Shirley Williams
CH PC | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In office 7 June 2001 – 24 November 2004 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Leader | Charles Kennedy | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Preceded by | The Lord Rodgers of Quarry Bank | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Succeeded by | The Lord McNally | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
President of the Social Democratic Party | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In office 7 July 1982 – 29 August 1987 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Leader | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Preceded by | Office established | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Succeeded by | Secretary of State for Prices and Consumer Protection | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In office 5 March 1974 – 10 September 1976 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Prime Minister |
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Preceded by | Trade and Industry Secretary) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Succeeded by | Roy Hattersley | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Shirley Vivian Teresa Brittain Catlin 27 July 1930 Chelsea, London, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Died | 12 April 2021 Little Hadham, England | (aged 90)||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Political party |
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Spouses | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Children | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Parents |
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Academic background | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Alma mater | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Academic work | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Institutions | Electoral politics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Shirley Vivian Teresa Brittain Williams, Baroness Williams of Crosby,
Williams was elected to the
In 1981, dismayed with the Labour Party's left-ward movement under Michael Foot, she was one of the "Gang of Four"—centrist Labour figures who formed the SDP. Williams won the 1981 Crosby by-election and became the first SDP member elected to Parliament, but she lost the seat in the 1983 general election. She served as President of the SDP from 1982 to 1987 and supported the SDP's merger with the Liberal Party that formed the Liberal Democrats.
Between 2001 and 2004, she served as Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords and, from 2007 to 2010, as Adviser on Nuclear Proliferation to Prime Minister Gordon Brown. She remained an active member of the House of Lords until announcing her retirement in January 2016, and was a Professor Emerita of Electoral Politics at Harvard Kennedy School at the time of her death at age 90, having been one of the last surviving members of the Labour governments of the 1970s.
Early life and education
Born at 19 Glebe Place[
While she was an undergraduate and an Open Scholar at
On returning to Britain, she began her career as a journalist, working firstly for the Daily Mirror and then for the Financial Times. In 1960, she became General Secretary of the Fabian Society, a role she held until 1964.[8][5]
Parliamentary career
After unsuccessfully contesting the
Her colleague David Owen recalled: "You'd watch her work a room at a local Labour event and she'd never start by smarming up to a regional leader or a councillor. She'd settle down next to somebody whom she'd have no political reason to talk to – a solid party worker – and you'd watch this person's face light up. This was always done spontaneously, without any ulterior motives. She just liked people and liked them to like her."[10]
Between 1971 and 1973, she served as Shadow
Comprehensive schools
While serving as education secretary between 1976 and 1979, Williams pursued the policy introduced by
Europeanism
Always a passionately committed supporter of European integration,
In her 2016 valedictory speech to the House of Lords before that year's second membership referendum, she described the UK's European Union (EU) membership as "the most central political question that this country has to answer" and said it was the reason for her retirement. In closing, she called on her colleagues to "think very hard before allowing the United Kingdom to withdraw from ... its major duty to the world—the one it will encounter, and then deliver, through the European Union".[14][18]
Social issues
A lifelong
Social Democratic Party
Williams lost her seat (renamed
Following the election, she hosted the BBC1 TV series Shirley Williams in Conversation, interviewing, in turn, a number of political figures, including former West German chancellor Willy Brandt, former Conservative prime minister Edward Heath and her recently deposed colleague James Callaghan.[25] She later appeared on many television and radio discussion programmes in Britain – in particular, the BBC's Question Time, where her 58 appearances earned her a "Most Frequent Panellist" award.[11][5] During this period, Williams remained a member of the National Executive of the Labour Party.[26] From 1980 to 1981, she was Chairman of the Fabian Society.[8]
In 1981, unhappy with the influence of the more left-wing members of the Labour Party, she resigned her membership to form – along with fellow Labour resignees
Harvard University
