David Martin Scott Steel, Baron Steel of Aikwood, (born 31 March 1938) is a British politician.
Elected as
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house ...
for
Roxburgh, Selkirk, and Peebles, followed by
Tweeddale, Ettrick, and Lauderdale, he served as the final leader of the
Liberal Party, from 1976 to 1988. His tenure spanned the duration of
the alliance with the
Social Democratic Party, which began in 1981 and concluded with the formation of the
Liberal Democrats in 1988.
Steel served as a
Member of the UK Parliament
In the United Kingdom, a member of Parliament (MP) is an individual elected to serve in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
Electoral system
All 650 members of the UK House of Commons are elected using the first-past- ...
for 32 years, from 1965 to 1997, and as a
Member of the Scottish Parliament
Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP; gd, Ball Pàrlamaid na h-Alba, BPA; sco, Memmer o the Scots Pairliament, MSP) is the title given to any one of the 129 individuals elected to serve in the Scottish Parliament.
Electoral system
The ad ...
(MSP) from 1999 to 2003, during which time he was the parliament's
Presiding Officer. He was a member of the
House of Lords
The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster ...
as a
life peer
In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. In modern times, life peerages, always created at the rank of baron, are created under the Life Peerages ...
from 1997 to 2020. Steel resigned from the House of Lords after the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse accused him of an "abdication of responsibility" over his failure to investigate allegations of child sex abuse against Liberal MP,
Cyril Smith.
Early life and education
Steel was born in
Kirkcaldy
Kirkcaldy ( ; sco, Kirkcaldy; gd, Cair Chaladain) is a town and former royal burgh in Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. It is about north of Edinburgh and south-southwest of Dundee. The town had a recorded population of 49,460 in 2011, ...
,
Fife, the son of a
Church of Scotland
The Church of Scotland ( sco, The Kirk o Scotland; gd, Eaglais na h-Alba) is the national church in Scotland.
The Church of Scotland was principally shaped by John Knox, in the Scottish Reformation, Reformation of 1560, when it split from t ...
minister also called
David Steel, who would later serve as
Moderator of the General Assembly of the
Church of Scotland
The Church of Scotland ( sco, The Kirk o Scotland; gd, Eaglais na h-Alba) is the national church in Scotland.
The Church of Scotland was principally shaped by John Knox, in the Scottish Reformation, Reformation of 1560, when it split from t ...
. He was brought up in Scotland and
Kenya
)
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, and educated at
Dumbarton Academy;
James Gillespie's Boys' School, Edinburgh; the
Prince of Wales School
The Nairobi School is a national secondary school in Nairobi, Kenya. It was founded in 1902 by the British settlers who had made Nairobi their home after the construction of the Uganda Railway. In 1925, Lord Delamere and Sir Edward Grigg, then ...
,
Nairobi
Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city prope ...
; and
George Watson's College, Edinburgh, followed by the
University of Edinburgh, where he first took an active part in Liberal politics, and was elected Senior President of the
Students' Representative Council
{{Unreferenced, date=July 2014A students' representative council, also known as a students' administrative council, represents student interests in the government of a university, school or other educational institution. Generally the SRC forms par ...
,
and graduated in Law. Steel was president of the British
Anti-Apartheid Movement campaign from 1966 to 1970.
Political career
After university, Steel worked for the Scottish Liberal Party, and then the
BBC, before being elected to the
House of Commons as the MP for
Roxburgh, Selkirk, and Peebles at the
1965 by-election
Events January–February
* January 14 – The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years.
* January 20
** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lyndo ...
, just before his 27th birthday, becoming the "
Baby of the House". He represented this seat until 1983, when he was elected in
Tweeddale, Ettrick, and Lauderdale, a new constituency covering much of the same territory. From 1966 to 1970, Steel was president of the British
Anti-Apartheid Movement campaign.
As an MP, he was responsible for introducing, as a
Private Member's Bill
A private member's bill is a bill (proposed law) introduced into a legislature by a legislator who is not acting on behalf of the executive branch. The designation "private member's bill" is used in most Westminster system jurisdictions, in whi ...
, the
Abortion Act 1967, and has argued for greater liberalisation of this legislation in recent years (see
Abortion in the United Kingdom). He also became the Liberal Party's spokesman on employment, and, in 1970, its
Chief Whip.
Leader of Liberal Party
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
John Pardoe. At only 38 years old, he was one of the youngest party leaders in British history. In March 1977, he led the Liberals into the "
Lib–Lab pact". The Liberals agreed to support the Labour government, whose narrow majority since the
general election in October 1974 had been gradually eroded and left them as a minority government, in power, in return for a degree of prior consultation on policy. This pact lasted until August 1978.
Steel was criticised, both then and since, for not driving a harder bargain. However, Steel's defenders contend that the continuing scandal surrounding Thorpe left the party in a very weak state to face an early general election, and Steel was wise to buy himself some time from Prime Minister
James Callaghan. At the same time, the growing unpopularity of the Labour government impaired the Liberals' performance, and Steel's first election as leader, the
1979 general election, saw a net two-seat loss for the Liberals.
