Richard Marsh, Baron Marsh

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Richard William Marsh, Baron Marsh PC (born March 14, 1928 in London , † July 29, 2011 in Wiltshire or London) was a British politician (formerly Labor Party ), life peer and businessman .

Life

Marsh was born on March 14, 1928 in a working neighborhood in the Belvedere district of the London borough of Bexley , Kent . His father, William Marsh, was a worker in a steel foundry . He grew up temporarily, evacuated from London due to the Second World War , with his grandmother in Swindon . There he attended the Jennings School ; he left school at the age of fifteen. He then took weekly evening classes at Woolwich Technical College in engineering .

Due to his interest in politics, he joined the Labor Party at this time, for which he also worked. After his military service he received over the Labor Party a scholarship and studied economics at Ruskin College of the University of Oxford .

From 1951 to 1959 he was a union secretary for the National Union of Public Employees . He was a health service officer there. From 1953 to 1959 he was a representative of the National Union of Public Employees on the Whitley Council , a public corporation that brought together employers and employees on health care issues for the National Health Service .

Membership in the House of Commons

In the general election in 1959 he was elected to the Labor Party in the House of Commons for the constituency of Greenwich as the successor to Joseph Reeves , after he had previously run unsuccessfully for the Hertford constituency in 1951 .

Marsh caught the attention of Harold Wilson with a speech in which he defended nationalization. He was then used by Wilson for broadcasting party events prior to the 1964 general election . From 1964 to 1965 Marsh was Parliamentary State Secretary in the Ministry of Labor . From 1965 to 1966 he was one of several State Secretaries ( Joint Parliamentary Secretary ) in the Ministry of Technology .

In 1966 he became a member of the Privy Council . In the second Wilson administration he was Minister of Power from 1966 to 1968. One of his most important tasks in this office was the implementation of the re-nationalization of the steel industry. The implementation of the bill took a year and came against massive opposition from the conservative opposition . Marsh appointed conservative banker Julian Mond, 3rd Baron Melchett, to chair British Steel during his tenure ; this selection caused displeasure among trade unionists and Labor MPs. At the age of 38, Marsh became a member of the Cabinet. In the cabinet he was from 1968 to October 1969, as successor to Barbara Castle , Minister of Transport. He was critical of his transfer to the Ministry of Transport in April 1968 and commented on it in his autobiography Off The Rails . He was against the introduction of seat belts and regulated the M23 and M25 motorways through Surrey . Until his dismissal, he was considered the potential next prime minister.

In October 1969, Marsh was dismissed as a minister. Marsh had helped reduce the influence of the unions in abandoning the plans supported by Wilson by rejecting the reform plans laid down in the White Paper In Place of Strife by Barbara Castle (now Secretary of Labor); this played a role in the run-up to his release. He was also criticized for the openness of his affair with a BBC employee who later became his second wife. Looking back on Wilson's cabinet, Marsh said: "I have never worked with a group of people who disliked each other so much and distrusted each other so much."

After the Labor Party's defeat in the 1970 general election , Marsh became shadow minister for housing. The poor prospects for future offices led to increasing dissatisfaction with him.

British Railways

He left the House in 1971 to Chairman ( Chairman ) of the British Railways Board to become what he remained until 1976th Marsh announced his intention to run British Railways as a corporation, but repeatedly came into conflict with interventions by the government of Edward Heath . In April 1972 there was a first labor dispute . Marsh was critical of the negotiated result; it put jobs at risk in his view.

Marsh reorganized the management, lobbied for by diesel -powered high-speed trains and initiated the construction of underground stations on the edge of cities. After a meeting with the then Minister of Transport John Peyton as a result of increasing losses at British Railways, the latter agreed to a doubling of investments; Marsh had presented Peyton with a route map showing which lines would be discontinued in Conservative constituencies. In this way, Marsh succeeded in initially maintaining the existing route network. However, there were other crises, including the 1973 oil crisis and rising inflation. After the Labor Party returned to government, state interference increased. Wilson's decision not to pursue the canal tunnel project also caused irritation at Marsh .

