Peter Archer, Baron Archer of Sandwell

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Peter Kingsley Archer, Baron Archer of Sandwell , PC (* 20th November 1926 in Wednesbury , County Sandwell , England ; † 14. June 2012 ) was a British politician of the Labor Party and Life Peer .

Life

Archer was born on November 20, 1926, the son of the laborer and Tory Cyril Archer and May Archer in Wednesbury . Peter Archer left school at the age of 16 to work as secretary for the Ministry of Health. In 1944 he was drafted as part of the Bevin Boys program (recruitment of civil servants for coal mining ). Four years later, he graduated from LSE and University College London with degrees in philosophy and law .

He was admitted to the Gray's Inn Bar in 1952 and began practicing law the following year. He published the book The Queen's Courts in 1956 and later other books on the same subject.

Archer joined the Labor Party in 1947 and ran in the 1959 general election for the Hendon South constituency . Another candidacy took place in 1964 in the Brierley Hill constituency , where he was subject to the Conservatives.

He became crown attorney in 1971 and was chairman ( chair ) of the Society of Labor Lawyers from 1971 to 1974 , and again from 1980 to 1993. From 1993 he was joint president there .

From March 7, 1974 to May 4, 1979 he was Solicitor General for England and Wales and thus one of the Law Officers of the Crown Deputy Attorney General , and he rejected the knighthood usually awarded. In 1974 he also became an associate judge ( Bencher ) and in 1977 a member of the Privy Council . From 1982 to 1998 he was Recorder of the Crown Court .

Membership in the House of Commons

Archer was a member of the House of Commons ; first from 1966 to 1974 for the constituency of Rowley Regis and Tipton and from 1974 to 1992 for the newly formed constituency of Warley West .

During his parliamentary membership he was appointed by his parliamentary group as spokesman for various functions (e.g. 1981/1982 for legal affairs, Northern Ireland 1983-1987) and belonged to the shadow cabinet of the opposition from 1981 to 1987. As a backbencher , he was a member of a group founded by Merlyn Rees that demanded action against 250 suspected Nazi war criminals who were living in Britain at the time.

Harold Wilson sent him to the Third Committee on Human Rights as representative of Great Britain . From 1967 to 1970 he served as Private Secretary (PPS) Attorney General Sir Elwyn Jones . From 1970 to 1974 he was Vice-Chairman of the Anti-Slavery Society .

He was chairman of the British parliamentary group All-Party Group for World Government from 1970 to 1974 and president of the One World Trust , which campaigns for global disarmament, and the Fabian Society , where he joined in 1956.

Membership in the House of Lords

July 9, 1992 he was appointed as Baron Archer of Sandwell, of Sandwell in the County of West Midlands for Life Peer appointed. He gave his inaugural address on October 22, 1992. The subjects of political interest on the House of Lords website were human rights , legislative reform, Northern Ireland , world government , nature conservation , the third world, and disarmament.

In the House of Lords he was opposition spokesman for foreign affairs from 1992 to 1997. From 1997 to 2000 he was a member of the Delegated Powers and Regulation Select Committee . From 1998 to 1999 he was a member of the Joint Committee on Parlamentary Privilege . From 1998 to 2006 he was a member of the Intelligence and Security Committee and from 2002 to 2005 of the Joint Committee on House of Lords Reform . In 1999 he became Chairman of the Pre-Legislative Committee on Freedom of Information Bill House of Lords . In 1998 he proposed a successfully implemented amendment to the Crime and Disorder Bill that would abolish the death penalty for treason and piracy that harmed people.

He rejected individual measures by the government of Tony Blair in the area of ​​immigration and asylum, as well as the invasion of Iraq .

Lord Archer has chaired the Enemy Property Claims Assessment Committee, which in December 2007 paid more than £ 21 million, ten times its budget, to individuals who reclaimed funds frozen by the British government during World War II. 400 cases were handled, suggesting an average payout of around £ 50,000.

With a few colleagues he founded the Labor First group, which only existed for a short time. The aim of the group was to settle the differences within the party and to win the 1997 general election.

Over the age of 80, he became chairman ( chairman ) of the Inquiry into Contaminated Blood and held that post from 2007 to 2008. In one of his last speeches in 2011, shortly before he suffered a stroke , he received non-partisan appreciation.

He last spoke up on March 28, 2011. He last took part in a vote on May 4, 2011. His presence fluctuated in the medium range from 2001 onwards, and from 2010 his presence decreased. In 2011 he only took part in isolated meetings.

Other offices

From 1971 to 1974 Archer was Chairman ( Chairman ) of the British Association of Amnesty International . From 1989 to 1992 he was Ombudsman of Mirror Group Newspapers from 1992 to 1999 Chairman ( Chairman ) of the Council on Tribunals . He was also President of Uniting for Peace and Methodist Homes for the Aged (from 1993) and of the World Disarmament Campaign (from 1994).

Archer was a member of the Privy Council Inquiry into Intercept Evidence, the Advisory Group of Privy Counselors, and the Trustee of Full Fact .

family

He married Margaret Smith in 1954. They had a son, who was born in 1962, and a grandson.

Awards

Archer 1978 Fellow of University College London and the University of Wolverhampton honored him with the honorary degree of Doctor of Law .

Publications

  • The Queen's Courts , Penguin Books, 1956, ISBN unknown
  • Social Welfare and the Citizen , Penguin Books, 1957, ISBN unknown (editor)
  • Communism and the Law , The Bodley Head Ltd, 1963, ISBN 978-0370002910
  • Freedom at Stake , The Bodley Head Ltd, 1966, ISBN 978-0370003672 (with Hugh Mackay, 14th Lord Reay )
  • Human Rights , Fabian Society, 1969, ISBN 978-0716312741
  • Purpose in Socialism , publisher unknown, 1973, ISBN unknown
  • The Role of the Law Officers , Fabian Society, 1978, ISBN 978-0716313397
  • More Law Reform Now , B. Rose, 1983 (editor with Andrew Martin)
  • From Chaos to Cosmos , publisher unknown, 2006, ISBN unknown

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Obituary
  2. ↑ oneworldtrust.org (English), accessed April 22, 2008
  3. ↑ oneworldtrust.org (English), accessed April 22, 2008
  4. ^ The London Gazette , July 14, 1992 edition of the London Gazette
  5. ↑ House of Lords: Members 'expenses Members' expenses on the House of Lords website , accessed September 4, 2012
personal data
SURNAME Archer, Peter, Baron Archer of Sandwell
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Archer, Peter Kingsley, Baron Archer of Sandwell (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British Labor Party politician, Member of the House of Commons
DATE OF BIRTH November 20, 1926
PLACE OF BIRTH Wednesbury , Sandwell County , England
DATE OF DEATH June 14, 2012