SDP–Liberal Alliance
In 1981, a group of Labour moderates left their party to form the
Social Democratic Party. They were joined by the former Labour deputy leader, Chancellor and Home Secretary
Roy Jenkins
Roy Harris Jenkins, Baron Jenkins of Hillhead, (11 November 1920 – 5 January 2003) was a British politician who served as President of the European Commission from 1977 to 1981. At various times a Member of Parliament (MP) for the Lab ...
, who had previously had discussions with Steel about joining the Liberals. Under Jenkins' leadership, the SDP joined the Liberals in the
SDP–Liberal Alliance. In its early days, the Alliance showed so much promise that for a time, it looked like the Liberals would be part of a government for the first time since 1945. Opinion polls were showing Alliance support as high as 50% by late 1981. Steel was so confident that he felt able to tell delegates at the Liberal Assembly that year: "Go back to your constituencies, and prepare for government!" In the wake of the
1981 Croydon North West by-election, where Liberal candidate
Bill Pitt came from third position to easily gain the Alliance's first by-election victory, Steel's reaction to the result was to state that his belief "that we are now unstoppable."
Steel had genuine hopes at that stage that the Alliance would win the next general election and form a
coalition government. However, the beginning of the
Falklands War the following spring radically shifted the attitude of the electorate, and the Conservatives regained the lead in polls from the Alliance by a wide margin. The Alliance secured more than 25% of the vote at the
1983 general election
The following elections occurred in the year 1983.
Africa
* 1983 Cameroonian parliamentary election
* 1983 Equatorial Guinean legislative election
* 1983 Kenyan general election
* 1983 Malagasy parliamentary election
* 1983 Malawian general e ...
, almost as many votes as Labour. However, its support was spread out across the country, and was not concentrated in enough areas to translate into seats under the
first past the post system. This left the Alliance with only 23 seats — 17 for the Liberals, and six for the SDP. Steel's dreams of a big political breakthrough were left unfulfilled.
Shortly afterwards, the former Labour Foreign Secretary
David Owen replaced 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. Owen had a marked antipathy towards the Liberals, though he respected Steel's prior loyalty to his own party contrasting it with Jenkins' lack of interest in preserving the SDP's independence. 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. This portrayal of Steel as weaker than Owen was also present in other satires, such as ''
Private Eye
''Private Eye'' is a British fortnightly satire, satirical and current affairs (news format), current affairs news magazine, founded in 1961. It is published in London and has been edited by Ian Hislop since 1986. The publication is widely r ...
''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.
Two parties merge
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. He emerged victorious in persuading both parties to accept merger in the teeth of opposition from Owen and radical Liberals such as
Michael Meadowcroft, but badly mishandled the issuing of a joint policy document. Steel had often been criticised for a lack of interest in policy, and it appeared he had agreed to the document – drawn up by politically naive SDP advisers – without reading it. His colleagues rejected it immediately and demanded a redraft, fatally wounding his authority.
Steel was briefly joint interim leader of the Social and Liberal Democrats (as the new party was at first called) in the run-up to elections in which he did not stand, before becoming the party's foreign affairs spokesman. In 1989, he accepted an invitation from Italian Liberals to stand for the
European Parliament
The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adop ...
in the
1989 election
The following elections occurred in the year 1989.
Africa
* 1989 Beninese parliamentary election
* 1989 Botswana general election
* 1989 Equatorial Guinean presidential election
* 1989 People's Republic of the Congo parliamentary election
* 198 ...
as a Pan-European gesture. Although not elected, he polled very well.
He became President of the
Liberal International in 1994, holding the office until 1996.
Life peerage and Scottish Parliament
Steel retired from the House of Commons at the
1997 general election and was made a
life peer
In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. In modern times, life peerages, always created at the rank of baron, are created under the Life Peerages ...
as Baron Steel of Aikwood, of
Ettrick Forest in the
Scottish Borders
The Scottish Borders ( sco, the Mairches, 'the Marches'; gd, Crìochan na h-Alba) is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the City of Edinburgh, Dumfries and Galloway, East Lothian, Midlothian, South Lanarkshire, West Lothi ...
, on 6 June 1997. He campaigned for
Scottish devolution, and in 1999 was elected to the
Scottish Parliament
The Scottish Parliament ( gd, Pàrlamaid na h-Alba ; sco, Scots Pairlament) is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. Located in the Holyrood area of the capital city, Edinburgh, it is frequently referred to by the metonym Holyro ...
as a Liberal Democrat
MSP for
Lothians
Lothian (; sco, Lowden, Loudan, -en, -o(u)n; gd, Lodainn ) is a region of the Scottish Lowlands, lying between the southern shore of the Firth of Forth and the Lammermuir Hills and the Moorfoot Hills. The principal settlement is the Sc ...