Marsh's decision not to seek an extension of his term of office was ultimately due to a letter from the then Minister of Transport, John Gilbert, Baron Gilbert , in which he asked why British Railways was canceling trains for carrier pigeons . Marsh passed his office to Peter Parker , replacing Arnold Goodman, Baron Goodman with the Newspaper Publishers' Association .

Membership in the House of Lords

Marsh was named a Life Peer as Baron Marsh of Mannington in the County of Wiltshire on July 15, 1981 . His appointment was made at the instigation of Margaret Thatcher . In the House of Lords , he sat as CROSSBENCHER . He delivered his inaugural address on November 12, 1981. In his inaugural address, Marsh emphasized that he had changed his views on politics. In 1978 he had already announced that he would vote conservatively in the next election.

On the website of the House of Lords, he named industry , economic policy and financial services as topics of political interest . He named the Far East states as states of interest .

Marsh rarely spoke up; however, his verbal contributions always had weight. In the period from 2001 onwards, he was initially regularly present on meeting days. Attendance fell sharply from the 2008 to 2009 session. After the 2010 general election , he was no longer present.

Other offices and activities

From 1976 to 1990 he was Chairman ( Chairman ) of the Newspaper Publishers 'Association and from 1977 to 1983 the British Iron and Steel Consumers' Council . He was 1982-1988 Chairman ( Chairman ) of Lee Cooper plc from 1983 to 1984 the television station TV-AM , Britain's first commercial breakfast television , and from 1987 to 1999 at China and Eastern Investment Trust in Hong Kong . From 1989 he was chairman of Mannington Management Services Ltd and the Laurentian Financial Group plc , and from 1994 of Gartmore British Income & Growth Trust . From 1990 to 1997 he was chairman of Lopex plc .

Marsh was a director of Imperial Life of Canada (Toronto) from 1984 to 1987, and Chairman ( Chairman ) of the Special Trustees of the Guy's Hospital from 1983 to 1997.

Marsh was also a member of the Fabian Society's National Executive Committee .

Honors

Marsh was a Fellow of the Institute of Marketing , the Chartered Institute of Transport , the Institute of Directors, and the Institute of Management . He was named a Knight Bachelor in 1976.

In November 2002 he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Greenwich .

Family and death

Marsh married Evelyn Mary Andrews († 1979) in 1950 (according to other sources: 1953). They had two sons together. The divorce took place in 1973.

His second wife, Caroline Dutton, with whom he had been married since 1973, died in a car accident in 1975, in which the wife of television announcer David Jacobs was also killed. Both Jacobs and Marsh survived. Marsh married Felicity McFadzean in 1979, the daughter of William McFadzean, Baron McFadzean .

Marsh died on July 29, 2011 at the age of 83 in London or Wiltshire .

Publications

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Deceased Lords website of the House of Lords , accessed December 27, 2011
  2. ↑ a b THE HOUSE OF COMMONS CONSTITUENCIES BEGINNING WITH "G" ( Memento of the original from December 31, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Entry on Leigh Rayment website, accessed December 28, 2011 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.leighrayment.com
  3. ↑ Obituary: Rt Hon the Lord Marsh, politician and businessman Obituary in: The Scotsman, August 2, 2011
  4. ↑ Richard Marsh, Baron Marsh obituary in: The Independent, August 13, 2011
  5. ↑ a b c d Lord Marsh obituary Obituary in: The Guardian ; August 2, 2011
  6. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k Lord Marsh , obituary in The Daily Telegraph, August 2, 2011
  7. ↑ Steamed up about Richard Marsh and railway closures Article on BBC News, August 5, 2011
  8. ↑ Richard William Marsh, Baron Marsh on thepeerage.com , accessed August 18, 2015.
  9. ↑ House of Lords: Members 'expenses Members' expenses on the House of Lords website , accessed December 28, 2011
  10. ↑ FORMER LOCAL MP AND CABINET MINISTER HONORED ( Memento of the original dated January 7, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Announcement on the University of Greenwich website dated November 21, 2002 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / w3.gre.ac.uk
personal data
SURNAME Marsh, Richard, Baron Marsh
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Marsh, Richard William, Baron Marsh (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British politician (formerly the Labor Party), member of the House of Commons
DATE OF BIRTH March 14, 1928
PLACE OF BIRTH London
DATE OF DEATH July 29, 2011