Desmond Anderson Harvie Banks, Baron Banks, CBE (23 October 1918 – 15 June 1997) was a British Liberal Party politician. Banks was born in Ascot, Berkshire. He was educated at prep school in

Harrow Harrow may refer to: Places * Harrow, Victoria, Australia * Harrow, Ontario, Canada * The Harrow, County Wexford, a village in Ireland * London Borough of Harrow, England ** Harrow, London, a town in London ** Harrow (UK Parliament constituency) ...

and University College School in

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, and extends from Watling Street, the A5 road (Roman Watling Street) to Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland. The area forms the northwest part of the Lon ...

. During the Second World War he served as an officer in the Royal Artillery. In 1948 he married Barbara Wells who in 1987 was awarded the OBE for services to the

Women's Liberal Federation The Women's Liberal Federation was an organisation that was part of the Liberal Party in the United Kingdom. History The Women's Liberal Federation (WLF) was formed on the initiative of Sophia Fry, who in 1886 called a meeting at her house of fi ...

. They had two sons, Alistair Richard Harvie Banks (b. 1950) and Graham Thornton Harvie Banks (b. 1953). Banks was a life insurance broker and pensions consultant. He was Chairman of the Liberal Party Executive from 1961 to 1963 and from 1969 to 1970, and

President of the Liberal Party This is a list of people who served as President of the British Liberal Party. The Liberal Party merged into the Liberal Democrats in 1988. The post was established in 1877 as President of the National Liberal Federation. In 1936, this body was r ...

from 1968 to 1969. He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for political service in the

1972 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1972 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. They were announced in supplements to the ''Lon ...

. He was created 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 ...

on 7 January 1975 as Baron Banks, ''of

Kenton Kenton may refer to: Places Canada *Kenton, Manitoba South Africa *Kenton-on-Sea United Kingdom *Kenton, Devon *Kenton, London **Kenton station, Kenton Road, Kenton, London *Kenton, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear *Kenton, Suffolk **Kenton ra ...

Greater London Greater may refer to: *Greatness, the state of being great *Greater than, in inequality (mathematics), inequality *Greater (film), ''Greater'' (film), a 2016 American film *Greater (flamingo), the oldest flamingo on record *Greater (song), "Greate ...

''. In the House of Lords he was Liberal Deputy Chief

Whip A whip is a tool or weapon designed to strike humans or other animals to exert control through pain compliance or fear of pain. They can also be used without inflicting pain, for audiovisual cues, such as in equestrianism. They are generally e ...

from 1977 to 1983. Banks had joined the Liberals while at school. He joined the staff at Liberal Party HQ in 1949 and was at one time editor of the party newspaper ''Liberal News''. He first stood as a parliamentary candidate in the 1950 election in Harrow East, then in St Ives in

1955 election The following elections occurred in the year 1955. Africa * 1955 Liberian general election * 1955 South-West African legislative election Asia * 1955 Cambodian parliamentary election * 1955 Indonesian Constituent Assembly election * 1955 Indon ...

and

Hertfordshire South West South West Hertfordshire is a constituency in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament, represented since 2019 by Gagan Mohindra, a Conservative. Constituency profile Elevated and bordering Greater London and Buckinghamshire, this part of Her ...

in the 1959 election. He was sometime speechwriter for Jo Grimond and a frequent contributor to ''Liberal News'' as well as author of many pamphlets and policy papers.''The Political Insight of Elliott Dodds'', author information In 1952, together with

Peter Grafton Peter Witheridge Grafton CBE (19 May 1916 – 20 May 2012), was a British Liberal Party politician and surveyor. Background He was born one of twin brothers, sons of James Hawkins Grafton and Ethel Marion Brannan. He was educated at Westminster Ci ...

who had been Liberal parliamentary candidate in Bromley in 1950 in opposition to

Harold Macmillan Maurice Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton, (10 February 1894 – 29 December 1986) was a British Conservative statesman and politician who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1957 to 1963. Caricatured as "Supermac", he ...

, Banks co-founded the

Radical Reform Group The Radical Reform Group was a pressure group inside the Liberal Party, set up in 1952 to campaign for social liberal and Keynesian economic approaches. According to Andrew Gamble, the Radical Reform Group believed that 'the task of Liberals was not ...

, a

social liberal Social liberalism (german: Sozialliberalismus, es, socioliberalismo, nl, Sociaalliberalisme), also known as new liberalism in the United Kingdom, modern liberalism, or simply liberalism in the contemporary United States, left-liberalism ...

pressure group within the Liberal Party to prevent what many saw as a rightward drift by the party, and its potential capture by the

economic liberals Economic liberalism is a political and economic ideology that supports a market economy based on individualism and private property in the means of production. Adam Smith is considered one of the primary initial writers on economic liberalis ...

. The Group campaigned under the slogan 'social reform without socialism'. Banks was a strong pro-European, a founder member and one time chairman of the Liberal European Action Group and was President of the British Council of the European Movement from 1986 to 1994.

References

Bibliography

*Vernon Bogdanor, ''Liberal Party Politics'', Oxford University Press, 1983 *Graham Lippiatt, entry on Banks in ''Dictionary of Liberal Biography'', Brack et al. (eds.): Politico's, 1998 *

Garry Tregidga Garry Harcourt Tregidga is a Cornish academic, director of the Institute of Cornish Studies at the University of Exeter's Penryn Campus in Cornwall, UK, and editor of the journal '' Cornish Studies''. He lives in Bugle, near St Austell, an ...

, ''The Liberal Party in South West England since 1918'', University of Exeter Press, 2000 *Donald Wade & Desmond Banks, ''The Political Insight of Elliott Dodds'', Liberal Publications Dept., 1977 *Alan Watkins, ''The Liberal Dilemma'', MacGibbon & Key, 1966 {{DEFAULTSORT:Banks, Desmond Banks, Baron 1918 births 1997 deaths Liberal Party (UK) life peers Chairs of the Liberal Party (UK) Presidents of the Liberal Party (UK) People educated at University College School Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Liberal Party (UK) parliamentary candidates British Army personnel of World War II Royal Artillery officers Life peers created by Elizabeth II