Woodrow Lyle Wyatt, Baron Wyatt Of Weeford
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Woodrow Lyle Wyatt, Baron Wyatt of Weeford (4 July 1918 – 7 December 1997) was a British politician, author,
journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...
and broadcaster, close to the
Queen Mother A queen mother is a former queen, often a queen dowager, who is the mother of the monarch, reigning monarch. The term has been used in English since the early 1560s. It arises in hereditary monarchy, hereditary monarchies in Europe and is also ...
,
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 ...
and
Rupert Murdoch Keith Rupert Murdoch ( ; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian - American retired business magnate, investor, and media mogul. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of List of assets owned by News Corp, local, national, a ...
. For the last twenty years of his life, he was chairman of the state betting organisation
The Tote The Tote is a British gambling company founded in 1928. It operates the world's largest online pool betting website. Its product offering also includes sports betting and online casino. Business operations are led from its headquarters in W ...
.


Early life: 1918−1945

Born in
Kingston upon Thames Kingston upon Thames, colloquially known as Kingston, is a town in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, south-west London, England. It is situated on the River Thames, south-west of Charing Cross. It is an ancient market town, notable as ...
, southwest London, Wyatt was the second son of Robert Harvey Lyle Wyatt, the founder and headmaster of
Milbourne Lodge School Milbourne Lodge School is a co-educational pre-prep and preparatory school for children aged four to thirteen. Located in Esher, Surrey, the school is housed in a Victorian mansion situated on of Surrey countryside. History Milbourne Lodge w ...
,
Esher Esher ( ) is a town in the borough of Borough of Elmbridge, Elmbridge in Surrey, England, to the east of the River Mole, Surrey, River Mole. Esher is an outlying suburb of London, close to the London–Surrey border; with Esher Commons at its ...
, and his wife Ethel (née Morgan). Born on America's Independence Day, he was named after the American President
Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was the 28th president of the United States, serving from 1913 to 1921. He was the only History of the Democratic Party (United States), Democrat to serve as president during the Prog ...
. Wyatt was educated at
Eastbourne College Eastbourne College is a co-educational Private schools in the United Kingdom, fee-charging school in the English Public school (United Kingdom), public school tradition, for boarding school, boarding and Day school, day pupils aged 13–18, in ...
and
Worcester College Worcester College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. The college was founded in 1714 by the benefaction of Sir Thomas Cookes, 2nd Baronet (1648–1701) of Norgrove, Worcestershire, whose coat of arms was ad ...
,
Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...
, where he read
jurisprudence Jurisprudence, also known as theory of law or philosophy of law, is the examination in a general perspective of what law is and what it ought to be. It investigates issues such as the definition of law; legal validity; legal norms and values ...
and graduated with a second-class degree in 1939. He volunteered for military service ten days before the outbreak of the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
with the
Suffolk Regiment The Suffolk Regiment was an infantry regiment Line infantry, of the line in the British Army with a history dating back to 1685. It saw service for three centuries, participating in many wars and conflicts, including the World War I, First and ...
and rose to the rank of major. Wyatt was posted to
Normandy Normandy (; or ) is a geographical and cultural region in northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy. Normandy comprises Normandy (administrative region), mainland Normandy (a part of France) and insular N ...
on
D-Day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during the Second World War. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...
plus one and was
mentioned in despatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face of t ...
. He was nearly
court-martial A court-martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of members of the arme ...
led after an acrimonious exchange with one of his senior officers. Wyatt was afterwards posted to India. Wyatt edited ten volumes of ''English Story'' (1940–50).


