Preceded by Desmond Langley Preceded by Douglas Hurd Succeeded by John Wakeham Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher Party Conservative Party | Preceded by The Lord Belstead Role Governor of Bermuda Prime Minister John Major Name David Baron | |
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Premier John Swan
David Saul
Pamela Gordon Education City Law School, Hertford College, Oxford | ||
David Charles Waddington, Baron Waddington, (2 August 1929 – 23 February 2017) was a British politician and barrister.
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A member of the Conservative Party, he served as a Member of Parliament (MP) in the House of Commons from 1968 to 1974, and from 1979 to 1990, and was then made a life peer. During his parliamentary career, Waddington worked in government as Chief Whip, then as Home Secretary and finally as Leader of the House of Lords. He then served as the Governor of Bermuda between 1992 and 1997.
Early life
Waddington was born in Burnley, Lancashire, the youngest of five. His father and grandfather were both solicitors in Burnley. He was educated at Cressbrook School and Sedbergh School, both independent schools.
He then attended Hertford College, Oxford, where he became President of the Oxford University Conservative Association. He was called to the Bar at Gray's Inn in 1951.
Stefan Kiszko trial
In 1976, Waddington led the defence in the trial of Stefan Kiszko, a case which became a significant miscarriage of justice. The British tax clerk from Rochdale, who was convicted of the murder of 12-year-old Lesley Molseed, served sixteen years in prison for a crime he did not commit. It is alleged that this was because Kiszko's defence team made significant mistakes.
Kiszko was finally released in 1992, after the Court of Appeal was told forensic evidence showed that he could not have been the murderer. The Court of Appeal was told that Kiszko was incapable of producing the sperm found on the girl's clothing, evidence to this effect being available at the time of the trial but not disclosed to the defence.
Political career
Waddington stood for election several times before being successful. He was the Conservative candidate at Farnworth in the 1955 general election, at Nelson and Colne in 1964, and at Heywood and Royton in 1966.
He was first elected to Parliament at the 1968 Nelson and Colne by-election, caused by the death of Labour MP Sydney Silverman. He was re-elected there in 1970 and in February 1974, but lost his seat at the October 1974 general election by a margin of 669 votes to Labour's Doug Hoyle.
Waddington was returned to Parliament for Clitheroe at the by-election in March 1979, and was subsequently elected for the broadly similar Ribble Valley constituency in 1983.
In government
A junior minister under Margaret Thatcher, Waddington was a Lord Commissioner of the Treasury and Government Whip (1979–81), Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the Department of Employment (1981–83), Minister of State at the Home Office (1983–87), and Chief Whip from 1987 until his elevation to Cabinet level in 1989, when he became Home Secretary.
Life peer
On 4 December 1990, he was created a life peer as Baron Waddington, of Read in the County of Lancashire. He served as Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the House of Lords until 1992. He then served as Governor of Bermuda from 1992 until 1997.
Lord Waddington was appointed a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (GCVO) in 1994. In 2008, his amendment to the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill, known as the Waddington Amendment, inserted a freedom of speech clause into new anti-homophobic hate crime legislation.
In November 2009, the Government failed to repeal the Waddington Amendment in the Coroners and Justice Bill. On 26 March 2015, Lord Waddington retired from the House of Lords pursuant to Section 1 of the House of Lords Reform Act 2014.
Death
Lord Waddington died on 23 February 2017, aged 87. He was survived by his wife, and their five children.