In 1988, Williams moved to the United States to serve as a professor at Harvard Kennedy School, remaining until 2001, and thereafter as Public Service Professor of Electoral Politics, Emerita.[27] Nonetheless, she remained active in politics and public service in Britain, the United States and internationally. During these years, Williams helped draft constitutions in Russia, Ukraine, and South Africa.[5] She also served as director of Harvard's Project Liberty, an initiative designed to assist the emerging democracies in Central and Eastern Europe; and as a board member and acting director of Harvard's Institute of Politics (IOP). Upon her elevation to the House of Lords in 1993, she returned to the United Kingdom.[19][28]
Life peer
Williams was made a
Among other non-profit boards, Williams was a member of the
In June 2007, after
Williams was originally opposed to the
Williams spoke against same-sex marriage in the House of Lords, saying that "equality is not the same as sameness. That is the fundamental mistake in this Bill" and that women and men "complement one another", arguing that marriage between people of the same sex should not be called marriage but should have "different nomenclature". This was based on her belief that marriage is "a framework for procreation and the raising of children."[39] In late 2015, she announced her intention to retire from the House of Lords.[40] On 28 January 2016 she made her valedictory speech in the chamber, and on 11 February she officially retired, in pursuance of Section 1 of the House of Lords Reform Act 2014.[18] In the 2017 New Year Honours, Williams was appointed to the Order of the Companions of Honour for "services to political and public life".[41]
Personal life
Williams married twice. At Oxford she met Peter Parker (the future head of British Rail) and they had a relationship. In her autobiography (Climbing the Bookshelves) Williams said that "...by the spring of 1949 I was in love with him, and he, a little, with me...". In 1955, she married the moral philosopher Bernard Williams. Bernard left Oxford to accommodate his wife's rising political ambitions, finding a post first at University College London (1959–64) and then as Professor of Philosophy at Bedford College, London (1964–67), while she worked as a journalist for the Financial Times and as Secretary of the Fabian Society. The marriage was dissolved in 1974;[42] Bernard Williams subsequently married Patricia Skinner and had two sons with her.[43] Shirley said of her marriage to Bernard:
... [T]here was something of a strain that comes from two things. One is that we were both too caught up in what we were respectively doing — we didn't spend all that much time together; the other, to be completely honest, is that I'm fairly unjudgmental and I found Bernard's capacity for pretty sharp putting-down of people he thought were stupid unacceptable. Patricia has been cleverer than me in that respect. She just rides it. He can be very painful sometimes. He can eviscerate somebody. Those who are left behind are, as it were, dead personalities. Judge not that ye be not judged. I was influenced by Christian thinking, and he would say "That's frightfully pompous and it's not really the point." So we had a certain jarring over that and over Catholicism.[43]
Her first marriage was
She had a daughter with Bernard Williams, a stepdaughter, and two grandchildren. Her daughter, Rebecca, became a lawyer.[45] She was a longtime resident of Hertfordshire, living in Furneux Pelham after she was elected MP for Hitchin, and moving to Little Hadham later in life.[46]
Williams was a Roman Catholic and, from 2009, attended church every Sunday.[47] In Who's Who, she listed her recreations as "music, poetry, hill walking".[8]
She died at her home in the early hours of 12 April 2021, at the age of 90.[48][49][50] Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey called Williams a "Liberal lion and a true trailblazer" and stated that "political life will be poorer without her intellect, her wisdom and her generosity".[49]
Honours
Williams was made an Honorary Fellow of her alma mater, Somerville College, Oxford, in 1970, and of Newnham College, Cambridge, in 1977. Williams received a number of honorary doctorates:
- Honorary DEd (Doctor of Education), Council for National Academic Awards, 1969
- Honorary DLitt (Doctor of Letters), Heriot-Watt University,1980[51]
- Hon. LLD (Doctor of Laws), University of Sheffield, 1980; University of Southampton, 1981; University of Liverpool, 2008; University of Cambridge, 2009
- Honorary Doctor of Politics and Economics, University of Leuven, 1976; Harvard, 1978; University of Leeds, 1980; University of Bath, 1980
- Honorary DSc (Doctor of Science), Aston University, 1981
- Honorary Doctor, Monterey Institute, California, 2006[8]
Works by and about
Shirley Williams wrote several books, including:
- Climbing the Bookshelves: The Autobiography of Shirley Williams, ISBN 9781844084753.[52]
- God and Caesar: Personal Reflections on Politics and Religion, ISBN 9780268010461.[53]
- Ambition and Beyond: Career Paths of American Politicians, with Edward L. Lascher Jr, ISBN 9780877723387.[54]
- New Party – The New Technology Social and Liberal Democrats by ISBN 9781851870752.[55]
- Politics is for People ISBN 9780140058888.[56]
Her biography was published in 2013: Shirley Williams: The Biography, Mark Peel (Biteback Publishing)
For details of Williams's early life see:
- Vera Brittain: A Life by Paul Berry and Mark Bostridge (1995).[57]
- Testament of Experience by Vera Brittain (1957).[58]
There is a substantial article on Shirley Williams by
See also:
- ISBN 978-0-224-08750-6.[59]
Williams was a main character in Steve Waters' 2017 play Limehouse, which premiered at the Donmar Warehouse; she was portrayed by Debra Gillett.[60]
Arms
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Notes and references
- ^ The SDP later merged with the Liberal Party to form the Liberal Democrats.