. 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. He suspended his Lib Dem membership for the duration of his tenure as Presiding Officer; that post, like the
Speaker of the UK House of Commons, is strictly nonpartisan. He stepped down as an MSP when the parliament was dissolved for the
2003 election
The following elections occurred in the year 2003.
Africa
* 2003 Beninese parliamentary election
* 2003 Djiboutian parliamentary election
* 2003 Guinean presidential election
* 2003 Mauritanian presidential election
* 2003 Nigerian parliamentary ...
, 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.
Cyril Smith child sex abuse scandal
On 14 March 2019, Steel was suspended by the Liberal Democrats after an admission that discussions he had conducted in 1979 with the then Liberal MP for Rochdale
Cyril Smith, at a time when Steel was leader of the Liberal Party, had led him to conclude that Smith had been a sexual abuser of children in the 1960s and that Steel nonetheless failed to instigate any assessment by the party of whether Smith was an on-going risk to children.
Richard Scorer
Richard Scorer is a Principal Lawyer in Slater and Gordon Lawyers in Manchester where he is Head of Abuse Law. He was formerly Head of Serious Injury at Pannone LLP.
He has represented abuse victims in cases against local authorities, schools ...
, representing victims at the
Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, called for him to be stripped of his peerage. On 14 May 2019, the Liberal Democrats ruled that there were "no grounds for action" against Steel and reinstated him to party membership.
On 25 February 2020, Steel announced his resignation from the Liberal Democrats and subsequently his position as a member of the House of Lords, after admitting that during his leadership of the
Liberal Party he "assumed" that Smith had been a child abuser, and failed to investigate claims made by ''
Private Eye
''Private Eye'' is a British fortnightly satire, satirical and current affairs (news format), current affairs news magazine, founded in 1961. It is published in London and has been edited by Ian Hislop since 1986. The publication is widely r ...
'' against Smith, dating from before Smith was a party member. This came about after the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse accused Steel of an "abdication of responsibility" over allegations against Smith. He retired officially from the House of Lords on 27 March 2020.
Honours and awards
Steel was appointed a
Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...
(KBE) in 1990. On 30 November 2004,
Queen Elizabeth
Queen Elizabeth, Queen Elisabeth or Elizabeth the Queen may refer to:
Queens regnant
* Elizabeth I (1533–1603; ), Queen of England and Ireland
* Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022 ...
created Lord Steel a Knight of the
Order of the Thistle
The Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle is an order of chivalry associated with Scotland. The current version of the Order was founded in 1687 by King James VII of Scotland, who asserted that he was reviving an earlier Order. The O ...
, the highest honour in Scotland.
He has also received numerous foreign honours, including: Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit (Germany) in 1992;
Chevalier in the Légion d'Honneur (France) in 2003; and Honorary Knight of the
Order of St. George (Habsburg-Lorraine) in 2016.
Steel has received a number of Honorary Doctorates from many universities including
Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Stirling.
Personal life
Steel married fellow law graduate Judith Mary MacGregor in October 1962. They resided at
Aikwood Tower
Aikwood Tower (formerly known as Oakwood Tower) is a 16th-century tower house in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland, southwest of the town of Selkirk, on the Ettrick Water. It has been restored and renovated to offer luxury self-catering ho ...
in the Borders of Scotland for twenty years, but now live in
Selkirk. They have two sons and a daughter, and nine grandchildren.
In 1995, his elder son Graeme was convicted for growing cannabis at his house, and sent to prison for nine months.
One of his granddaughters, Hannah, was elected to
Scottish Borders Council (representing the
Galashiels area) in the
2022 Scottish local elections.
His recreations are angling and classic car rallying: he won the bronze medallion in 1998 for London to Cape Town. He is a member of the
National Liberal and
Royal Over-Seas League clubs.
Further reading
*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)
*David Torrance, ''David Steel – rising hope to elder statesman'' (Biteback, 2015)
References
External links
*
*
Catalogue of the Steel papersat th
of the
London School of Economics
, mottoeng = To understand the causes of things
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £240.8 million (2021)
, budget = £391.1 mill ...
.
Lord Steel of Aikwoodprofile at the site of Liberal Democrats
Prince of Wales School:Old Cambrians Society, NairobiSteel's thoughts on the abortion debate, as of 2004.
, -
{{DEFAULTSORT:Steel, David
1938 births
People from Kirkcaldy
Politics of the Scottish Borders
Scottish Liberal Party MPs
Scottish Liberal Democrat MPs
Knights of the Thistle
Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire
Leaders of the Liberal Party (UK)
Steel of Aikwood
Living people
Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
Presiding Officers of the Scottish Parliament
Presidents of the Liberal International
Leaders of the Liberal Democrats (UK)
People educated at 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
Lords High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland
Liberal Democrat MSPs
Members of the Scottish Parliament 1999–2003
Alumni of Nairobi School
Alumni of the University of Edinburgh School of Law
People educated at Dumbarton Academy
Life peers created by Elizabeth II