Harold Lever, Baron Lever of Manchester

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Norman Harold Lever, Baron Lever of Manchester (born January 15, 1914 in Manchester , † August 6, 1995 in London ) was a barrister , member of the Privy Council and member of the Labor Party in the United Kingdom .

Life

Harold Lever attended Manchester Grammar School and the University of Manchester , where he studied law. He was admitted to the bar in 1935 and was appointed a member of the Middle Temple . During World War II he served as a first lieutenant in the Royal Air Force . In 1939 he married his first wife, Ethel Sebrinski (née Samuel), but soon dissolved the marriage. In 1945 he married Betty ("Billie") Featherman (née Wolfe), with whom he had a daughter. Betty died in 1948. In 1962 he married Diane Bashi, with whom he had three more daughters.

Political career

Lever moved in 1945 as elected MP for the then Manchester Exchange constituency in the House of Commons and was elected MP for the Manchester Cheetham constituency from 1950 to 1974 . His brother Leslie Lever was an elected MP for the neighboring constituency of Manchester Ardwick . He drove the introduction of the Private Member's Bill , which was introduced in 1952 under the Defamation Act .

Lever was Secretary of State for Economic Affairs in 1967, Financial Secretary to the Treasury from 1967 to 1969, and Paymaster General from 1969 to 1970 . From 1970 to 1974 he was a member of the shadow cabinet and was chairman of the Public Accounts Committee from 1970 to 1973 .

His seat in parliament changed again from 1974 to 1979, this time to the constituency of Manchester Central . After the Labor Party came back to power after the 1974 election, Lever held the post of Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster from 1974 to 1979 .

Activities in business

Harold Lever has worked in a variety of positions in the banking and journalistic sectors. He was President of the London School of Economics from 1971 and President of the English-Speaking Union from 1973 to 1986 . He was also curator of the Royal Opera House from 1974 to 1982 and Member of the Court at Manchester University from 1975 to 1987 . From 1981 to 1987 he was an honorary member and presiding curator of the Royal Academy of Arts .

Awards

Lever received honorary doctorates in law, science, literature and technology and was awarded the Grand Cross of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1979 .

Further work

Lever was named Privy Counselor in 1969 and established the Life Peer Baron Lever of Manchester of Cheetham in the City of Manchester in 1979 . As a peer and experienced statesman, he successfully settled the 1980 steel strike, one of the longest-running disputes in British industrial history. In 1983 he was part of the Franks Committee consisting of six Privy Counselors , which investigated the Falklands War as a committee of inquiry . In 1984 he was chairman of the Commission of Prime Ministers of the Commonwealth , which analyzed and assessed the developing global debt crisis. The following year, 1985, he and other authors wrote the book Debt and Danger , which recommended that developing countries should be forgiven the debts that crippled their fragile economies.

The strategy he described there was adopted by the G7 in 2005, a decade after his death.

Publications

  • Harold Lever: Accountability . In: London Review of Books . tape 3 , no. 5 , March 19, 1981, ISSN  0260-9592 , p. 13 (English, lrb.co.uk [accessed August 19, 2011]).
  • Harold Lever, et al .: The Debt crisis and the world economy . report by a Commonwealth group of experts. Commonwealth Secretariat, London 1985, ISBN 0-85092-260-7 (English).
  • Harold Lever; Christopher Huhne: Debt and danger . the world financial crisis. Atlantic Monthly Press, Boston 1986, ISBN 0-87113-067-X (English).
  • Alan A. Tait; Harold Lever; Christopher Huhne; Stephen Marris: Review of Debt & Danger . The World Financial Crisis Review of Deficits and the Dollar: The World Economy at Risk. In: Journal of Public Policy . tape 6 , January-March 1, 1986, ISSN  0143-814X , pp. 97-99 (English).
  • MJ Grieve; Harold Lever; Christopher Huhne: Review of Debt & Danger . The World Financial Crisis. In: International Affairs (Royal Institute of International Affairs 1944–) . tape 62 , 3, Sommer, 1986, ISSN  0020-5850 , pp. 517-518 (English).
  • Harold Lever et al .: Recent Studies of the Latin American Debt Crisis Review of Towards Renewed Growth in Latin America . In: Latin American Research Review . tape 23 , no. 3 , 1988, ISSN  0023-8791 , pp. 170-179 (English).

See also

literature

  • Times Books: The times house of commons . 1945. Times Office, 1945 (English).
  • Times Books: The times house of commons . 1950. Times Office, 1945 (English).
  • Times Books: The times house of commons . 1955. Times Office, 1945 (English).

Individual evidence

  1. ^ John Beavan: OBITUARY. Lord Lever of Manchester. In: The Independent. August 7, 1995, accessed August 18, 2011 .
personal data
SURNAME Lever, Harold, Baron Lever of Manchester
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Manchester, Norman Harold Lever, Baron Lever of (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British politician (Labor), Member of the House of Commons
DATE OF BIRTH January 15, 1914
PLACE OF BIRTH Manchester
DATE OF DEATH August 6, 1995
Place of death London