George Wigg, Baron Wigg

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George Edward Cecil Wigg, Baron Wigg PC (born November 28, 1900 , † August 11, 1983 ) was a British Labor Party politician who contributed significantly to the Profumo affair in 1963 .

Life

Wigg joined the British Army in 1919 after attending Queen Mary's College in Basingstoke , where he served as an officer until 1937 . After the outbreak of World War II , he rejoined the British Army and was most recently a colonel in the Educational Corps.

He was elected as a candidate for the Labor Party in the general election of July 5, 1945 as a member of the House of Commons , where he represented the constituency of Dudley until November 30, 1967 .

During the tenure of Prime Minister Clement Attlee between 1945 and 1951 he was Parliamentary Private Secretary to Emanuel Shinwell , who held several ministerial offices under Attlee. Following his party's defeat in the general election from October 25, 1951 to 1952, he was one of the Parliamentary Managing Directors ( Whip ) in the House of Commons.

During his membership in parliament he made a significant contribution to the spread of the so-called Profumo affair about the then Minister of War John Profumo : on March 2, 1963, he gave a speech in the House of Commons in which he revealed Profumo's entanglements and his acquaintance with Christine Keeler . A few weeks after the speech, Profumo confirmed the acquaintance of Keeler, but denied a misstep. However, this statement was not received by the press and countless cover stories speculated about Profumo's relationship with Keeler. On June 5, 1963, John Profumo resigned after admitting he had falsehooded his relationship with Christine Keeler before the committee of inquiry.

After the Labor Party won the general election on October 15, 1964 , Prime Minister Harold Wilson made him Paymaster General and held that post until 1967.

After leaving the House of Commons on November 30, 1967, he was raised to the nobility as a Life Peer with the title Baron Wigg , of the Borough of Dudley, and was thus a member of the House of Lords until his death . At the same time he was for some time chairman of the authority for the betting tax on horse races (Horserace Betting Levy Board). In 1972 he published his autobiography called George Wigg .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ THE GUARDIAN: They way it was: Sinister backbench MP played key role in downfall (March 11, 2006)
  2. ↑ Ian Gilmour on Bringing the House Down: A Family Memoir by David Profumo . In: London Review Of Books, October 19, 2006
  3. ↑ Publications (openlibrary.org)
personal data
SURNAME Wigg, George, Baron Wigg
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wigg, George Edward Cecil, Baron Wigg (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British Labor Party politician, Member of the House of Commons
DATE OF BIRTH November 28, 1900
DATE OF DEATH August 11, 1983