Peter Walker, Baron Walker of Worcester

Peter Edward Walker, Baron Walker of Worcester , MBE , PC (* 25. March 1932 in Middlesex , † 23. June 2010 ) was a British politician of the Conservative Party .

biography

Professional career and Member of the House of Commons

The son of a retailer attended the Latymer Upper School in Hammersmith . After finishing school, he worked as an insurance salesman and was soon co-owner of the Slater Walker insurance agency .

Early on, he became politically active in the Conservative Party and ran in both 1955 and 1959 in the general election to succeed Margaret Thatcher in the Dartford constituency , but was defeated by the Labor Party candidate . In 1956 he became a member of the Executive Board of the National Union and held that office until his retirement. In addition, he was between 1958 and 1960 chairman of the youth organization of the Conservatives , the Young Conservatives , which was an important point in his political career. In 1960 he became a Member of the British Empire (MBE).

In March 1961 Walker was at a by-election ( by-election ) in the safe Conservative constituency Worcester to deputies of the lower house ( House of Commons elected). Although he opposed the Common Market during the election campaign , he changed his mind radically after Harold Macmillan applied for UK membership in the Common Market.

In just two years, in 1963, he was briefly Parliamentary Private Secretary of Iain Macleod , then Leader of the House of Commons and Chairman of the Conservative Party. After the defeat of the Conservatives in the general election in 1964, he was spokesman for the opposition for financial and economic policy , making it one as Vorderbänkler ( frontbencher ) the party leadership of his party to. In 1966 he was appointed by Edward Heath , who took him into account from the beginning when filling office, as opposition spokesman for transport before he became opposition spokesman for local government, housing and land in 1968.

Minister under Heath and opposition years

When Heath led the Conservative Party to a success in the 1970 general election, Walker was appointed Minister of State for Housing and Local Government by Prime Minister Heath on June 19, 1970 . At the same time he became a member of the Privy Council .

At the time, the Prime Minister was already planning a “super-department” for the environment, and when there was a cabinet reshuffle four months later following the death of Chancellor Iain Macleod, Peter Walker became the UK's first Environment Minister at the age of just 38 ( Environment Secretary ). In this role he carried out an extensive reorganization of British local government , in which the historic counties were dissolved and new metropolitan metropolitan counties were created. The most controversial part of this draft was the creation of new counties such as Avon and Humberside on the one hand and the abolition of Rutland on the other, as well as the incorporation of traditional rural counties and boroughs into the commuter areas of the metropolitan counties as in the case of Cheshire , Warwickshire , Derbyshire and others. At the time of the legislative process for this Local Government Act , numerous municipalities were trying to spin off the metropolitan network in order to avoid a majority of the conservative Tories in the county councils. When the law came into force two years later, immediately after the Conservative Party's loss of power in the February 1974 general election, two weaknesses in the reorganization became apparent: On the one hand, there were dual responsibilities in planning for counties and districts and a sharp increase in higher-paid offices in the newly formed councils. Ultimately, these metropolitan counties ( Greater Manchester , Merseyside , South Yorkshire , Tyne and Wear , West Midlands and West Yorkshire ) were abolished in the metropolitan areas 12 years later during the Thatcher administration.

In November 1972 Walker as successor was John Davies Trade and Industry Minister ( Trade and Industry Secretary ) in the Cabinet Heath. The policy originally pursued by Heath that ailing companies should not be granted state aid was shortly afterwards abandoned by the nationalization of Rolls-Royce . This enabled Walker to take new steps towards an instinctive policy of intervention, these efforts to restructure and promote British industry being hampered by the continuation of the Industrial Relations Act of 1971, which led to massive militant opposition from the unions . This militancy rose during the first oil crisis in the autumn of 1973 and led to a protracted miners' strike that unwisely led Heath to call early elections in February 1974 to clarify who governs Britain ( "Who Governs Britain?" ).