Member of Parliament: 1945–1955

Wyatt was elected to Parliament in 1945 as the Labour MP for Birmingham Aston, and retained the seat until the 1955 general election. During the Cabinet Mission to India in 1946 he served as an informal liaison officer between the mission and the
Muslim League Muslim League may refer to: Political parties British India *All-India Muslim League, led the demand for the partition of India resulting in the creation of Pakistan ** Punjab Muslim League, a branch of the organization above **Unionist Muslim L ...
. Wyatt was a member of the 15-strong Keep Left group of Labour MPs. In the group's pamphlet, published in May 1947, he criticised the government's failure to demobilise the armed forces quickly enough. In 1950, Wyatt visited
Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
. He praised Israel for its "democratic socialism", which he believed was inspired by "the achievements of British socialism." Wyatt regretted Ernest Bevin's "prejudice against Zionism", because "Israel might easily have been a member state of the
British Commonwealth The Commonwealth of Nations, often referred to as the British Commonwealth or simply the Commonwealth, is an international association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire The B ...
" had it not been for the conflict over Palestine. Had Israel been part of the Commonwealth, Wyatt said "action might have been taken in time to prevent the loss of Abadan oil."
Clement Attlee Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee (3 January 18838 October 1967) was a British statesman who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955. At ...
appointed Wyatt Under-Secretary at the
War Office The War Office has referred to several British government organisations throughout history, all relating to the army. It was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, at ...
in April 1951, an office he held for six months until Labour was defeated in the October 1951 election. He published ''Into the Dangerous World'' in 1952. Following the splitting of his Aston constituency, Wyatt was unable to find a more promising option than the Conservative-held Grantham constituency, which he nonetheless fought in 1955, being defeated by 2,375 votes. By coincidence,
Grantham Grantham () is a market town and civil parish in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England, situated on the banks of the River Witham and bounded to the west by the A1 road (Great Britain), A1 road. It lies south of Lincoln, England ...
was the home town of his latter-day friend
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 ...
.


