Thomas Murray Elder, Baron Elder (9 May 1950 – 24 October 2023), was a British Labour politician and member of 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 ...

. A childhood friend of

Gordon Brown James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. Previously, he was Chancellor of the Ex ...

, he served as the general secretary of the

Scottish Labour Party Scottish Labour (), is the part of the UK Labour Party active in Scotland. Ideologically social democratic and unionist, it holds 23 of 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament and 37 of 57 Scottish seats in the House of Commons. It is repres ...

, the chief of staff to Labour leader John Smith, and a special adviser to

Donald Dewar Donald Campbell Dewar (21 August 1937 – 11 October 2000) was a Scottish statesman and politician who served as the inaugural First Minister of Scotland, first minister of Scotland from 1999 until his death in 2000 and leader of the Labour Par ...

at the

Scottish Office The Scottish Office was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom from 1885 until 1999, exercising a wide range of government functions in relation to Scotland under the control of the Secretary of State for Scotland. Following the es ...

Education

Elder was born in

Kirkcaldy Kirkcaldy ( ; ; ) is a town and former royal burgh in Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. It is about north of Edinburgh and south-southwest of Dundee. The town had a recorded population of 49,460 in 2011, making it Fife's second-largest s ...

in 1950. He was educated at

Kirkcaldy High School Kirkcaldy High School is a 6-year co-educational comprehensive school, comprehensive state school in Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland. History The school was established in 1582 as Kirkcaldy Burgh School; the "High School" name dates from the middl ...

and graduated from the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

with a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

economic history Economic history is the study of history using methodological tools from economics or with a special attention to economic phenomena. Research is conducted using a combination of historical methods, statistical methods and the Applied economics ...

. He was a childhood friend of

Career

From 1972 to 1980, Elder worked as an economist for 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 Kingdom of England, English Government's banker and debt manager, and still one ...

. From 1984 to 1992, he was a member of the

, and from 1988 its

General Secretary Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, Power (social and political), power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the org ...

. He was also a Labour member of the Executive of the

Scottish Constitutional Convention The Scottish Constitutional Convention (SCC) was an association of Scottish political parties, churches and other civic groups, that developed a framework for Scottish devolution. History Campaign for a Scottish Assembly The Conventi ...

(1989–1992). He was the party's parliamentary candidate for Ross, Cromarty and Skye in the 1983 general election, but lost to

Charles Kennedy Charles Peter Kennedy (25 November 19591 June 2015) was a British politician who served as Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 1999 to 2006, and was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ross, Skye and Lochaber from 1983 to 2015. Kennedy wa ...

. Elder was the

chief of staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supportin ...

to MP and Labour leader John Smith until Smith's death in 1994. He was a special adviser to

Secretary of State for Scotland The secretary of state for Scotland (; ), also referred to as the Scottish secretary, is a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with responsibility for the Scotland Office. The incum ...

, at the

from 1997 to 1999. On 19 July 1999, Elder 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 Elder, of

in Fife'', and was introduced to the

on 21 July. Peers are required to swear or affirm the

oath of allegiance An oath of allegiance is an oath whereby a subject or citizen acknowledges a duty of allegiance and swears loyalty to a monarch or a country. In modern republics, oaths are sworn to the country in general, or to the country's constitution. For ...

to the new monarch and cannot sit or vote in the House of Lords until they have done so. Following

Charles III Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. Charles was born at Buckingham Palace during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King George VI, and ...

succession to the throne in September 2022, and Elder made his solemn affirmation on 19 October 2023. Elder was the chancellor of

Al-Maktoum Institute Al-Maktoum College Of Higher Education is a college located in Dundee, sponsored by Hamdan Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, deputy ruler of Dubai and minister of finance of the United Arab Emirates. Formerly known as Al-Maktoum Institute for Arabic and ...

, a postgraduate research-led higher-education institute based in

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

. Elder was investigated over the payments from the Al-Maktoum College of Higher Education and was found not to have registered payments in the correct manner. He was also investigated over the misuse of parliamentary envelopes during the dismissal of the former principal of the college.

Personal life and death

Elder underwent a

heart transplant A heart transplant, or a cardiac transplant, is a surgical transplant procedure performed on patients with end-stage heart failure when other medical or surgical treatments have failed. , the most common procedure is to take a functioning heart ...

in 1988; living another 35 years after the procedure, he was one of the longest-surviving heart transplant recipients. He was the third Westminster parliamentarian, after Chris Smith and Alan Haworth, to have climbed all the

Munro A Munro (; ) is defined as a mountain in Scotland with a height over , and which is on the Scottish Mountaineering Club (SMC) official list of Munros; there is no explicit topographical prominence requirement. The best known Munro is Ben Nevi ...

s, the Scottish 3000 ft hills. He completed his round of the 284 peaks with an ascent of Beinn Sgritheall on 9 June 2007 and was no.3897 in the Scottish Mountaineering Club's list of Munroists. On 24 October 2023, Elder collapsed outside of the House of Lords chamber and was taken to hospital, where he died at the age of 73. The cause of death was given as heart and kidney failure.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Elder, Murray Elder, Baron 1950 births 2023 deaths People from Kirkcaldy Nobility from Fife Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Deaths from congestive heart failure in the United Kingdom Deaths from kidney failure in the United Kingdom Heart transplant recipients Labour Party (UK) life peers Labour Party (UK) parliamentary candidates Life peers created by Elizabeth II People educated at Kirkcaldy High School Scottish Labour politicians

Education

Career

Personal life and death

See also

References

Sources