Edmund Dell

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Edmund Emmanuel Dell PC (* 15. August 1921 in London , † 28. May 1999 ) was a British politician of the Labor Party .

Life

Dell, son of a Jewish factory owner , did his military service with the King's Royal Rifle Corps and the Royal Artillery of the British Army after attending Dame Alice Owen's School in Potter's Bar during World War II , where he was promoted to first lieutenant . After the war he studied at Queen's College of the University of Oxford and entered during this period of the Communist Party of Britain (CPGB), in which he also Denis Healey met.

After completing his studies, he was first lecturer in modern history at Queen's College from 1947 to 1949 . Dell then joined Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) as a sales representative for Latin America in 1949, and later rose to become vice president of ICI's plastics department . In addition, he began a political career in local politics and was 1953-1960 member of the city council of Manchester . During this time he was from 1958 to 1961 also a member of the Trade Council of Manchester and Salford and later from 1963 to 1964 research scientist (Research Fellow ) at the University of Manchester .

Dell was a candidate for the Labor Party in the general election of October 15, 1964 for the first time as a member of the House of Commons , where he represented the constituency of Birkenhead until May 3, 1979 .

In 1965 he was first Parliamentary Private Secretary of John "Jack" Diamond , Chief Secretary to the Treasury , then in 1966 Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Technology and in 1967 Undersecretary in the Ministry of Commerce in the government of Prime Minister Harold Wilson . Most recently he was Minister of State in the Wilson cabinet between 1968 and 1970, first in the Board of Trade and then in 1969 in the Ministry of Employment and Productivity.

During the following opposition years he was first acting chairman in 1973 and finally chairman of the Public Accounts Committee from 1973 to 1974, successor to Harold Lever .

After the Labor Party's victory in the general election of February 28, 1974 , Prime Minister Wilson, who had come back to power, appointed him Paymaster General . Dell was then Secretary of State for Trade from April 1976 to November 1978 in the government of Wilson's successor, James Callaghan .

After leaving the House of Commons, Dell moved into the private sector and was Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Guinness Peat Group, a London-based investment holding , from 1979 to 1982 . In 1981 he left the Labor Party because of its political course and instead joined the Social Democratic Party (SDP) founded by former Labor politicians Roy Jenkins , David Owen , Bill Rodgers and Shirley Williams .

Between 1982 and 1987 he was chairman of the newly founded television station Channel 4 and was then replaced in this role by Richard Attenborough . In 1988 he finally became a member of the Liberal Democrats and was involved in the subsequent period from 1988 to 1993 as chairman of a trust for the reform of the penal system (Prison Reform Trust). He was also Vice President from 1988 to 1990 and then President of the London Chamber of Commerce from 1991 to 1992 .

Publications

In addition to his political career, Dell has published numerous books on political, historical and economic topics such as:

  • Brazil: the dilemma of reform , London 1964
  • Political responsibility and industry , London 1973, ISBN 0-04-322003-7
  • The politics of economic interdependence , 1977, ISBN 0-333-44037-4
  • Bucking the market: the role of political institutions: the example of Europe , London 1988
  • A hard pounding: politics and economic crisis, 1974-1976 , Oxford 1991, ISBN 0-19-828394-6
  • The Schuman plan and the British abdication of leadership in Europe , Oxford 1995, ISBN 0-19-828967-7
  • The Chancellors: a history of the Chancellors of the Exchequer, 1945-90 , London 1996, ISBN 0-00-255558-1
  • Strange eventful history. Democratic Socialism in Brazil , 2000, ISBN 978-0-00-255937-9

In addition to his own publications, he also wrote book reviews for the literary magazine London Review of Books, such as Barbara Castle's autobiography The Castle Diaries .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Keeping Left (LRB, October 2, 1980)
personal data
SURNAME Dell, Edmund
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Dell, Edmund Emmanuel (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British Labor Party politician, Member of the House of Commons
DATE OF BIRTH August 15, 1921
PLACE OF BIRTH London
DATE OF DEATH May 28, 1999
Place of death London