Journalism: 1955–1959

Edward R. Murrow Edward Roscoe Murrow (born Egbert Roscoe Murrow; April 25, 1908 – April 27, 1965) was an American Broadcast journalism, broadcast journalist and war correspondent. He first gained prominence during World War II with a series of live radio broa ...
of
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...
chose Grantham as one of the seats that he would cover during the 1955 election.
Grace Wyndham Goldie Grace Wyndham Goldie OBE (née Grace Murrell Nisbet; 26 March 1900 – 3 June 1986) was a British producer and executive in television for twenty years, particularly in the fields of politics and current affairs. During her career at the BBC, s ...
, who was the head of the BBC's Current Affairs department, happened to watch the broadcast and was impressed with Wyatt. She asked Wyatt to join
Richard Dimbleby Frederick Richard Dimbleby (25 May 1913 – 22 December 1965) was an English journalist and broadcaster who became the BBC's first war correspondent and then its leading TV news commentator. As host of the long-running current affairs pro ...
in presenting ''
Panorama A panorama (formed from Greek language, Greek πᾶν "all" + ὅραμα "view") is any Obtuse angle, wide-angle view or representation of a physical space, whether in painting, drawing, photography (panoramic photography), film, seismic image ...
'' as the programme's foreign affairs reporter. He later wrote: "My TV appearances catapulted me into fame. ... We had an audience of between 9 and 14 million. When I walked in the street or went into any public place I was recognized and my autograph sought". In February 1956, during the filming of a ''Panorama'' programme in
Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...
, Wyatt and his television crew were attacked by French settlers who had mistaken them for Americans. In April 1956 Bill Carron, a member of the executive of the
Amalgamated Engineering Union The Amalgamated Engineering Union (AEU) was a major United Kingdom, British trade union. It merged with the Electrical, Electronic, Telecommunications and Plumbing Union to form the Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union in 1992. History ...
(AEU), informed Wyatt that Communists were trying to take over the union by falsifying votes for union officials. There were upcoming elections for two posts on the Executive and as the Communists already held three out of the seven seats, there was a possibility of a Communist majority. Wyatt later wrote: "The threat to the economy and to the Labour Party of a huge AEU block vote supporting extremist policies at Labour conferences, was obvious". The
Director-General of the BBC The director-general of the British Broadcasting Corporation is chief executive and (from 1994) editor-in-chief of the BBC. The post-holder was formerly appointed by the Board of Governors of the BBC (for the period 1927 to 2007) and then the ...
, Sir
Ian Jacob Lieutenant General Sir Edward Ian Claud Jacob (27 September 1899 – 24 April 1993), known as Ian Jacob, was a British Army officer, who served as the Military Assistant Secretary to Winston Churchill's war cabinet and was later a distinguish ...
, authorised Wyatt to produce a ''Panorama'' programme on it, which was broadcast on 14 May 1956. Wyatt later claimed that his programme "shook the union world. The voting went up by 40 per cent. ... it was enough to defeat the Communist candidates for all three posts. The AEU was saved". In September 1956 he wrote a series of articles in the ''Illustrated'' about the Communist threat to the trade unions and therefore, due to the influential trade union block vote, to the Labour Party. These were republished in pamphlet-form as ''The Peril in Our Midst''. In October 1956 he signed a statement urging British participation in the
Common Market A single market, sometimes called common market or internal market, is a type of trade bloc in which most trade barriers have been removed (for goods) with some common policies on product regulation, and freedom of movement of the factors of ...
. In June 1957 Wyatt visited South Africa under
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 ...
for ''Panorama''. He later wrote that the treatment of black South Africans was "worse than that of slaves in Ancient Athens or Rome" and that his programme was "the first time that millions in Britain got a glimpse of what life was really like in South Africa: paradise under a live volcano".
Eric Louw Eric Hendrik Louw (21 November 1890 – 24 June 1968) was a South African diplomat and politician. He served as the Minister of Finance from 1954 to 1956, and as the Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1955 to 1963. Early life He was born in Jac ...
, the South African Minister of External Affairs, made an official complaint to the British government about Wyatt's programme. After Wyatt's programme on Communist vote-rigging in the AEU,
Jock Byrne John Thomas Byrne MBE (24 January 1903 – 5 December 1969) was a Scottish trade union leader and anti-communist activist. Byrne was born in Uphall, West Lothian, to Irish parents John Byrne, a shale miner, and Catherine Doonan, who were mar ...
gave Wyatt documents containing evidence that since the war Communists had controlled the Electrical Trades Union (ETU) by falsifying votes. Wyatt received the permission of Ian Jacob to make a ''Panorama'' programme on union democracy in the ETU. This was broadcast on 9 December 1957 and Wyatt brought to light that Les Cannon had been defrauded of his election to the ETU's Executive by Communist vote-rigging. As union rules prohibited union members from discussing union affairs in public, ETU members on Wyatt's programme had their faces hidden. In January 1958 Wyatt wrote an article on the subject for the ''
New Statesman ''The New Statesman'' (known from 1931 to 1964 as the ''New Statesman and Nation'') is a British political and cultural news magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first c ...
''. In July 1961, Justice Win of the High Court declared that the 1959 election for the ETU's general secretary was fraudulently won by the Communist Frank Haxell and that Byrne was the general secretary. Wyatt campaigned in favour of compulsory secret ballots for union elections, which was eventually embodied in the Employment Act 1988. In January 1958 the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party rejected a request from the Holborn and St Pancras constituency Labour Party that Wyatt should be removed from the list of prospective parliamentary candidates due to his "anti-working class activity". Wyatt was a close figure within the Information Research Department (IRD), a secret branch of the
Foreign Office Foreign may refer to: Government * Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries * Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries ** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government ** Foreign office and foreign minister * United ...
dedicated to publishing misinformation, pro-colonial, and anti-communist propaganda. The IRD used bribes to convince Wyatt to publish anti-communist propaganda, which the IRD would boost by using British diplomatic missions for distribution. Due to his role as a prime outlet for IRD propaganda, Wyatt is of interest to historians studying the
Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...
and British propaganda.