- ISBN 9780349008547. Retrieved 16 September 2021 – via Google Books snippets.
- ^ Derrick, Maya (12 April 2021). "Former Hitchin and Stevenage MP Shirley Williams dies aged 90". The Comet. Stevenage, Hitchin, Letchworth and Baldock.
- ^ Langdon, Julia (12 April 2021). "Lady Williams of Crosby obituary Labour minister in the 60s and 70s who defected to form the SDP as one of the Gang of Four". The Guardian.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Langdon, Julia (12 April 2021). "Lady Williams of Crosby obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
- ^ Jean Tate; Annie Sedley; Sue Tate (1 April 2010). "Betty Tate obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
- ^ Marquand, Robert (3 April 1991). "Shirley Williams". The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-19-954088-4. Retrieved 15 April 2021.
- ^ "The Woman Engineer Vol 10". www2.theiet.org. Retrieved 7 March 2020.
- TheGuardian.com. 12 December 2021.
- ^ a b "Shirley Williams: Pioneer who tried to reshape politics". BBC News. 12 April 2021.
- ^ Shirley Williams Climbing The Bookshelves: Autobiography of Shirley Williams, Virago, 2009, p. 206.
- ^ Agar, Stephen (24 April 2021). "Rod's Wrong". The Spectator: 31.
- ^ a b Hansard, House of Lords, 28 January 2016, c1470-71.
- ^ a b c Kettle, Martin (17 December 2015). "Britain's pro-Europeans need to find a Shirley Williams". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 April 2021.
- S2CID 145092199.
- ^ Hansard, European Communities, HC Deb 28 October 1971 vol 823 cc2076-217.
- ^ a b "Shirley Williams makes her final speech to House of Lords (video)". BBC News. 28 January 2016. Retrieved 13 April 2021.
- ^ a b c "Shirley Williams, Labour Cabinet minister who left her party to help form the SDP – obituary". The Daily Telegraph. 12 April 2021. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 13 April 2021.
- ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
- ^ Flello, Rob (27 October 2017). "Labour's new intolerance of the pro-life cause". The Spectator. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
- ^ "Shirley Williams R.I.P., Christian and Catholic". www.churchtimes.co.uk. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
- ^ "BBC Rewind: Shirley Williams loses Hertford and Stevenage. Clip taken from Decision 79, first broadcast 4 May 1979". BBC News. 17 November 2014. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
- The Critic Magazine. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
- ^ "Bfi | Film & Tv Database | Shirley Williams In Conversation". Ftvdb.bfi.org.uk. Archived from the original on 17 October 2012. Retrieved 11 June 2010.
- ^ "MPs and Lords: Baroness Williams of Crosby". UK Parliament. Retrieved 13 April 2021.
Member, Labour Party National Executive Committee, 1 July 1970 – 1 March 1981
- ^ "Shirley Williams (In Memoriam)". Harvard Kennedy School. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
- ^ "Shirley Williams: One of the UK's best-loved politicians". The Independent. 12 April 2021. Retrieved 13 April 2021.
- ^ "No. 53207". The London Gazette. 4 February 1993. p. 2049.
- ^ "Shirley Williams". Liberal History. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
- ^ "Commission Establishes a 'Comité des Sages' on Social Policy", 4 October 1995 Retrieved 11 June 2011
- ^ Bilderberg Meetings official website 2010 attendee list "Bilderberg Meetings - Home". Archived from the original on 17 June 2010. Retrieved 17 June 2010.
- ^ Borger, Julian (8 September 2009). "Nuclear-free world ultimate aim of new cross-party pressure group". The Guardian. London.
