David Trevor Shutt, Baron Shutt of Greetland, (16 March 1942 – 30 October 2020) was a British Liberal Democrat politician who served as

Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard The Captain of the King's Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard is a Government of the United Kingdom, UK Government post usually held by the Government Whip (politics), Deputy Chief Whip in the House of Lords. The present Captain is Margaret Whe ...

and Deputy

Chief Whip The Chief Whip is a political leader whose task is to enforce the whipping system, which aims to ensure that legislators who are members of a political party attend and vote on legislation as the party leadership prescribes. United Kingdom I ...

in the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

between May 2010 and May 2012.

Early life

Shutt was born at

Farsley Farsley is a village in the City of Leeds, Leeds district, in West Yorkshire, England, west of Leeds city centre and east of Bradford near Pudsey. Before 1974, Farsley was part of the Municipal Borough of Pudsey, Borough of Pudsey. Before 193 ...

, Leeds and attended

Pudsey Grammar School Pudsey Grammar School is a secondary school with a sixth form in Pudsey, West Yorkshire, England. It serves over 1300 pupils from the town and surrounding area. The school has a large Sixth Form of over 260 students offering 20 A level courses ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

Career

After school Shutt trained as an

accountant An accountant is a practitioner of accounting or accountancy. Accountants who have demonstrated competency through their professional associations' certification exams are certified to use titles such as Chartered Accountant, Chartered Certif ...

. In 1975 he became a director of the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust, of which he later became Chairman. He also became a Trustee of the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust. In 1973 he was elected to

Calderdale Calderdale () is a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, England, which had a population of 211,439. It takes its name from the River Calder, and dale, a word for valley. The name Calderdale usually refers to the borough through which the ...

Metropolitan Borough Council, now Calderdale Council, as a Liberal councillor, and later represented the Liberal Democrats on this council, serving as Mayor of Calderdale in 1982–83. He stood unsuccessfully for

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

at seven general elections between 1970 and 1992. He contested Sowerby in

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

, February 1974, October 1974, and

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

. After the abolition of the Sowerby seat, he contested the new Calder Valley constituency in

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

and

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

. At the 1992 general election he was the Liberal Democrat candidate in

Pudsey Pudsey is a market town in the City of Leeds borough in West Yorkshire, England. It is located midway between Bradford city centre and Leeds city centre. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, it has a population of 25,393. History T ...

. He was appointed an

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(OBE) in the

1993 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1993 were appointments by most of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries, and honorary ones to citizens of other count ...

, and on 12 May 2000 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. Life peers are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister. With the exception of the D ...

as Baron Shutt of Greetland, of

Greetland Greetland is a village situated within the metropolitan borough of Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England. It falls within the Calderdale Ward of Greetland and Stainland. According to the 2011 Census, this ward had a population of 11,389. Geogra ...

and

Stainland Stainland is a village in the civil parish of Stainland and District, in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England. The village is part of the Greetland and Stainland ward of Calderdale Council and is approximately west of Elland, south of Halifax, ...

in the County of

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a Metropolitan counties of England, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and De ...

. He was Liberal Democrat International Development spokesperson in the

until 2002. Following the 2005 general election, he was appointed the Liberal Democrat Chief Whip in the House of Lords. After the formation of the

coalition government A coalition government, or coalition cabinet, is a government by political parties that enter into a power-sharing arrangement of the executive. Coalition governments usually occur when no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an ...

headed by

David Cameron David William Donald Cameron, Baron Cameron of Chipping Norton (born 9 October 1966) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016. Until 2015, he led the first coalition government in the UK s ...

in May 2010, Shutt was appointed

and Government Deputy Chief Whip in the House of Lords, positions he held until May 2012, when he stepped down as the Liberal Democrats' Lords Chief Whip.

Personal life

In 1965, he married Margaret Pemberton, with whom he had two sons and a daughter. Lord Shutt died on 30 October 2020, at the age of 78.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shutt, David 1942 births 2020 deaths Liberal Democrats (UK) councillors Liberal Democrats (UK) life peers Liberal Party (UK) Lords-in-Waiting Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Officers of the Order of the British Empire Councillors in Calderdale Liberal Democrats (UK) parliamentary candidates Politicians from Leeds Life peers created by Elizabeth II