David Leonard Stoddart, Baron Stoddart of Swindon (4 May 1926 – 14 November 2020) was a British politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for

Swindon Swindon () is a town in Wiltshire, England. At the time of the 2021 Census the population of the built-up area was 183,638, making it the largest settlement in the county. Located at the northeastern edge of the South West England region, Swi ...

from 1970 to 1983, and 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. Life peers are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister. With the exception of the D ...

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 ...

from 1983 to his death in 2020. He served as a Labour peer from 1983 to 2002, when he was expelled from the Labour benches, after which he sat as an

Independent Labour The Independent Labour Party (ILP) was a British political party of the left, established in 1893 at a conference in Bradford, after local and national dissatisfaction with the Liberals' apparent reluctance to endorse working-class candidate ...

peer until his death.

Early life

David Leonard Stoddart was born on 4 May 1926 to Arthur and Queenie Stoddart. He was educated at St Clement Danes Holborn Estate Grammar School for Boys and

Henley Grammar School Henley may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Henley, Dorset, a location * Henley, Gloucestershire, a location *Henley-on-Thames, a town in South Oxfordshire, England **Henley (UK Parliament constituency) ** Henley Rural District, a former rural ...

Political career

Stoddart joined the Labour Party in 1947. He was a member of the County Borough Council of Reading from 1954 to 1972 and the leader of the Council from 1967 to 1972. Stoddart was the Labour candidate for Newbury in

1959 Events January * January 1 – Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 – Soviet lunar probe Luna 1 is the first human-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reaches the ...

and

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 Patria ...

, and narrowly lost at

in a by-election in 1969. Stoddart became the Labour Member of Parliament for

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 ...

, but 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 ...

he lost his seat to the

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

Simon Coombs Simon Christopher Coombs (born 21 February 1947), is a former British Conservative politician. Coombs was MP for Swindon from 1983 until 1997 when the seat was divided by boundary changes. Coombs stood in the new Swindon South seat but lost ...

. Stoddart was a government

whip A whip is a blunt weapon or implement used in a striking motion to create sound or pain. Whips can be used for flagellation against humans or animals to exert control through pain compliance or fear of pain, or be used as an audible cue thro ...

from 1975 to 1978, Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Minister for Housing from 1974 to 1975 and opposition frontbench spokesman on trade and industry.

House of Lords

Stoddart was raised to the peerage as a

on 14 September 1983 taking the title Baron Stoddart of Swindon, of

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

in the

Royal County of Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...

. He was Chief Front Bench spokesman on energy 1983–1988 and served as House of Lords Whip during the same period. He was expelled from the Labour benches in the

in 2002 for backing a Socialist Alliance candidate at the 2001 general election, an action he took because he strongly opposed the parachuting of

Shaun Woodward Shaun Anthony Woodward (born 26 October 1958) is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from 2007 to 2010. A former television researcher and producer, Woodward began his political career in the Conservativ ...

, a defector from the Conservative Party, into the

safe A safe (also called a strongbox or coffer) is a secure lockable enclosure used for securing valuable objects against theft or fire. A safe is usually a hollow cuboid or cylinder, with one face being removable or hinged to form a door. The body ...

Labour seat of St Helens South. Stoddart was for many years the Chairman of the

Campaign for an Independent Britain The Campaign for an Independent Britain (CIBUK) is a cross-party UK eurosceptic Euroscepticism, also spelled as Euroskepticism or EU-scepticism, is a political position involving criticism of the European Union (EU) and European integration ...

, which campaigned for the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

to end its membership of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

, a position he held from 1985 until May 2007.

Personal life

Stoddart married Jennifer Percival-Alwyn in 1961, with whom he had two sons. He also had a daughter from a previous marriage.

Death

Stoddart died on 14 November 2020, at the age of 94, following a short illness.

References

External links

*
Lord Stoddart of Swindon – Parliament profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stoddart, David 1926 births 2020 deaths Electrical, Electronic, Telecommunications and Plumbing Union-sponsored MPs Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Labour Party (UK) life peers UK MPs 1970–1974 UK MPs 1974 UK MPs 1974–1979 UK MPs 1979–1983 Councillors in Berkshire Members of the Freedom Association People educated at St. Clement Danes School Life peers created by Elizabeth II