Robert Hughes, Baron Hughes of Woodside (3 January 1932 – 7 January 2022) was a British Labour Party politician and

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 ...

who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) for 27 years, and was also Chair of the British

Anti-Apartheid Movement The Anti-Apartheid Movement (AAM) was a British organisation that was at the centre of the international movement opposing the South African apartheid system and supporting South Africa's non-white population who were oppressed by the policies ...

(AAM) from 1976 until it was dissolved in 1995 after the ending of

apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

in South Africa.

Political career

Hughes first stood for Parliament 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 ...

North Angus and Mearns 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 ...

, where he came second 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 ...

incumbent

Colin Thornton-Kemsley Sir Colin Norman Thornton-Kemsley, (2 September 1903 – 17 July 1977) was a Conservative and National Liberal politician in the United Kingdom. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Kincardine and Western Aberdeenshire from 1939 to 1950, ...

. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Aberdeen North from 1970 to 1997. Hughes was

Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland is a junior ministerial post (of Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State rank) in the Government of the United Kingdom, supporting the Secretary of State for Scotland. The post is also know ...

from March 1974 until July 1975, when he resigned in disagreement with the government's incomes policy. The 1979 vote of no confidence resulted from the Labour government overturning the "Yes" result of the Scottish devolution referendum. Rather than the SNP, prime minister

James Callaghan Leonard James Callaghan, Baron Callaghan of Cardiff ( ; 27 March 191226 March 2005) was a British statesman and Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1976 to 1979 and Leader of the L ...

blamed unionist rebels on his own benches for ultimately bringing about the collapse of his government and opening the door to victory for

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...

's Conservatives. Hughes was one of those rebels.

Tam Dalyell Sir Thomas Dalyell, 11th Baronet ( ; 9 August 1932 – 26 January 2017), known as Tam Dalyell, was a Scottish politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Linlithgow (formerly West Lothian) from 1962 to 2005. A member of the Labour ...

Peter Doig Peter Doig ( ; born 17 April 1959) is a painter of Scottish nationality who has lived and worked between Trinidad, Canada, the USA, Germany and Britain. He settled in Trinidad with his family between 2002 and 2021, when he moved back to London. ...

, and Adam Hunter were the other Scottish Labour MPs who helped overturn the "Yes" vote. In November 1985 Hughes was appointed to the Shadow Cabinet as

Shadow Secretary of State for Transport The shadow secretary of state for transport is a political post in the United Kingdom. It has been consistently held by a member of the Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet (United Kingdom), Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet since May 1979. The sha ...

. On 27 September 1997, he was created a

as Baron Hughes of Woodside, of Woodside in the City of Aberdeen.

Anti-Apartheid Movement

Under his chairmanship the

campaigned against the Thatcher government's refusal to impose sanctions against South Africa in the 1980s and organised the 1988 "Free Mandela" concert at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...

which was televised by the BBC and broadcast around the world. Hughes attended the independence celebrations in

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

in 1990 and acted as an observer at South Africa's first democratic elections in April 1994. After the dissolution of the AAM he became the first Chairperson of its successor organisation, ACTSA: Action for Southern Africa.

Personal life and death

Hughes was born on 3 January 1932, and educated at

Robert Gordon's College Robert Gordon's College is a co-educational private school for day pupils in Aberdeen, Scotland. The school caters for pupils from Nursery through to S6. History Background Robert Gordon, an Aberdeen merchant, made his fortune in 18th cent ...

, Aberdeen, and in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, where he lived from 1947 until 1954 and worked as a draughtsman. He was a patron of

Humanists UK Humanists UK, known from 1967 until May 2017 as the British Humanist Association (BHA), is a charitable organisation which promotes secular humanism and aims to represent Irreligion in the United Kingdom, non-religious people in the UK throug ...

. He died on 7 January 2022, four days after his 90th birthday, after a long illness.

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He was Leader ...

Anas Sarwar Anas Sarwar (born 14 March 1983) is a Scottish Labour and Co-operative Party, Co-operative politician who has served as Leader of the Scottish Labour Party since 2021 Scottish Labour leadership election, 2021. He has been a Member of the Scottis ...

and

Peter Hain Peter Gerald Hain, Baron Hain, (born 16 February 1950), is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from 2005 to 2007, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions from 2007 to 2008 and twice as Secretary of State ...

paid tribute to him, with Blair saying, "He was a lovely, kind and exceptional man and embodied all that is best in public service."

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hughes, Robert, Baron Hughes of Woodside 1932 births 2022 deaths People educated at Robert Gordon's College Nobility from Aberdeen Politicians from Aberdeen Amalgamated Engineering Union-sponsored MPs Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Aberdeen constituencies Scottish Labour MPs Hughes of Woodside Life peers created by Elizabeth II 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 British humanists Anti-apartheid activists