Peter Walker, Baron Walker of Worcester
Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal | |
---|---|
In office 8 July 1992 – 23 June 2010 Life peerage | |
Member of Parliament for Worcester | |
In office 16 March 1961 – 16 March 1992 | |
Preceded by | George Ward |
Succeeded by | Peter Luff |
Personal details | |
Born | Peter Edward Walker 25 March 1932 Brentford, England |
Died | 23 June 2010 Worcester, England | (aged 78)
Political party | Conservative |
Children | 5 (including Robin) |
Education | Latymer Upper School |
Peter Edward Walker, Baron Walker of Worcester,
Walker became the youngest National Chairman of the Young Conservatives in 1958.[1] He was a founder of the Tory Reform Group, and served as Chairman of the Carlton Club.
Early life and education
Born in Middlesex, younger son of Sydney Walker, a capstan operator at HMV's factory at Hayes, and his wife Rose (née Dean),[2][3][4] Walker was privately educated at Latymer Upper School in London. He did not go to college or university.[5]
Parliamentary career
Walker rose through the ranks of the Conservative Party's youth wing, the Young Conservatives. He was a branch chairman at the age of 14, and later National Chairman. He fought the Parliamentary seat of Dartford in the general elections of 1955 and 1959, being beaten each time by Labour's Sydney Irving.
Walker was appointed
Walker then served as Secretary of State for Wales between 1987 and 1990. Although the role of Welsh Secretary was ostensibly one of the most junior jobs in the Cabinet, Walker claimed it gave him more influence as it gave access to key economic committees. He stood down from the Cabinet shortly before Thatcher herself was ousted in 1990. Though he had previously been a close ally of Heath's and was generally considered to be on the left of the party, he was nevertheless one of the longest-serving Cabinet members in Thatcher's government, serving during the entirety bar the last six months of her premiership. In October 1985, however, he had hit out at Thatcher's reluctance to inject money into the economy in order to ease mass unemployment, speaking of his fears that she could lose the next general election if unemployment did not fall. However, the Tories were re-elected in 1987, by which time unemployment was falling.[7]
As noted above, Walker's 1970 appointment as Secretary of State for the Environment was notable in that he became the world's first Environment Minister, and was thus a source of considerable interest at the 1972
Walker was a determined supporter of the hospice movement, becoming a patron of St Richard's Hospice in Worcester when it was founded in 1984. He campaigned determinedly for greater NHS support for St Richard's and the wider hospice movement, which is staffed largely by dedicated volunteers. During a House of Lords debate in 2000, Lord Walker stated: "Anyone who visits hospices and meets the volunteers—the people running them and guiding them—will recognise their unique spiritual and compassionate contribution to the health service."[9]
Upon his retirement from Parliament, he was appointed a life peer in the 1992 Dissolution Honours, as Baron Walker of Worcester, of Abbots Morton in the County of Hereford and Worcester.[10]
Business career
During the 1960s he was the junior partner in Slater Walker, an asset stripping vehicle used by Jim Slater to generate immense paper profits until 1973. An ill-timed attempt to take over Hill Samuel resulted in the loss of city confidence in Slater Walker and Jim Slater became for a time a "minus millionaire". Peter Walker's political career survived and after retirement from politics he returned to the City as Chairman of Kleinwort Benson.[11]
Other business positions Walker held included: Chairman of
Personal life and death
Walker and his wife had five children. His son Robin Walker was elected MP for the Worcester constituency in the 2010 general election.[12]
He died at St Richard's Hospice, Worcester, on 23 June 2010, after suffering from cancer.[12][13]
Coat of arms
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References
- ^ "Lord Walker: Durable left-of-centre Conservative politician who served in government under Heath and Thatcher". The Independent. 23 June 2010. Archived from the original on 26 May 2022. Retrieved 23 November 2015.
- ^ "Lord Walker of Worcester".
- ^ Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, 107th edition, vol. 3, ed. Charles Mosley, Burke's Peerage Ltd, 2003, p. 4047
- ^ "Lord Walker: Durable left-of-centre Conservative politician who served". The Independent. 23 October 2011. Archived from the original on 26 May 2022. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
- ^ "Lord Walker: Durable left-of-centre Conservative politician who served in government under Heath and Thatcher". The Independent. 24 June 2010.
- ^ "No. 42051". The London Gazette (Supplement). 3 June 1960. p. 3992.
- ^ "Thatcher Defends Jobs Record Can't Buy Away Unemployment, She Tells Party". Chicago Tribune. 12 October 1985.
- London Evening Standard. Archived from the originalon 13 December 2009. Retrieved 23 June 2010.
- ^ Hansard (1 March 2000). "Hospice Movement (Hansard, 1 March 2000)". Retrieved 15 July 2013.
- ^ "No. 52988". The London Gazette. 13 July 1992. p. 11759.
- ^ "Obituary: Lord Walker of Worcester". The Telegraph. 23 June 2020.
- ^ a b "Peter Walker dies aged 78". Worcester News. 23 June 2010. Retrieved 23 June 2010.
- ^ Ex Tory minister Lord Walker dies BBC News 23 June 2010
- ^ Debrett's Peerage. 2003. p. 1628.