Giles Heneage Radice, Baron Radice, (4 October 1936 – 25 August 2022) was a British
Labour
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the labour ...
politician and author. He served as a
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 bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
(MP) from 1973 to 2001, representing part of
County Durham
County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly â€About North East E ...
, and then as a life peer in the
House of Lords
The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...
from 2001 until shortly before his death in 2022.
Early life
Radice was born in London on 4 October 1936, the son of a civil servant in the Indian Government, Lawrence Radice.
His mother, Patricia, was the daughter of Conservative politician
Arthur Heneage
Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Arthur Pelham Heneage (11 July 1881 – 22 November 1971) was a British Conservative Party politician.
In the First World War, Heneage served with the Royal Field Artillery. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order ...
.
Radice was educated at
Winchester College
Winchester College is a public school (fee-charging independent day and boarding school) in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded by William of Wykeham in 1382 and has existed in its present location ever since. It is the oldest of the ...
and
Magdalen College, Oxford
Magdalen College (, ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by William of Waynflete. Today, it is the fourth wealthiest college, with a financial endowment of £332.1 million as of 2019 and one of the s ...
.
His national service was with the
Coldstream Guards
The Coldstream Guards is the oldest continuously serving regular regiment in the British Army. As part of the Household Division, one of its principal roles is the protection of the monarchy; due to this, it often participates in state ceremonia ...
.
[ He then worked as a research officer for the ]General and Municipal Workers' Union
The GMB is a general trade union in the United Kingdom which has more than 460,000 members. Its members work in nearly all industrial sectors, in retail, security, schools, distribution, the utilities, social care, the National Health Service (N ...
and was chair of the Young Fabians
The Young Fabians is the under age 31 section of the Fabian Society, a socialist society in the United Kingdom that is affiliated to the Labour Party. The Young Fabians operate as a membership-driven think tank that organises policy debates, r ...
from 1967 to 1968.[
]
Parliamentary career
Radice first stood for Parliament at Chippenham
Chippenham is a market town
A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village ...
in 1964
Events January
* January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved.
* January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarch ...
and 1966, but came third each time. He was elected Labour 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 bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
for Chester-le-Street
Chester-le-Street (), also known as Chester, is a market town and civil parish in County Durham, England, around north of Durham and also close to Sunderland and Newcastle upon Tyne. It is located on the River Wear, which runs out to sea at Sun ...
from a 1973 by-election to 1983 and then North Durham
North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography.
Etymology
The word ''north'' is ...
until his retirement in 2001
The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...
.
Radice served as Education spokesman in the Labour Shadow Cabinet under Neil Kinnock
Neil Gordon Kinnock, Baron Kinnock (born 28 March 1942) is a British former politician. As a member of the Labour Party, he served as a Member of Parliament from 1970 until 1995, first for Bedwellty and then for Islwyn. He was the Leader of ...
in the 1980s. As chairman of the Treasury Select Committee
The House of Commons Treasury Committee (often referred to as the Treasury Select Committee) is a select committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The remit of the committee is to examine the expenditure, administr ...
, Radice helped make the monetary policy committee of the Bank of England
The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker, and still one of the bankers for the Government of ...
accountable to both Parliament and the people for its decisions over interest rates. He was a member of the House of Lords European Union Sub-Committee on external affairs until March 2015.
A europhile
A Europhile is a person who is fond of, admires, or loves European culture, society, history, food, music etc. , Radice was one of only five Labour MPs to vote for the Third Reading
A reading of a bill is a stage of debate on the bill held by a general body of a legislature.
In the Westminster system, developed in the United Kingdom, there are generally three readings of a bill as it passes through the stages of becoming, ...
of the Maastricht Treaty
The Treaty on European Union, commonly known as the Maastricht Treaty, is the foundation treaty of the European Union (EU). Concluded in 1992 between the then-twelve member states of the European Communities, it announced "a new stage in the ...
in 1993, defying his party Whip
A whip is an official of a political party whose task is to ensure party discipline in a legislature. This means ensuring that members of the party vote according to the party platform, rather than according to their own individual ideology ...
, which was to abstain.
