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David Steel
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Rt Hon. The Lord Steel of Aikwood | |
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| In office 12 May 1999 – 7 May 2003 |
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| Preceded by | office created |
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| Succeeded by | George Reid |
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| In office 7 July 1976 – 16 July 1988 |
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| Preceded by | Jo Grimond |
| Succeeded by | Paddy Ashdown |
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| Born | 31 March 1938 Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland |
| Political party | (1) Liberal Party, (2) Liberal Democrats |
David Martin Scott Steel, Baron Steel of Aikwood, KT, KBE, PC (born 31 March 1938) is a British and Scottish politician and a Liberal Democrat member of the UK House of Lords. He was leader of the Liberal Party from 1976 until its 1988 merger with the Social Democratic Party that formed the Liberal Democrats, and was briefly joint interim leader of the new party, then known as the Social and Liberal Democrats. He was also the first Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament, holding that post between 1999 and 2003.
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David Steel was born in Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland, the son of a Church of Scotland minister also called David Steel, who would later serve as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. He was brought up in Scotland and Kenya, and educated at the Prince of Wales School, Nairobi and George Watson's College in Edinburgh.
He first took an active part in Liberal politics at the University of Edinburgh, and after graduating in Law worked for the Scottish Liberal Party and then the BBC before being elected to the House of Commons at the Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles by-election of 1965, becoming the "Baby of the House". He represented this seat until 1983, when he became Member of Parliament for Tweedale, Ettrick and Lauderdale, a new constituency covering much of the same territory.
As an MP he was responsible for introducing, as a Private Member's Bill, the Abortion Act 1967 (see Abortion in the United Kingdom). He also became the Liberal Party's spokesman on employment, and in 1970 its Chief Whip.
In 1976, after the downfall of Jeremy Thorpe and a short period in which Jo Grimond acted as caretaker leader, he won the Liberal leadership by a wide margin over fellow MP John Pardoe. At only 38 years old, he was one of the youngest party leaders in British history. In 1977, he led the Liberals into the "Lib-Lab pact" by which they agreed to keep the Labour government in power. The unpopularity of the Labour government impaired the Liberals' performance, and Steel's first election as leader, the 1979 general election, saw a decline in Liberal fortunes.
In 1981, a group of Labour moderates left their party to form the Social Democratic Party. The SDP joined the Liberals in the SDP-Liberal Alliance, an electoral alliance that was so promising in its early days that Steel was able to tell delegates at the Liberal Assembly that year to "go back to your constituencies and prepare for government". However, the beginning of the Falklands War radically shifted the attitude of the electorate, and the Conservatives regained the lead in polls from the Alliance. Though the Alliance still secured more than 26% of the popular vote at the 1983 general election - only just behind Labour - its reward in terms of seats was derisory and Steel's hopes of a big political breakthrough were dashed. Shortly afterwards David Owen replaced Roy Jenkins as leader of the SDP and the troubled leadership of the "Two Davids" was inaugurated. It was never an easy relationship - Steel's political sympathies were well to the left of Owen's. The relationship was also mercilessly satirised by Spitting Image which portrayed Steel as a squeaky voiced midget, literally in the pocket of Owen. Steel has often stated that he feels this portrayal seriously damaged his image. [1] This portrayal of Steel as weaker than Owen was also present in other satires, such as Private Eye's Battle for Britain strip. The relationship finally fell apart during the 1987 general election when the two contradicted each other both on defence policy and on which party they would do a deal with in the event of a hung Parliament.
Steel was convinced the answer to these difficulties was a single party with a single leader, and was the chief proponent of the 1988 merger between the Liberals and the SDP. Steel was briefly joint interim leader of the Social and Liberal Democrats (as the new party was at first called), before becoming the party's Foreign Affairs spokesman. He was knighted (KBE) in 1990.
He retired from the House of Commons at the 1997 general election and was made a life peer as Baron Steel of Aikwood, of Ettrick Forest in The Scottish Borders in the same year. He campaigned for Scottish devolution, and in 1999 was elected to the Scottish Parliament as a Liberal Democrat Member of Scottish Parliament for Lothians. He became the first Presiding Officer (speaker) of the Scottish Parliament on 12 May 1999. In this role, he used the style "Sir David Steel", despite his peerage, and had no party allegiance. He stepped down as an MSP when the parliament was dissolved for the 2003 election, but remained as Presiding Officer until he had supervised the election of his successor George Reid on 7 May of that year. He was appointed Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in both 2003 and 2004.
On 30 November 2004, the Queen created Lord Steel of Aikwood a Knight of the Order of the Thistle – the highest honour in Scotland.
Lord Steel of Aikwood appeared as himself in BBC1's The Amazing Mrs Pritchard on Tuesday 10th October 2006.
- Peter Bartram, David Steel: His Life and Politics (W.H. Allen, 1981)
- David Steel, A House Divided (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1980)
- David Steel, Against Goliath: David Steel's Story (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1989)
- General Mediterranean Holdings owned by Anglo-Iraqi billionaire Nadhmi Auchi (Lord Steel was a director of it, and was pressured to quit it)
- Catalogue of the Steel papers at the Archives Division of the London School of Economics.
- Lord Steel of Aikwood profile at the site of Liberal Democrats
- Prince of Wales School:Old Cambrians Society, Nairobi
- We need to rethink my abortion law Steel's thoughts on the abortion debate today.
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Charles Edward McArthur Donaldson |
Member of Parliament for Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles 1965–1983 |
Succeeded by Constituency Abolished |
| Preceded by Constituency Created |
Member of Parliament for Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale 1983–1997 |
Succeeded by Michael Moore |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by Jo Grimond |
Leader of the British Liberal Party 1976–1988 |
Succeeded by merger with SDP |
| Preceded by Himself (Liberal Party) and Robert Maclennan (SDP) |
Leader of the British Liberal Democrats (with Robert Maclennan) 1988 |
Succeeded by Paddy Ashdown |
| Preceded by Office Created |
Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament 1999–2003 |
Succeeded by George Reid |
| Preceded by Teddy Taylor |
Baby of the House 1965–1966 |
Succeeded by John Ryan |
| Academic offices | ||
| Preceded by Anthony Ross |
Rector of the University of Edinburgh 1982 – 1985 |
Succeeded by Archie Macpherson |
Categories: 1938 births | People from Kirkcaldy | Members of the United Kingdom Parliament for Scottish constituencies | Liberal MPs (UK) | Liberal Democrat MPs (UK) | Liberal Democrat politicians (UK) | Knights of the Thistle | Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire | Leaders of the British Liberal Party | Life peers | Living people | Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom | Presiding Officers of the Scottish Parliament | Leaders of the UK Liberal Democrats | People associated with George Watson's College | UK MPs 1964-1966 | UK MPs 1966-1970 | UK MPs 1970-1974 | UK MPs 1974 | UK MPs 1974-1979 | UK MPs 1979-1983 | UK MPs 1983-1987 | UK MPs 1987-1992 | UK MPs 1992-1997 | Rectors of the University of Edinburgh