The Earl of Longford | |
|---|---|
 Longford in 1974 | |
| Leader of the House of Lords | |
| In office 18 October 1964 – 16 January 1968 | |
| Prime Minister | Harold Wilson |
| Preceded by | The Lord Carrington |
| Succeeded by | The Lord Shackleton |
| Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal | |
| In office 6 April 1966 – 16 January 1968 | |
| Prime Minister | Harold Wilson |
| Preceded by | Sir Frank Soskice |
| Succeeded by | The Lord Shackleton |
| In office 18 October 1964 – 23 December 1965 | |
| Prime Minister | Harold Wilson |
| Preceded by | Selwyn Lloyd |
| Succeeded by | Sir Frank Soskice |
| Secretary of State for the Colonies | |
| In office 23 December 1965 – 6 April 1966 | |
| Prime Minister | Harold Wilson |
| Preceded by | Anthony Greenwood |
| Succeeded by | Frederick Lee |
| First Lord of the Admiralty | |
| In office 24 May 1951 – 13 October 1951 | |
| Prime Minister | Clement Attlee |
| Preceded by | The Viscount Hall |
| Succeeded by | James Thomas |
| Minister of Civil Aviation | |
| In office 31 May 1948 – 1 June 1951 | |
| Prime Minister | Clement Attlee |
| Preceded by | The Lord Nathan |
| Succeeded by | The Lord Ogmore |
| Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Deputy Foreign Secretary) | |
| In office 17 April 1947 – 31 May 1948 | |
| Prime Minister | Clement Attlee |
| Preceded by | John Hynd |
| Succeeded by | Hugh Dalton |
| Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for War | |
| In office 4 October 1946 – 17 April 1947 | |
| Prime Minister | Clement Attlee |
| Preceded by | The Lord Nathan |
| Succeeded by | John Freeman |
| Lord-in-waiting Government Whip | |
| In office 14 October 1945 – 4 October 1946 | |
| Prime Minister | Clement Attlee |
| Preceded by | The Lord Alness |
| Succeeded by | The Lord Chorley |
| Member of the House of Lords | |
| as a hereditary peer 16 October 1945 – 11 November 1999 | |
| Preceded by | Peerage created [1] |
| Succeeded by | Seat abolished |
| as a life peer 17 November 1999 – 3 August 2001 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Francis Aungier Pakenham 5 December 1905 London, England |
| Died | 3 August 2001 (aged 95) London, England |
| Political party | Labour |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 8, including Antonia, Thomas, Judith, Rachel, and Michael |
| Parent(s) | Thomas Pakenham, 5th Earl of Longford Lady Mary Child-Villiers |
| Alma mater | New College, Oxford |
Francis Aungier Pakenham, 7th Earl of Longford, KG, PC (5 December 1905 – 3 August 2001), known to his family as Frank Longford and styled Lord Pakenham from 1945 to 1961, was a British politician and social reformer. A member of the Labour Party, he was one of its longest-serving politicians. He held cabinet positions on several occasions between 1947 and 1968. Longford was politically active until his death in 2001. A member of an old, landed Anglo-Irish family, the Pakenhams (who became Earls of Longford), he was one of the few aristocratic hereditary peers ever to serve in a senior capacity within a Labour government.
Longford was famed for championing social outcasts and unpopular causes.[2] He is especially notable for his lifelong advocacy of penal reform. Longford visited prisons on a regular basis for nearly 70 years until his death. He advocated for rehabilitation programmes and helped create the modern British parole system in the 1960s following the abolition of the death penalty. His ultimately unsuccessful campaign for the release of Moors murderer Myra Hindley attracted much media and public controversy. For this work, the Longford Prize is named after him. It is awarded annually during the Longford Lecture and recognises achievement in the field of penal reform.[3]
As a devout Christian determined to translate faith into action, he was known for his bombastic style and his eccentricity.[4] Although a shrewd and influential politician, he was also widely unpopular among Labour leaders, particularly for his lack of ministerial ability, and was moved from cabinet post to cabinet post, never serving more than two years at any one ministry. Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson opined that Longford had the mental capacity of a 12-year-old.[5]
In 1972, he was made a Knight Companion of the Garter. In the same year, he was appointed to head the group charged with investigating the effects of pornography on society which published the controversial Pornography Report (the Longford Report).[6][7] He became known as a campaigner against pornography and held the view that it was degrading to both its users and to those who worked in the trade, especially women.[8] Longford was also an outspoken critic of the British press, and once said it was "trembling on the brink of obscenity".[9]
Longford was instrumental in decriminalising homosexuality in the United Kingdom, but was always forthright with his strong moral disapproval of homosexual acts on religious grounds.[10][11] He opposed furthering gay rights legislation, including the equalisation of the age of consent, and also supported the passage of Section 28.[11][12]
- ^ Inherited the Earldom of Longford on 4 February 1961.
- ^ Hoge, Warren (6 August 2001). "Lord Longford, Champion of Eccentric Causes, Dies at 95". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 March 2015.
- ^ "Longford Prize". longfordtrust.org.
- ^ Stanford, Peter. "Obituary: Lord Longford". The Guardian. London.
- ^ Stanford, Peter (6 August 2001). "Lord Longford". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 23 October 2013.
- ^ "PORNOGRAPHY: THE LONGFORD REPORT (Hansard, 29 November 1972)".
- ^ "The Longford Report » 23 Sep 1972 » the Spectator Archive".
- ^ Walker, Andrew (19 October 2006). "The saint and the sinner". BBC News.
- ^ "Campaigning Lord Longford dies". cnn.com. 3 August 2001.
- ^ Aitken, Jonathan (2007). Heroes and Contemporaries. Continuum.
- ^ a b Stanford, Peter (7 July 2003). "Dangerous Liaison". The Telegraph.
- ^ Smith, Anna Marie (1994). New Right Discourse on Race and Sexuality: Britain, 1968–1990. Cambridge University Press. p. 205.
Earl of Longford homosexuality.