citation needed]
Following Labour's devastating defeat in the1983 general election Foot declined to continue as leader. Hattersley stood in the subsequentleadership election.John Smith was his campaign manager and a youngPeter Mandelson impressed Hattersley. The other competitors wereNeil Kinnock,Peter Shore, andEric Heffer. Hattersley had the support of most of the Shadow Cabinet, but the majority of the PLP, the constituency groups and the unions were in favour of Kinnock. In the final count Kinnock secured around three times as many votes as the second-place Hattersley. As was standard practice at the time, Hattersley waselected deputy leader. The combination was promoted at the time as being a "dream ticket" with Kinnock a representative of the left of the party and Hattersley of the right. Hattersley remained deputy for nine years and alsoShadow Chancellor until 1987, when he moved back to Shadow Home Affairs.[12]
Kinnock and Hattersley attempted to "rehabilitate" Labour after 1983. Following theminers' strike of 1984–1985 they resumed expulsions of members of theentryistMilitant group whose activities, organisation and politics had earlier been found to contravene the Labour Party's constitution. In1988 they fought off a leadership challenge byTony Benn,Eric Heffer, andJohn Prescott. Defeat in 1987 was expected; by 1992 it was much more even. Labour had regularly topped opinion polls since 1989 and at one stage had a lead of up to 15 points over the Conservatives, though this was cut back and more than once overhauled by the Tories following the resignation ofMargaret Thatcher as prime minister to make way forJohn Major in November 1990. In the run-up to the 1992 election, Hattersley was present at the Labour Partyrally in his native Sheffield and backed up Kinnock with the claim that "with every day that passes, Neil looks more and more like the real tenant of number 10 Downing Street".[13]
The1992 general election was held on 9 April 1992, but saw a fourth consecutive Labour defeat by the Conservatives. Kinnock announced his resignation as party leader on 13 April, and on the same day Hattersley announced his intention to resign from the deputy leadership of the party, with the intention of carrying on in their roles until the new leadership was elected that summer.[14] Hattersley supported his friendJohn Smith in theleadership contest, which Smith won in July that year.
In June 1993, Hattersley cancelled an appearance on TV panel showHave I Got News for You with very late notice, which infuriated the production staff and hosts, leading to Hattersley being replaced with a tub oflard. The programme compared Hattersley and the tub of lard, and claimed "they possessed the same qualities and were liable to give similar performances".[15]
In February 1994, Hattersley announced he would leave politics at the followinggeneral election. He was made alife peer asBaron Hattersley, ofSparkbrook in the County of West Midlands on 24 November 1997.[16]
Hattersley was long regarded as being on the right-wing of the party, but withNew Labour in power he found himself criticising a Labour government from the left, stating that "Blair's Labour Party is not the Labour Party I joined". He mentioned repeatedly that he would be supportingGordon Brown as leader.[17]
Hattersley retired from theHouse of Lords on 19 May 2017.[18]
In 1996, Hattersley was fined for an incident in which his dogBuster killed a goose in one of London's royal parks. He later wrote the "diary" of Buster, writing from the dog's perspective on the incident, in which it claimed to have acted in self-defence.[19]
In 2003, Hattersley was elected a Fellow of theRoyal Society of Literature.[20] Hattersley is the author of three novels and several biographies. He has written biographies on religious topics, and on the Edwardian period as well. His 700-page biography ofDavid Lloyd GeorgeThe Great Outsider: David Lloyd George was published by Little, Brown in 2010.
In 2008, Hattersley appeared in a documentary on the DVD for theDoctor Who serialDoctor Who and the Silurians, to discuss the political climate that existed at the time of making the serial.
Hattersley married his first wife, the educationalistMolly, in 1956. They divorced in April 2013 after 57 years of marriage, having been separated for five years.[21] They had no children. In summer 2013, he married Maggie Pearlstine, his literary agent and sister ofNorman Pearlstine.[1]
Hattersley supports aBritish republic.[22] He is a dedicated supporter ofSheffield Wednesday, and a member of theReform andGarrick clubs.[1]
Documents submitted as part of the case said the Hattersleys had been living apart for five years and that the union was irreparable. The couple married in 1956.
Republic's list of supporters includes Labour stalwarts Tony Benn and Roy Hattersley, 20 MPs, actress Honor Blackman, comedians Jo Brand and Mark Steel, journalist Julie Burchill, QCs Michael Mansfield and Geoffrey Robertson, scientist Steven Rose, gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell, and writers Sue Townsend and Benjamin Zephaniah.
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forBirmingham Sparkbrook 1964–1997 | Constituency abolished |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Secretary of State for Prices and Consumer Protection 1976–1979 | Position abolished |
| Preceded by | Shadow Home Secretary 1980–1983 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer 1983–1987 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Shadow Home Secretary 1987–1992 | Succeeded by |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Deputy Leader of the Labour Party 1983–1992 | Succeeded by |
| Honorary titles | ||
| Preceded by | Senior Privy Counsellor 2023–present | Incumbent |
| Orders of precedence in the United Kingdom | ||
| Preceded by | Gentlemen Baron Hattersley | Followed by |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Academics | |
| People | |
| Other | |
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