Antony Lambton
Antony Lambton | |
|---|---|
 Lambton appearing on the television programme After Dark in 1991 | |
| Member of Parliament for Berwick-upon-Tweed | |
| In office 25 October 1951 – 22 May 1973 | |
| Preceded by | Robert Thorp |
| Succeeded by | Alan Beith |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Antony Claud Frederick Lambton 10 July 1922 Compton, Sussex, England |
| Died | 30 December 2006 (aged 84) Siena, Italy |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Spouse |
Belinda Blew-Jones
(m. 1942; died 2003) |
| Children | 6 |
| Parent(s) | John Lambton, 5th Earl of Durham Diana Mary Farquhar |
| Relatives | Alec Douglas-Home (cousin) |
| Education | Harrow School |
| Military service | |
| Branch/service | British Army |
| Unit | Royal Hampshire Regiment |
Antony Claud Frederick Lambton (10 July 1922 – 30 December 2006), also known as Lord Lambton, was a British aristocrat who served as a Conservative Member of Parliament from 1951 to 1973. Styled as Viscount Lambton from 1941 to 1970, he became the 6th Earl of Durham in February 1970 but disclaimed the title soon after. As a result of a sex scandal in 1973, he resigned from Parliament and ministerial office. He was a cousin of Alec Douglas-Home, who was Prime Minister for a year from 1963 to 1964.
Early life
Lambton was born in
factory.Marriage and children
On 10 August 1942, Lambton married Belinda Bridget "Bindy" Blew-Jones (23 December 1921 – 13 February 2003).[2] She was the daughter of Major Douglas Holden Blew-Jones and his wife Violet Hilda Margaret Birkin,[3] sister of Freda Dudley Ward.[4]
They had five daughters and one son:[5]
- Lady Lucinda Lambton (born 10 May 1943)
- Lady Beatrix Mary Lambton (born 23 July 1949)
- Lady Rose Diana Lambton (26 November 1952 - 5 April 2022)
- Lady Anne Mary Gabrielle Lambton (born 4 July 1954)
- Lady Isabella Lambton (born 17 May 1958), married to Sir Philip Naylor-Leyland, 4th Baronet
- Edward Richard Lambton, 7th Earl of Durham (born 19 October 1961)
Political career
Member of Parliament
Lambton first stood for Parliament at the 1945 general election in the safe Labour seat of Chester-le-Street, then Bishop Auckland in 1950. He was elected to Durham City Council and to Durham County Council in 1947, serving for two years. He was elected Member of Parliament for Berwick-upon-Tweed in 1951, where he served until 1973.
Under-Secretary of State
In 1970, Lambton was made a
Resignation
In 1973, Lambton's liaisons with prostitutes were revealed in the Sunday tabloid The News of the World. The husband of one of the prostitutes, Norma Levy, had secretly taken photographs of Lambton in bed with Levy and had attempted to sell the photographs to Fleet Street tabloids.[7] As well, a police search of Lambton's home found a small amount of cannabis. On 22 May, Lambton resigned from both his office and Parliament; this caused a by-election for his seat which was won by Alan Beith for the Liberal Party. Shortly after, the name Jellicoe emerged in connection to a rendezvous for one of Norma's girls at a Somers Town mansion block which had been named Jellicoe House, after the earl's kinsman Basil Jellicoe (1899–1935), the housing reformer and priest from Magdalen College (Oxford). There was a confusion and Lord Jellicoe, the Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the House of Lords, admitted 'casual affairs' with prostitutes from a Mayfair escort agency but denied knowing Norma Levy.[7]
A security inquiry on the prostitution scandal concluded that there had been "nothing in (Lambton's) conduct to suggest that the risk of indiscretions on these occasions was other than negligible". Lambton stated that he had never taken his red state boxes of government documents with him when he visited Norma Levy. The security inquiry was held due to fears that the prostitution scandal may have involved an actual or potential breach of national security (as had occurred in the Profumo scandal in the 1960s).
When Lambton was interviewed by
Later years
Following the scandal, Lambton retired, separated from his wife and bought Villa Cetinale, a 17th-century villa in Tuscany, where he lived with Claire Ward (born Claire Leonora Baring), mother of actress Rachel Ward and daughter of the cricketer Giles Baring.[9][8] He never divorced his wife Bindy, who died in 2003.
In 1991, Lambton made an extended appearance on the TV discussion programme
Despite renouncing his peerage titles in 1970, he continued to use his former courtesy title of Viscount Lambton. However, since it was now a title that had passed by courtesy to his only son, it was argued by Sir Anthony Wagner and others that it was incorrect of Lambton to use the title.[6]
On 30 December 2006, Lambton died in hospital in Siena, Italy.[11][12]
References
- ISBN 978-0-19-967154-0.
- ^ "'Bindy' Lambton". The Daily Telegraph. 18 February 2003. Archived from the original on 15 June 2006.
- ISBN 9780750990196. Retrieved 6 August 2022.
- ^ Durham, Earl of (UK, 1833), cracroftspeerage.co.uk, accessed 2 January 2016
- ^ "Person Page". thepeerage.com. Retrieved 26 January 2018.
- ^ a b "Obituary". The Telegraph (London). 2 January 2007. Retrieved 13 April 2014.
- ^ a b "Sex scandal Tory blamed pressure". BBC News. 1 January 2004.
- ^ a b Edward Pearce, "Obituary: Lord Lambton", The Guardian 2 January 2007. Retrieved 7 August 2007. Note that Claire Ward is called Clare Ward here.
- ^ Lord Lambton (obituary), The Times 2 January 2007. Retrieved 7 August 2007.
- ^ Details here
- Independent.co.uk. 2 January 2007. Archivedfrom the original on 7 May 2022. Retrieved 26 January 2018.
- ^ "Ex-minister Lord Lambton dies aged 84". BBC News. 31 December 2006.
External links
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