Stuart Jeffrey Randall, Baron Randall of St Budeaux (22 June 1938 – 11 August 2012) was a British Labour Party politician who was Member of Parliament (MP) for Kingston upon Hull West from

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 ...

until he stood down in

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

Biography

Born in

Plymouth Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...

, Randall was educated locally and worked as a fitter in the city's dockyards. He gained a BSc degree in Electrical Engineering from

University College, Cardiff Cardiff University () is a public research university in Cardiff, Wales. It was established in 1883 as the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire and became a founding college of the University of Wales in 1893. It was renamed Unive ...

and worked in the electronics industry for twenty years. He joined the Labour Party in 1966 and contested

South Worcestershire South Worcestershire was a parliamentary constituency which returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post voting system. The constituency was created ...

at the October 1974 general election and Midlands West at the 1979 European election before being elected as MP for Kingston upon Hull West in

. He served as parliamentary private secretary to Deputy Leader of the Labour Party

Roy Hattersley Roy Sydney George Hattersley, Baron Hattersley, (born 28 December 1932) is a British politician, author and journalist from Sheffield. A member of the Labour Party, he was MP for Birmingham Sparkbrook for over 32 years from 1964 to 1997, and ...

and as opposition spokesman on Agriculture and Fisheries and Home Affairs. After his retirement from the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

, he was made 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 Randall of St Budeaux, of

St Budeaux St Budeaux is an area and wards of the United Kingdom, ward in the north west of Plymouth in the England, English county of Devon. Original settlement The name St Budeaux comes from Budoc, Saint Budoc, the Bishop of Dol (Brittany). Around 480 ...

in the County of

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

. During the public debate over the

House of Lords Act 1999 The House of Lords Act 1999 (c. 34) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed the House of Lords, one of the chambers of Parliament. The Act was given royal assent on 11 November 1999. For centuries, the House of Lords ...

, Lord Randall opposed the removal of the vast majority of hereditary peers as proposed by the Labour Party, saying that many such peers were "terrific people who contribute massively to the British parliament" and that "to wipe them out overnight is not only unacceptable in humanitarian terms but would degrade Parliament". Randall also opined that "I am 500% more efficient as a real politician in the Lords, but there is an ignorance level in the Commons about the Lords and Psdon't know what goes on there." As an alternative to Labour's proposals, Randall suggested that all the hereditary peers at that time could be allowed to remain in the House of Lords, but that their offspring should be disqualified from inheriting their seats in that chamber. Randall's proposition was rejected, and the House of Lords Act 1999 was passed as devised by the Labour government.

References

* ''Times Guide to the House of Commons'', Times Newspapers Limited, 1992 and 1997 editions.

External links

* 1938 births 2012 deaths Alumni of Cardiff University Electrical, Electronic, Telecommunications and Plumbing Union-sponsored MPs Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Randall of St Budeaux Life peers created by Elizabeth II UK MPs 1983–1987 UK MPs 1987–1992 UK MPs 1992–1997 {{Life-peer-stub