Sir William John Peel (16 June 1912 – 8 May 2004) was a British Conservative politician who served as Member of Parliament for Leicester South East from 1957 to 1974.

Early life

He attended Wellington College and

Queens' College, Cambridge Queens' College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Queens' is one of the oldest colleges of the university, founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou. The college spans the River Cam, colloquially referred to as the "light s ...

. His first career was in the Colonial Service; he survived imprisonment by the Japanese during the Second World War, when he was stationed in Singapore, to later serve terms as British Resident in Brunei and then Resident Commissioner in the

Gilbert and Ellice Islands The Gilbert and Ellice Islands (GEIC as a colony) in the Pacific Ocean were part of the British Empire from 1892 to 1976. They were a protectorate from 1892 to 12 January 1916, and then a colony until 1 January 1976. The history of the colony w ...

colony (now Kiribati and Tuvalu) before retiring in 1952. His father Sir William Peel had been Governor of Hong Kong.

Political career

Peel was elected as a member of the House of Commons at a by-election in 1957. In July 1959, he provoked angry responses from the House when he reacted to the Mau Mau rebellion in Kenya by stating: "There are obvious risks in dealing with desperate and sub-human individuals." In the resulting debate, Peel's remarks were denounced by Enoch Powell, who commented: "We cannot, we dare not, in Africa of all places, fall below our highest standards in the acceptance of responsibility". Though Peel's tenure of minor government positions was uninterrupted, he never reached the

Cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

. He was a zealous advocate of British involvement in Europe, through the

Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; french: Conseil de l'Europe, ) is an international organisation founded in the wake of World War II to uphold European Convention on Human Rights, human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. ...

, the Western European Union, and eventually membership—of which he was a leading advocate—in the

European Communities The European Communities (EC) were three international organizations that were governed by the same set of institutions. These were the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom), and the ...

. In 1972, he was chosen President of the North Atlantic Assembly. In the following year he was knighted, and also became one of the first British members of the European Parliament.

References

* 1912 births 2004 deaths Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies People educated at Wellington College, Berkshire UK MPs 1955–1959 UK MPs 1959–1964 UK MPs 1964–1966 UK MPs 1966–1970 UK MPs 1970–1974 World War II civilian prisoners held by Japan Alumni of Queens' College, Cambridge Conservative Party (UK) MEPs MEPs for the United Kingdom 1973–1979 Knights Bachelor Politicians awarded knighthoods Colonial Administrative Service officers Governors of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Administrators in British Brunei Ministers in the Macmillan and Douglas-Home governments, 1957–1964 {{England-Conservative-UK-MP-1910s-stub