David Waddington

David Charles Waddington, Baron Waddington, GCVO, PC, QC, DL (2 August 1929 – 23 February 2017) was a British politician and barrister.

A member of the Conservative Party, he served as a Member of Parliament (MP) in the House of Commons from 1968 to 1974, and from 1979 to 1990, and was then made a life peer. During his parliamentary career, Waddington worked in government as Chief Whip, then as Home Secretary and finally as Leader of the House of Lords. He then served as the Governor of Bermuda between 1992 and 1997.

Waddington was born in Burnley, Lancashire, the youngest of five. His father and grandfather were both solicitors in Burnley. He was educated at Cressbrook School and Sedbergh School, both independent schools.

He then attended Hertford College, Oxford, where he became President of the Oxford University Conservative Association. He was called to the Bar at Gray's Inn in 1951.

Waddington stood for election several times before being successful. He was the Conservative candidate at Farnworth in the 1955 general election, at Nelson and Colne in 1964, and at Heywood and Royton in 1966.

He was first elected to Parliament at the 1968 Nelson and Colne by-election, caused by the death of Labour MP Sydney Silverman. He was re-elected there in 1970 and in February 1974, but lost his seat at the October 1974 general election by a margin of 669 votes to Labour's Doug Hoyle.

Waddington was returned to Parliament for Clitheroe at a by-election in March 1979, and was subsequently elected for the broadly similar Ribble Valley constituency in 1983.

In government

A junior minister under Margaret Thatcher, Waddington was a Lord Commissioner of the Treasury and Government Whip (1979–81), Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the Department of Employment (1981–83), Minister of State at the Home Office (1983–87), and Chief Whip from 1987 until his elevation to Cabinet level in 1989, when he became Home Secretary. On Monday 5 November 1990, he was the guest-of-honour at the annual dinner of the Conservative Monday Club

Life peer

On 4 December 1990, he was created a life peer as Baron Waddington, of Read in the County of Lancashire. He served as Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the House of Lords until 1992. He then served as Governor of Bermuda from 1992 until 1997.

Lord Waddington was appointed a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (GCVO) in 1994. In 2008, his amendment to the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill, known as the Waddington Amendment, inserted a freedom of speech clause into new anti-homophobic hate crime legislation.

In November 2009, the Government failed to repeal the Waddington Amendment in the Coroners and Justice Bill. On 26 March 2015, Lord Waddington retired from the House of Lords pursuant to Section 1 of the House of Lords Reform Act 2014.

Lord Waddington died on 23 February 2017, aged 87. He was survived by his wife, and their five children.