Member of Parliament: 1959–1970

He returned to Parliament in 1959 as member for Bosworth, Leicestershire. According to Wyatt, Gaitskell told him that the Opposition Chief Whip, Bert Bowden, vetoed his appointment to Gaitskell's Shadow Cabinet. In a speech to the Hinckley branch of the AEU in June 1960, Wyatt called the General Secretary of the
Transport and General Workers' Union The Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU or T&G) was one of the largest general union, general trade unions in the United Kingdom and Ireland—where it was known as the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers' Union (ATGWU)—with 900 ...
,
Frank Cousins Frank Cousins may refer to: * Frank Cousins (British politician) (1904–1986), British trade union leader and Labour politician * Frank Cousins (American politician) (born 1958), American politician who served as the Essex County, Massachusetts ...
, "the bully with the block vote". After Labour's fourth successive electoral defeat in
1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...
, Anthony Howard said that Labour's own polling evidence suggested that Labour could not win another election so long as it was identified with the trade unions: "Woodrow Wyatt's description of the late Frank Cousins...as "the bully with the block vote" was not just a damaging phrase: in the electorate's perception of Labour it lit a candle that has never really gone out". In November 1961, Wyatt wrote an article for ''The Guardian'' and delivered a speech in Leicester, both times advocating a
Lib–Lab pact In British politics, a Lib–Lab pact is a working arrangement between the Liberal Democrats (in previous times, the Liberal Party) and the Labour Party. There have been four such arrangements, and one alleged proposal, at the national level. In ...
to keep the Conservatives out of power. According to Wyatt, a furious Gaitskell telephoned him, saying: "Why don't you get out of the Party and stop embarrassing me?" In January 1962, after Wyatt repeated this idea in an article for the ''New Statesman'', Gaitskell delivered a speech to the Bosworth Labour Party (in Wyatt's presence) rejecting it. The
General Secretary of the Labour Party The General Secretary of the Labour Party is the most senior employee of the British Labour Party, and acts as the non-voting secretary to the National Executive Committee. When there is a vacancy the National Executive Committee selects a pro ...
,
Morgan Phillips Morgan Walter Phillips (18 June 1902 – 15 January 1963) was a colliery worker and trade union activist who became the General Secretary of the British Labour Party, involved in two of the party's election victories. Life Born in Aberdare, Gla ...
, wrote to Wyatt, warning him that unless he dropped his advocacy for a Lib−Lab pact, he would be expelled from the party. Wyatt acquiesced. He was seen by some as a maverick and by others as a man of firm convictions which made him temperamentally unsuited to 'toeing the party line'. He rebelled in the 1964–1970 parliaments over the re-nationalisation of the steel industry. His thirteen interviews with
Bertrand Russell Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, and public intellectual. He had influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, and various areas of analytic ...
were published as ''Bertrand Russell Speaks His Mind'' in 1960. Wyatt was defeated at the 1970 general election.


