Charles Fletcher-Cooke

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Dato Seri Paduka
Sir Charles Fletcher-Cooke
QC SPMB MP
Fletcher-Cooke in 1935
Born(1914-05-05)5 May 1914
Brunei
Died24 February 2001(2001-02-24) (aged 86)
Occupation(s)Politician and lawyer
Known forConstitutional Adviser to Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1959; div. 1967)​

Sir Charles Fletcher Fletcher-Cooke

QC MP (5 May 1914 – 24 February 2001) was a British politician and lawyer whom served as the constitutional adviser to Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah
.

Early life

Fletcher-Cooke was born into a professional London family, though one that was financially diminished because of his father's death from wounds received in the

Gallipoli Campaign.[1] He was the son of Charles Arthur Cooke (1883–1914) and Gwendoline May, née Bradford (1883–1977). His elder brother, Sir John Fletcher-Cooke, was MP for Southampton Test
from 1964 to 1966.

He was educated at Malvern College and Peterhouse, Cambridge, where he was president of the Cambridge Union in 1936. He was an Apostle and a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain.[2]

He became a barrister and was called to the bar by

Danube Conference
in 1948.

Political career

Originally a Labour Party candidate, Fletcher-Cooke contested the East Dorset seat in 1945, but lost. He joined the Conservative Party, and was elected Member of Parliament (MP) for Darwen at the 1951 general election, which he represented until the 1983 general election, when the seat was abolished in boundary changes.

Fletcher-Cooke was responsible for the creation, introduction and passage of the Suicide Act 1961, which decriminalised suicide across the United Kingdom, although he had been trying to introduce such a private member's bill before the British Parliament for over a decade beforehand. Apart from some Catholic and conservative Anglican opposition, the bill passed easily.[3]

He continued his legal career outside of the House and served Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah as the constitutional adviser for more than 20 years, working with him to draft a new constitution. His vigorous defense of his longtime friend Lord Denning, who had been labeled as "geriatric" by a Labour MP, was one of his last acts in the Commons. Fletcher-Cooke asserted that the attack on Denning would be "resented by everyone who has had the privilege of appearing before him."[4]

Fletcher-Cooke was a junior Home Office minister from 1961 to 1963 when he resigned under a shadow. Fletcher-Cooke went on to be a delegate to the Consultative Assembly of the European Council and a Member of the European Parliament from 1977 to 1979. He was knighted in 1981.[4]

Personal life

In 1959, Fletcher-Cooke married a glamorous divorcee, Diana Westcott, former Lady Avebury. At the wedding reception, guests viewed the fact that the cake was made of cardboard as a suitable representation of the relationship between the two. They separated soon after[5] and divorced in 1967.[6]

In February 1963, Fletcher-Cooke had to resign his role as a junior Home Office minister after an eighteen year old borstal boy named Anthony Turner was arrested for speeding in east London. He was at the wheel of Fletcher-Cooke's Austin Princess car with his permission but without insurance or a driving licence.[2][4] It transpired that Turner had been living with Fletcher-Cooke who was "looking after him" after they were introduced to each other by Robin, Viscount Maugham.[7]

In his letter of resignation Fletcher-Cooke said that "he had been particularly concerned with the after-care of delinquents. Having been introduced to Turner ... he had duly befriended the young man and tried to help him. On reflection, he believed that this course of action had been 'well-intentioned but misguided'."[4]

Honours

Fletcher-Cooke has been given the following honours;[8]

References

  1. ^ The Guardian, 1 March 2001
  2. ^
    ISBN 9781447222750
    .
  3. ^ "Personal File: Sir Charles Fletcher-Cooke:" Who Do You Think You Are? March 2013: 66
  4. ^ a b c d "Sir Charles Fletcher-Cooke: obituary". The Telegraph. 28 February 2001. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
  5. ISBN 978-1408704127
    .
  6. ^ Roth, Andrew (1 March 2001). "Sir Charles Fletcher-Cooke". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 January 2012.
  7. ISBN 978-1408704127
    .
  8. ^ Papers by Command, Cmnd. H.M. Stationery Office. 1979. p. 13.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
William Robert Stanley Prescott
 Member of Parliament for Darwen
1951–1983 		Constituency abolished: see
Rossendale & Darwen
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