He 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 Radice, of Chester-le-Street
Chester-le-Street (), also known as Chester, is a market town and civil parish in County Durham, England, around north of Durham and also close to Sunderland and Newcastle upon Tyne. It is located on the River Wear, which runs out to sea at Sun ...
in the County of Durham
The County Palatine of Durham and Sadberge, commonly referred to as County Durham or simply Durham, is a historic county in Northern England. Until 1889, it was controlled by powers granted under the Bishopric of Durham. The county and Northum ...
, on 16 July 2001. He retired from the House of Lords on 1 August 2022.
Writing and political ideas
As an advocate for Labour to ditch traditional dogmas, Radice has been described as a forerunner to Tony Blair
Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of th ...
.[ In his 1989 book ''Labour's Path to Power: The New Revisionism'', Radice set out his vision for a modernised Labour Party, which included abandoning ]Clause IV
Clause IV is part of the Labour Party Rule Book, which sets out the aims and values of the (UK) Labour Party. The original clause, adopted in 1918, called for common ownership of industry, and proved controversial in later years; Hugh Gaitskell a ...
of the party constitution. His 1992 pamphlet "Southern Discomfort" also made a case for reform, arguing that Labour did not appear supportive of economic aspiration, and this was costing them support from working class voters in Southern England
Southern England, or the South of England, also known as the South, is an area of England consisting of its southernmost part, with cultural, economic and political differences from the Midlands and the North. Officially, the area includes G ...
, particularly London.[
Philip Stephens later wrote in the ''Financial Times'', ]At that time, Giles Radice, then an MP, wrote a brilliant essay on what he called Labour's 'southern discomfort'. The party would not win, he argued, unless and until it managed to connect its ambitions for social justice with the individualistic aspirations of the voters in southern England. Here was the template for Mr Blair.
Radice returned to this theme following Labour's 2010 defeat: his "Southern Discomfort Again" pamphlet (with Patrick Diamond) found that voters perceived that Labour had run out of steam, were out of touch (particularly on immigration), unfair and poorly led. In this pamphlet and in "Southern Discomfort: One Year On" (2011), Radice warned that the 'southern problem' is more than geographical: social change means that Labour support collapsed in other areas, including the Midlands. A committed pro-European, Radice was a leading member both of the European Movement and Britain in Europe, and wrote a polemic called ''Offshore'' in 1992, in which he put the case for Britain in Europe.
After his retirement as an MP in 2001 Radice, wrote ''Friends and Rivals'', an acclaimed triple biography of three modernisers from an earlier generation—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 ...
, Denis Healey
Denis Winston Healey, Baron Healey, (30 August 1917 – 3 October 2015) was a British Labour Party (UK), Labour politician who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1974 to 1979 and as Secretary of State for Defence from 1964 to 1970; he ...
, and Anthony Crosland
Charles Anthony Raven Crosland (29 August 191819 February 1977) was a British Labour Party politician and author. A social democrat on the right wing of the Labour Party, he was a prominent socialist intellectual. His influential book '' The ...
—arguing that their failure to work more closely together had harmed the modernising cause. This was followed by ''The Tortoise and the Hares'', a comparative biography of Clement Attlee
Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, (3 January 18838 October 1967) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955. He was Deputy Prime Mini ...
, Ernest Bevin
Ernest Bevin (9 March 1881 – 14 April 1951) was a British statesman, trade union leader, and Labour Party politician. He co-founded and served as General Secretary of the powerful Transport and General Workers' Union in the years 1922–19 ...
, Stafford Cripps
Sir Richard Stafford Cripps (24 April 1889 – 21 April 1952) was a British Labour Party politician, barrister, and diplomat.
A wealthy lawyer by background, he first entered Parliament at a by-election in 1931, and was one of a handful of La ...
, Hugh Dalton
Edward Hugh John Neale Dalton, Baron Dalton, (16 August 1887 – 13 February 1962) was a British Labour Party economist and politician who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1945 to 1947. He shaped Labour Party foreign policy in the 1 ...
and Herbert Morrison
Herbert Stanley Morrison, Baron Morrison of Lambeth, (3 January 1888 – 6 March 1965) was a British politician who held a variety of senior positions in the UK Cabinet as member of the Labour Party. During the inter-war period, he was Minis ...
