David Renton, Baron Renton

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David Lockhart-Mure Renton, Baron Renton KBE , QC , TD , DL , PC (born August 12, 1908 in Dartford , Kent , † May 24, 2007 in Huntingdon , Cambridgeshire ) was a British politician , first of the National Liberal Party , later the Conservative Party .

life and career

Renton was born on August 12, 1908 in Dartford , Kent, to a surgeon and a nurse. He attended school in Stubbington and Oundle School and studied at University College , where he 1990 Honorary Fellow was.

After initially studying medicine, he finally switched to law . He was president of the Oxford University Liberal Club . He played rugby fives for the University of Oxford and played cricket and rugby union for his college.

He was admitted to the Lincoln's Inn Bar Association in 1933 . He has practiced in civil and criminal litigation at the South-east Circuit . In 1939 he was elected a member of the General Council of the Bar and in 1979, when he left the House of Commons , he was Treasurer of Lincoln's Inn.

He joined the Territorial Army in 1938 and was employed by the Royal Engineers . In 1940 he moved to the Royal Artillery and volunteered to serve overseas in 1942. He was deployed in the Middle East for three years . Promoted to major , he served as legal advisor to General Headquarters Cairo before becoming President of the British Military Court of Tripolitania in Tripoli in 1944 .

Membership in the House of Commons

David Renton was a member of the House of Commons for the constituency of Huntingdonshire for 34 years, from 1945 to 1979, first as a Liberal National and later as a National Liberal and Conservative following the party's merger with the Conservatives , in 1968 he was one of the last three National Liberal MPs who decided to become full members of the Tories.

He returned to England in 1945 and was elected Liberal National as a member of the Huntingdonshire constituency in the 1945 general election. During his time in the House of Commons, the party merged with the constituency Conservatives.

During his political career he continued his practice as a lawyer and became crown attorney in 1954 . In 1950 he befriended Margaret Roberts , later Thatcher, when she was a student at Lincoln's Inn . Renton became a bencher in 1962 and was treasurer in 1979. From 1963 to 1968 he was a recorder in Rochester and from 1968 to 1973 in Guildford . He was Vice-Chairman of the Council of Legal Education from 1968 to 1973 and a member of the Senate of Inns of Court .

In 1950 Renton joined the British delegation that drafted the European Convention on Human Rights . He became Under Secretary of State in the governments of Sir Anthony Eden and Harold Macmillan in the 1950s, from 1955 to 1957 he was Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State to the Ministry of Fuel and Power under Aubrey Jones and from 1957 to 1958 to the Minister of Energy ( Minister of Power ), where he supported the passage of the Clean Air Act . He moved to the Home Office as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (from 1958 to 1961) and was Secretary of State there from 1961 to 1962 .

He served under Home Secretary Rab Butler and passed the Life Peerages Act 1958 , the Street Offences Act 1958 and the Commonwealth Immigration Act 1962 , among others . He was released on the Night of the Long Knives in July 1962 and became a member of the Privy Council . He later served on several committees of the House of Commons.

He was named Knight of the Order of the British Empire in 1964 and was awarded the RSPCA Bronze Medal that same year for rescuing horses and pigs from a fire near his home.

Renton supported Britain's entry into the European Community , but later also supported the Save the Pound campaign. In 1971 he was a member of the Kilbrandon Commission, the Royal Commission on the Constitution , which rejected full self-government for Scotland and Wales and instead proposed a limited form of devolution.

At Edward Heath's invitation , he chaired the Committee on Preparation of Legislation, which examined the methods used to draw up Acts of Parliament . The Renton Report was published in 1975. He recommended that one should pay more attention to principles than to specific details for each possible situation.

In 1962 he was Deputy Lieutenant for Huntingdonshire, 1964 for Huntingdon and Peterborough , and 1974 for Cambridgeshire . In the general election in 1979 it did not happen again. His successor as MP for the constituency of Huntingdonshire was the future Conservative Prime Minister John Major , who later wrote the foreword to Renton's memoir.

Membership in the House of Lords

Renton was named Life Peer as Baron Renton, of Huntingdon in the County of Cambridgeshire on July 11, 1979 . Its official introduction to the House of Lords was on July 16, 1979 with the assistance of Philip Allen, Baron Allen of Abbeydale and Ailwyn Fellowes, 3rd Baron de Ramsey .

He gave his inaugural address on January 24, 1980.

From 1982 to 1988 he was Deputy Speaker . In 1998 he was elected unopposed President of the Association of Conservative Peers and became President for life in 2003. He was the oldest living peer from April 4, 2004 until his death.

He played for the Lords and Commons Cricket Club until he was 66 and went hunting until he was 70. He continued to hunt until he was 91 when a heart valve was replaced.

In July 2003, shortly before his 95th birthday, he passed the driving test for his driver's license for the first time. He had been driving regularly since 1934, at a time when there was no driver's license. He gave up driving at the age of 96. He was the oldest British man to pass the test.

He was a leader in the movement that campaigned to preserve the traditions of the House of Lords, including the life-style membership of the peerage . The The Washington Post in 2005, according to Renton continued to believe that "is the ingenious to the upper house, which belong to his world-renowned experts in law, science and the arts, never position themselves for an election would" and "democracy its borders has ".

His memoir , The Spice of Life , was published in 2006.

He last spoke up on July 25, 2006. On July 19, 2006, he last took part in a vote.

  • 1997/1998 session: 218 + 1 = 218 days
  • Session period April 1, 2001 to March 31, 2002: 122 days
  • Session period April 1, 2002 to March 31, 2003: 153 days
  • Session period April 1, 2003 to March 31, 2004: 148 days
  • Session period April 1, 2004 to March 31, 2005: 138 days
  • Session period April 1, 2005 to March 31, 2006: 118 days
  • Session period April 1, 2006 to March 31, 2007: 52 days
  • Session period April 1, 2007 to March 31, 2008: 0 days

Renton was regularly present on meeting days until July 2006, when he withdrew for health reasons.

Family and death

He married Claire Cicely ("Paddy") Duncan in 1947. You have three daughters. His wife died of cancer in 1986 . His youngest daughter Davina suffered from Rett Syndrome and was mentally and physically disabled as a result.

He was chairman of Mencap from 1978 and its president from 1982 to 1988. He and his wife founded the charity organization Demand (Design and Manufacture for Disablement) , which took care of customized furniture for people with disabilities.

Renton died in Abbots Ripton , Cambridgeshire at the age of 98. He was survived by his daughters Caroline and Clare.

Publications

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Sir David Renton: Obituary obituary on the This is announcements website of May 24, 2007
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k UK's oldest peer dies at age 98 obituary on BBC News from May 24, 2007
  3. ↑ LORD RENTON extract from the minutes of the House of Lords on 16 July 1979
  4. ↑ 94-year-old peer passes driving test article on BBC News on July 21, 2003
  5. ↑ Lord Renton, 'The best epitaph he could have had' Telegraph article , July 15, 2008
  6. ↑ Pomp, Tradition of House of Lords Comfort Some, Alienate Others Washington Post article , December 4, 2005
  7. ↑ Memoirs of veteran MP Huntspost article dated August 2, 2006
personal data
SURNAME Renton, David, Baron Renton
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Renton, David Lockhart-Mure, Baron Renton
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British Conservative Party politician, Member of the House of Commons
DATE OF BIRTH August 12, 1908
PLACE OF BIRTH Dartford , Kent
DATE OF DEATH May 24, 2007
Place of death Huntingdon , Cambridgeshire