Journalism and The Tote: 1970–1997

After ceasing to be an active politician, Wyatt was appointed by the Home Secretary,
Roy Jenkins Roy Harris Jenkins, Baron Jenkins of Hillhead (11 November 1920 – 5 January 2003) was a British politician and writer who served as the sixth President of the European Commission from 1977 to 1981. At various times a Member of Parliamen ...
, as Chairman of the Horserace Totalisator Board, a post he held from 1976 to 1997. At first he was an active chairman, rooting out corruption, but was later seen as complacent and considered to have allowed the Tote to stagnate."To Move and To Shake"
by
Geraldine Bedell Geraldine Bedell is a British novelist and writer for ''The Observer''. She drew wide public attention when she claimed she had been disinvited from a planned appearance at the first International Festival of Literature in Dubai, because her no ...
. ''
The Independent on Sunday ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publishe ...
'', 24 November 1996.
According to
John McCririck John Michael McCririck (17 April 1940 – 5 July 2019) was an English horse racing pundit, television personality and journalist. McCririck began his career at '' The Sporting Life'', where he twice won at the British Press Awards for his camp ...
: "The Tote had been bankrupt and he turned it round. He made it a force in betting. When he became chairman, the Tote was a total mess but he put it on the map by his sheer personality and flair along with the introduction of computerisation". However, a House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee produced a report critical of Wyatt. Wyatt was a prolific journalist, with a diverse range of interests, and by the late 1970s he had crossed the political spectrum and became an admirer of
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 ...
. After Thatcher's election as Conservative leader in 1975, she arranged a meeting with Wyatt. He later wrote: "She won me over. The strength of her determination and the simplicity of her rational ideas uncluttered by intellectual confusion convinced me that she was the first party leader I had met, apart from Gaitskell, who might check Britain's slide and possibly begin to reverse it. She did not seem much like a Tory but she had the Tory Party to work for her, which was a useful start". In July 1979, Roy Jenkins recorded in his diary after meeting Wyatt and Thatcher: "Woodrow is on very close terms with her, talks freely, easily, without self-consciousness, says anything he wants to". Wyatt would usually ring Thatcher after midnight or on Sunday mornings where he would give her advice. According to John Campbell, Thatcher did not always accept Wyatt's advice but "her ministers got sick of being told what 'Woodrow says' about this or that policy". He claims that when
Geoffrey Howe Richard Edward Geoffrey Howe, Baron Howe of Aberavon, (20 December 1926 – 9 October 2015), known from 1970 to 1992 as Sir Geoffrey Howe, was a British politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1989 to ...
complained in his memoirs that Thatcher preferred to listen to her private "voices" rather than to her colleagues and official advisers, "it was first and foremost of Wyatt that he was thinking". During this period his ''
News of the World The ''News of the World'' was a weekly national "Tabloid journalism#Red tops, red top" Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published every Sunday in the United Kingdom from 1843 to 2011. It was at one time the world's highest-selling ...
'' column, 'The Voice of Reason', was regularly attacked by Thatcher's political opponents. His column reached an audience of approximately seventeen million readers. During this time he was vocal in opposing sanctions against apartheid South Africa, writing that
Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela ( , ; born Rolihlahla Mandela; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist and politician who served as the first president of South Africa f ...
and the ANC were trying to establish "a communist-style black dictatorship". Wyatt visited South Africa in 1986 and during a visit to a game reserve he saw black and white children playing together, leading him to remark: "They are comrades. Oh, if the rest of South Africa could be like that". He also interviewed President Botha and put to him that he should unban the ANC. He was
knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...
in 1983 and 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 ...
on 3 February 1987 with the title Baron Wyatt of Weeford, ''of
Weeford Weeford is a village and civil parish in the Lichfield district of Staffordshire, England. According to the 2011 Census, the parish had a population of 215, an increase from 202 in the 2001 Census. The name ''Weeford'' is believed to come fro ...
in the County of Staffordshire''. The Wyatt family had lived at Weeford in the seventeenth century.
Burke's Landed Gentry ''Burke's Landed Gentry'' (originally titled ''Burke's Commoners'') is a reference work listing families in Great Britain and Ireland who have owned rural estates of some size. The work has been in existence from the first half of the 19th cen ...
1952, 'Wyatt of Hurst Barton Manor formerly of Bryn Gwynant', pp. 2805-2806
His autobiography, ''Confessions of an Optimist'', was published in 1985. In the mid-1980s he played a key role as
Rupert Murdoch Keith Rupert Murdoch ( ; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian - American retired business magnate, investor, and media mogul. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of List of assets owned by News Corp, local, national, a ...
's fixer in brokering negotiations with the electricians' union, aiding
News International News Corp UK & Ireland Limited (trading as News UK, formerly News International and NI Group) is a List of newspapers in the United Kingdom, British newspaper publisher, and a wholly owned subsidiary of the American mass media Conglomerate (c ...
to move to
Wapping Wapping () is an area in the borough of Tower Hamlets in London, England. It is in East London and part of the East End. Wapping is on the north bank of the River Thames between Tower Bridge to the west, and Shadwell to the east. This posit ...
. He set up a newspaper and printing business with his third wife, which soon failed. On 31 August 1986 the Press Council censured Wyatt for an article he wrote in his "Voice of Reason" column. Wyatt said that although Britain's Asian and black population were "generally well behaved", a substantial part of the latter were "lawless, drug-taking, violent and unemployable". After Thatcher's fall in 1990, Wyatt supported
John Major Sir John Major (born 29 March 1943) is a British retired politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997. Following his defeat to Ton ...
. However, he temporarily dropped his support for Major after he sacked his Chancellor,
Norman Lamont Norman Stewart Hughson Lamont, Baron Lamont of Lerwick, (born 8 May 1942) is a British politician and former Conservative MP for Kingston-upon-Thames. He served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1990 until 1993. He was created a life peer i ...
, in 1993. Wyatt helped Lamont write his resignation speech. In 2000, the journalist
Petronella Wyatt Petronella "Petsy" Aspasia Wyatt (born 6 May 1968) is a British journalist and author. Early life and education Wyatt was born on 6 May 1968 at 12 Devonshire Street, London, England. Her parents were the journalist and Labour MP Woodrow Wyatt ...
, his daughter by his fourth marriage, published a book entitled ''Father, Dear Father: Life with Woodrow Wyatt''.