- ^ Helm, Toby (12 March 2011). "Shirley Williams urges Lib Dems to fight Andrew Lansley's NHS plan". The Guardian. Manchester. Retrieved 19 March 2012.
- ^ Williams, Shirley (3 February 2012). "Our NHS bill amendments represent a major concession by the government". The Guardian. Manchester. Retrieved 19 March 2012.
- ^ Toynbee, Polly (12 March 2012). "Sorry, Shirley Williams, but I have to nail your health bill myths". The Guardian. Manchester, UK. Retrieved 14 March 2012.
- ^ Trilling, Daniel (11 March 2012). "Could NHS reform be the Lib Dems' downfall?". New Statesman. UK. Retrieved 1 April 2012.
- ^ Wintour, Patrick (11 March 2012). "How Nick Clegg and Shirley Williams lost the great NHS debate". The Guardian. Manchester. Retrieved 19 March 2012.
- ^ "House of Lords 17 June 2013". Hansard. 17 June 2013.
- ^ Mason, Rowena (17 December 2015). "Shirley Williams to retire from Lords after 50 years in politics". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 December 2015.
- ^ "No. 61803". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 2016. p. N27.
- The Glasgow Herald. 4 May 1974. p. 11. Retrieved 3 January 2017.
- ^ a b Jeffries, Stuart. "The Quest for Truth" The Guardian, 30 November 2002.
- ^ Jeffries, Stuart (30 November 2002). "The quest for truth". Guardian Books. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
After the divorce in 1974, Bernard married Patricia, but Shirley Williams had to wait for the Catholic church to annul the marriage before she could remarry.
- ^ Padman, Tony (15 May 2015). "Shirley Williams: My family values". The Guardian.
- ^ Corr, Sinead (12 April 2021). "Political pioneer and Little Hadham resident Shirley Williams dies aged 90". Bishop's Stortford Independent. Retrieved 29 January 2023.
- ISBN 978-1-84408-476-0.
- ^ Liberal Democrats (12 April 2021). "In Memory of Shirley Williams". LibDems.org.uk. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
- ^ a b "Baroness Shirley Williams: Former cabinet minister dies aged 90". BBC News. 12 April 2021. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
- ^ Kwai, Isabella (23 April 2021). "Shirley Williams, 90, Force Who Altered British Politics And Inspired Lawmakers". The New York Times. p. B11. Retrieved 29 January 2023.
- ^ "Heriot-Watt University Edinburgh: Honorary Graduates". www1.hw.ac.uk. Retrieved 5 April 2016.
- ^ Toynbee, Polly (3 October 2009). "Climbing the Bookshelves by Shirley Williams | Book review". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 April 2021.
- ^ Williams, Shirley (September 2003). "God & Caesar: Personal Reflections on Politics and Religion". The International Journal of Not-for-Profit Law. 6 (1). Retrieved 13 April 2021 – via International Centre for Not-for-Profit Law (www.icnl.org).
- .
- ISBN 9781851870752. Retrieved 13 April 2021 – via Google Books.
- ^ "Politics is for People — Shirley Williams". Harvard University Press. Retrieved 13 April 2021.
- S2CID 142574197– via Project MUSE.
- ISBN 9780860681106.
- ^ "Roy Jenkins: A Well Rounded Life review – 'a magnificent biography'". The Guardian. 23 March 2014. Retrieved 13 April 2021.
- ^ "David Tennant, Roger Allam and more at Limehouse opening night". WhatsOnStage.com. 9 March 2017. Retrieved 23 February 2023.
External links
- Profile at the Parliament of the United Kingdom
- Contributions in Parliament at Hansard 1803–2005
- Current session contributions in Parliament at Hansard
- Voting record at PublicWhip.org
- Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou.com
- Profile at Westminster Parliamentary Record
- Profile at BBC News Democracy Live
- Articles authored at Journalisted
- Portraits of Shirley Williams at the National Portrait Gallery, London
- Shirley Williams at IMDb
- Shirley Williams collected news and commentary at The Guardian
- Baroness Williams of Crosby at the Liberal Democrats
- Faculty profile Archived 13 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine at Harvard Kennedy School
- The NS Interview: Shirley Williams (New Statesman, 12 May 2010)