. ''Trio: Inside the Blair, Brown, Mandelson Project'' was published in 2010. In a review of ''Trio'', Andrew Blick wrote that, "With his previous work ''Friends and Rivals'' (2002) and ''The Tortoise and the Hares'' (2008), Radice developed a distinctive approach to contemporary history, using group biography ....Radice adds to his historical approach not only a readable writing style, but the judgements of an experienced Labour politician."
Other positions
Lord Radice had been a member of the advisory board of the Centre for British Studies of Berlin's Humboldt University
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiati ...
since 1998. He was also a member of the Fabian Society
The Fabian Society is a British socialist organisation whose purpose is to advance the principles of social democracy and democratic socialism via gradualist and reformist effort in democracies, rather than by revolutionary overthrow. The Fa ...
.[ Radice was a chair of the British Association for Central and Eastern Europe (BACEE), and chair of the ]European Movement
The European Movement International is a lobbying association that coordinates the efforts of associations and national councils with the goal of promoting European integration, and disseminating information about it.
History
The origins of the ...
, from 1995 to 2001. He was also a chairman of Policy Network, the international progressive thinktank based in London.[
]
Personal life
Radice married Penelope Angus in 1959; they had two daughters and divorced in 1969. In 1971, he married historian Lisanne Koch.[ He was a longtime resident of Camden, living in Gloucester Crescent in the 1960s before relocating to ]Parliament Hill
Parliament Hill (french: Colline du Parlement, colloquially known as The Hill, is an area of Crown land on the southern banks of the Ottawa River in downtown Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Its Gothic revival suite of buildings, and their architectu ...
.
Radice died from cancer on 25 August 2022, at age 85.[
]
Books
*
Divide and rule : the Industrial Relations Bill
'' (with J. O. N. Vickers) Fabian Society, London. 1971
*
Community socialism
'. Fabian Society, London. 1979
*
Equality and quality: a socialist plan for education
'' Fabian Society, London. 1986
* ''Labour's Path to Power: The New Revisionism'' Palgrave Macmilan, 1989,
* ''Offshore: Britain and the European Idea'' I.B.Tauris, 1992,
* ''The New Germans'' Michael Joseph, 1995,
* ''Friends and Rivals'' Octagon Press
Octagon Press was a cross-cultural publishing house based in London, UK. It was founded in 1960 by Sufism, Sufi teacher, Idries Shah to establish the historical and cultural context for his ideas. The company ceased trading in 2014.
Description ...
, 2003,
* ''Diaries 1980–2001: The Political Diaries of Giles Radice'' Orion, 2004,
* ''The Tortoise and the Hares: Attlee, Bevin, Cripps, Dalton, Morrison'' Politicos Publishing
Methuen Publishing Ltd is an English publishing house. It was founded in 1889 by Sir Algernon Methuen (1856–1924) and began publishing in London in 1892. Initially Methuen mainly published non-fiction academic works, eventually diversifying t ...
, 2008,
* ''Trio: Inside the Blair, Brown, Mandelson Project'' I.B.Tauris, 2010,
*
Southern Discomfort
' Fabian Society, 1992, 978-0716305552
*
More Southern Discomfort : a year on – taxing and spending
' Fabian Society, 1993
* ''Southern Discomfort Again'' (with Patrick Diamond) Policy Network, 2010[
* ''Southern Discomfort Again: One Year On'' (with Patrick Diamond), Policy Network, 2011][
]
References
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Radice, Giles Heneage
1936 births
2022 deaths
20th-century British male writers
20th-century British non-fiction writers
21st-century British male writers
21st-century British non-fiction writers
Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford
British political writers
Chairs of the Fabian Society
Coldstream Guards officers
Deaths from cancer in England
GMB (trade union)-sponsored MPs
Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
Labour Party (UK) life peers
Life peers created by Elizabeth II
Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
People educated at Winchester College
Place of death missing
Treasurers of the Fabian Society
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
UK MPs 1997–2001
Writers from London