''The Journals''

Wyatt's caustic, candid and mischievously indiscreet diaries were published posthumously in three volumes as ''The Journals of Woodrow Wyatt'' by Macmillan and edited by Sarah Curtis. They are: Volume 1, 1985–88 (1998); Volume 2, ''Thatcher's Fall and Major's Rise'', 1989–92, (1999); and Volume 3, ''From Major to Blair'' (2000), which spans the period from 1992 until three months before his death in December 1997.
Andrew Neil Andrew Ferguson Neil (born 21 May 1949) is a British journalist and broadcaster. He was editor of ''The Sunday Times'' from 1983 to 1994. He has presented various political programmes on the BBC and on Channel 4. Born in Paisley, Renfrewshire ...
in the ''
New Statesman ''The New Statesman'' (known from 1931 to 1964 as the ''New Statesman and Nation'') is a British political and cultural news magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first c ...
'' wrote of the diaries: "Wyatt has done the country a service in giving us the unalloyed truth about how this country's governing and social elite still operates", and the ''
Daily Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first ...
'' called the journals "The most explosive political memoirs of modern times". However, the historian
Robert Rhodes James Sir Robert Vidal Rhodes James (10 April 1933 – 20 May 1999) was a British historian and Conservative Member of Parliament. Born in India, he was educated in England and attended the University of Oxford. From 1955 to 1964, he was a clerk of ...
"advised caution in believing them: 'Even if the diarist is not attempting to give a deliberately false version, a talented writer can easily over-dramatise...' There is plenty of internal evidence that Wyatt should be approached with a similar caution." Lord Blake, the Tory historian, called Wyatt a "notorious liar". Charles Moore, Thatcher's authorised biographer, claims Wyatt's journals "are a good source for the 'off duty' remarks and attitudes of many of the leading figures of the age, including Mrs Thatcher. They often reveal her private reactions to public events when she considered herself among friends".