After the Conservative Party was defeated in the elections, he was first opposition spokesman for trade and industry before he became opposition spokesman for defense in July 1974. When Margaret Thatcher was elected as the new chairman of the Conservatives in a vote against Edward Heath in February 1975, Walker was not accepted into their shadow cabinet . Instead, he returned to the private sector and wrote The Ascent of Britain, a book in which he also supported the government of the Prime Minister of the Labor Party, James Callaghan , in solving the problems in the big cities, especially among the ethnic minorities . The 1981 riots ultimately underscored Walker's prediction.

Minister under Thatcher and their critics

Although he was privately and publicly loyal to Edward Heath, he was appointed Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food by Prime Minister Thatcher because of his success in the general election of May 3, 1979 . Although he was an expert in the field because of the large farms he had set up in Worcestershire in the meantime , his work as minister was essentially limited to negotiating reforms in the common agricultural policy of the European Communities . On the other hand, he played a key role in securing Great Britain's fishing rights in its territories. Apart from this activity as a minister he was during his several years chairman of the center-left standing Tory Reform Group and practiced as such, criticism of the government Thatcher government in particular because of their rejection of intervention, but also because of the monetarist monetary policy and unsuccessful labor market policies to reduce of unemployment .

After the election of the Tories in the general election of June 9, 1983, he remained the last supporter of Heath in Thatcher's government and was made Energy Secretary by this . However, he had to fear his dismissal as a minister because of his constant criticism of the policies of the prime ministers. This culminated after the Earl of Stockton's death in December 1986, when Walker, at a New Year's address in his constituency, called on voters to support the former Prime Minister's policies to ensure that Britain did not split into two nations, one working and one an unemployed, a prosperous south and a poor north. Despite this publicity, the Prime Minister did not dismiss him. However, during his tenure as energy minister, there was also a change of course in social and industrial policy during the miners' strike of the National Union of Mineworkers (NMU) under Arthur Scargill . Because of his positive attitude to the miners' strike Walker was the chairman of the National Coal Board ( National Coal Board ), Ian MacGregor sharply criticized. In particular, MacGregor was before him close ties to the union leaders of the NMU. Furthermore, the twelve-month strike could have ended in nine months if Walker had been more resolute. Walker himself did not refute these allegations, however. On the other hand, in contrast to Thatcher or MacGregor, he does not intend to break up the miners' union. In addition, as energy minister, he was also responsible for the government's nuclear policy and thus also for the British nuclear power plants .

After the re-election of the Conservative Party in the general election of June 11, 1987 the Prime Minister of surprise and irritation caused when she Peter Walker Minister of Wales ( Secretary of State for Wales appointed). While it was not uncommon for the Wales minister to be a constituency MP in England , it was uncommon for that ministry not to be taken over by a Welshman. In May 1990, Walker resigned as minister and only kept his seat in the lower house until the general election on April 9, 1992 .

Retirement from politics and the private sector

After leaving the House of Commons, he was raised as a life peer with the title of Baron Walker of Worcester to the nobility and thereby became a member of the House of Lords . As a representative of conservative politics, he was also chairman of the renowned London Carlton Club from 1998 to 2004 .

He also worked in the private sector and was initially Chairman of Allianz Cornhill from 1992 to 2006 . In addition, he was chairman of Thornton & Co. since 1997 and chairman of the board of the investment bank Kleinwort Benson from 1997 to 1999 . After their merger to form Dresdner Kleinwort , he was their deputy chairman from 1999 until his death. He has also served on the boards of British Gas Corporation , Dalgety , the Tate & Lyle food company , LIFFE and ITM Power . He was also chairman of the English Partnerships urban development company between 1992 and 1998 and, from 1999 until his death, he was president of the British-German Chamber of Commerce .

In the general election on May 6, 2010 , his son Robin Walker was also elected as a Conservative candidate for the House of Commons, where he represents the constituency of Worcester , his father's old constituency.

Web links

• THE TELEGRAPH: Lord Walker of Worcester (June 23, 2010)
• THE GUARDIAN: Lord Walker of Worcester obituary (June 23, 2010)