Henry Underhill, Baron Underhill

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Henry Reginall "Reg" Underhill, Baron Underhill CBE (* 8. May 1914 , † 12. March 1993 in Epping , Essex ) was a British politician and functionary of the Labor Party , was the National 1972-1979 Agent of the Labor Party and 1979 when Life Peer became a member of the House of Lords under the Life Peerages Act 1958 .

Life

Party official and promotion to National Agent of the Labor Party

After completing his schooling at Leyton Central School in 1929, Underhill began working for the insurer Lloyd’s of London and joined the Labor Party in 1930 at the age of sixteen. Three years later he was 1933 as 19-year-old vice-chairman of the Labor Party constituency organization Leyton West and a short time later employee in the party headquarters of the Labor Party in London's Transport House , where he was initially an employee until 1939. In addition, he served between 1937 and 1948 as an honorary secretary for the Labor Party in the Leyton West constituency . During the Second World War he did his military alternative service with the National Fire Service .

After the war ended, Underhill returned to party headquarters in 1945 and was initially assistant to the Labor Party's general secretary, Morgan Phillips , but was shortly thereafter from 1945 to 1947 administrative assistant to the party's national agent. After a year’s work as a propaganda worker, he left party headquarters in the Transport House in 1948 and served as the regional organizer of the Labor Party in the West Midlands region between 1948 and 1960 .

In 1960 he returned to party headquarters and became assistant to the party's national agent, Leonard Williams . He kept this position under the two successors of Williams, Sara Barker and Ron Hayward .

After Ron Hayward was appointed General Secretary of the Labor Party in 1972 as the successor to Harry Nicholas , Underhill finally took over from Hayward himself as National Agent of the Labor Party and held it until he was replaced by David Hughes in 1979. As National Agent of the Labor Party, he held one the highest post within the party organization and was responsible, among other things, for membership matters and solving internal party problems.

For his services, he was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1976.

House of Lords and Europe supporter

A letters patent dated July 12, 1979, under the Life Peerages Act 1958 as a Life Peer with the title Baron Underhill , of Leyton in Greater London, raised to the nobility and was a member of the House of Lords until his death.

Its official launch ( House of Lords ) was on 17 July 1979 with the support of Annie Llewelyn-Davies and Albert Murray, Baron Murray of Gravesend .

During his membership in the House of Lords between 1980 and 1990, he was the spokesman for the opposition Labor group on transport policy. In 1982 he was also elected deputy chairman of the Labor Group in the House of Lords ( Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the House of Lords ) and held this position until 1989. In this capacity he succeeded Cledwyn Hughes, Baron Cledwyn of Penrhos , who in turn had become the successor to Fred Peart, Baron Peart as Leader of the Opposition in the House of Lords . He also acted as the opposition spokesman for electoral matters between 1983 and his death.

Baron was a supporter of the union APEX ( Association of Professional, Executive, Clerical and Computer Staff ) and was equipped with the gold medal before the union in 1989 of the union GMB ( General, Municipal, Boilermakers and Allied Trade Union ) was.

Baron Underhill was a moderate supporter of British membership in the European Communities and stated in a House of Lords debate on the Maastricht Treaty on February 17, 1992:

“When the contract was first written, I read it and realized that it was not a perfect instrument. But the Treaty of Rome was not a perfect instrument either, but I still thought it was possible to vote in favor of joining the European Communities in 1973 . We must remember that British trade with Europe is essential. A rejection of this Maastricht Treaty would move the UK to the periphery of Europe, but Britain's future requires that we should be in the heart of Europe. "
'' When the treaty was first produced - I have read it - I realized that it was not a perfect instrument. Equally the Treaty of Rome was not a perfect instrument, yet I found it possible in the referendum of 1979 to vote to join the community. We must keep in mind that Britain's trade in Europe is substantial. Rejection of the treaty is likely to move the United Kingdom out of the periphery of Europe, but Britain's future requires that we should be at its heart. '

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ London Gazette . No. 47907, HMSO, London, July 17, 1979, p. 9009 ( PDF , accessed February 5, 2014, English).
  2. ↑ Entry in Hansard (July 17, 1979)
personal data
SURNAME Underhill, Henry, Baron Underhill
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Underhill, Henry Reginall, Baron Underhill (full name); Reg Underhill (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British politician
DATE OF BIRTH May 8, 1914
DATE OF DEATH March 12, 1993
Place of death Epping , Essex