Personal life

Wyatt was married four times, to: *First (div): Susan Cox, no issue. She was a fellow student at Oxford. *Second (div): Nora Robbins, no issue. She was his secretary. *Third (1957, dissolved 1966): Lady Moorea Hastings (1928–2011) daughter of the 16th Earl of Huntingdon and a granddaughter of
Luisa Casati Luisa, Marchesa Casati Stampa di Soncino (born Luisa Adele Rosa Maria Amman; 23 January 1881 – 1 June 1957), was an Italian heiress, socialite, and patroness of the arts in early 20th-century Europe. Early life Luisa Adele Rosa Maria Amman wa ...
; one son: Hon. Pericles Plantagenet James Casati Wyatt. *Fourth (1966): Veronica "Verushka" Banszky von Ambroz (née Racz), a Hungarian and widow of a surgeon; one daughter: journalist
Petronella Wyatt Petronella "Petsy" Aspasia Wyatt (born 6 May 1968) is a British journalist and author. Early life and education Wyatt was born on 6 May 1968 at 12 Devonshire Street, London, England. Her parents were the journalist and Labour MP Woodrow Wyatt ...
(b. 1968). He arranged for cousins to take care of his first child when his wife made it clear she was not interested in doing so. When they divorced, he was awarded custody of his son. Wyatt leased for a time the 18th-century house known as Conock Old Manor, near Devizes in Wiltshire; he was living there in 1970. Wyatt was a first cousin of England Test cricketer
Bob Wyatt Robert Elliott Storey Wyatt (2 May 1901 – 20 April 1995) was an English cricketer who played for Warwickshire, Worcestershire and England in a career lasting nearly thirty years from 1923 to 1951. He was born at Milford Heath House in Surrey ...
. He was a descendant of the architectural
Wyatt family The Wyatt family included several of the major English architects during the 18th and 19th centuries, and a significant 18th century inventor, John Wyatt (inventor), John Wyatt (1700–1766), the eldest son of John Wyatt (1675–1742). The fami ...
. He was first cousin to
Honor Wyatt Honor Ellen Wyatt (6 February 1910 – 23 October 1998) was an English journalist and radio presenter, known for her association with Barbara Pym, Robert Graves, and Laura Riding as well as for her own work. She was the mother of the actor Ju ...
, the mother of musician
Robert Wyatt Robert Wyatt (born Robert Wyatt-Ellidge, 28 January 1945) is an English retired musician. A founding member of the influential Canterbury scene bands Soft Machine and Matching Mole, he was initially a kit drummer and singer before becoming para ...
, whose alliance with the
Communist Party of Great Britain The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) was the largest communist organisation in Britain and was founded in 1920 through a merger of several smaller Marxist groups. Many miners joined the CPGB in the 1926 general strike. In 1930, the CPGB ...
, juxtaposed with Woodrow Wyatt's right-wing politics, led to Robert Wyatt referring to his relative as an "appalling man with a sadistic sense of superiority". He died in Camden, north London, on 7 December 1997 aged 79. He is buried in St Mary's churchyard in
Weeford Weeford is a village and civil parish in the Lichfield district of Staffordshire, England. According to the 2011 Census, the parish had a population of 215, an increase from 202 in the 2001 Census. The name ''Weeford'' is believed to come fro ...
, just south of Lichfield, Staffordshire, where the Wyatt family originated.


Arms


Works

*''Into the Dangerous World'' (1952) *''Southwards from China: A Survey of South East Asia since 1945'' (1952) *''The Peril in Our Midst'' (1956) *''Bertrand Russell speaks his Mind'' (1960) *''Turn Again, Westminster'' (1973) *''What's Left of the Labour Party?'' (1977) *''To The Point'' (1981) *''Confessions of an Optimist'' (1985) *''The Journals of Woodrow Wyatt. Volume One'' (1998) *''The Journals of Woodrow Wyatt. Volume Two: Thatcher's Fall and Major's Rise'' (1999) *''The Journals of Woodrow Wyatt. Volume Three: From Major to Blair'' (2000)


Notes


External links

*
Lord Wyatt dies aged 79 – BBC News, 9 December 1997
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wyatt, Woodrow 1918 births 1997 deaths 20th-century English diarists 20th-century English journalists Knights Bachelor Alumni of Worcester College, Oxford BBC newsreaders and journalists British Army personnel of World War II English male journalists Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Wyatt of Weeford People educated at Eastbourne College Suffolk Regiment officers UK MPs 1945–1950 UK MPs 1950–1951 UK MPs 1951–1955 UK MPs 1959–1964 UK MPs 1964–1966 UK MPs 1966–1970 Ministers in the Attlee governments, 1945–1951 Life peers created by Elizabeth II Military personnel from the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames English anti-communists English pamphleteers British anti-communist propagandists British Christian Zionists Information Research Department English columnists News of the World people