Herbert Bowden, Baron Aylestone

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Template:Short description Script error: No such module "redirect hatnote". Template:EngvarB Template:Use dmy dates Script error: No such module "infobox".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".Script error: No such module "Check for conflicting parameters". Herbert William Bowden, Baron Aylestone (20 January 1905 – 30 April 1994) was a British Labour politician.

Early life

Born in Cardiff, Wales,[1] Bowden was the son of Herbert Bowden, a baker, and his wife Henrietta (née Gould). Bowden later recalled that "I was born with the smell of bread in my nostrils and lived around the bakehouses. I always had one thought in mind – never to be employed in them."[2] After completing elementary school he opened a tobacconist's shop, but following the collapse of his business during the Great Depression he left Cardiff to look for work elsewhere, eventually becoming a radio salesman in Leicester.[1]

Political career

Bowden had been a member of the Independent Labour Party (ILP) as a young man, but sided with the Labour Party when the two parties disagreed over how best to support the Republican faction in the Spanish Civil War.[1]

In 1938, he was elected to sit on Leicester City Council, and later that year became president of the city's Labour Party.

Commons

Having served as a flying officer in the Royal Air Force during World War II, Bowden was elected MP for Leicester South at the 1945 general election, and then for Leicester South West from 1950 until his retirement from the House of Commons in 1967. He was appointed a whip in 1949 and a Lord Commissioner of the Treasury in 1950. From 1951 onwards, he was Deputy Chief Whip, then Chief Whip throughout Labour's years in opposition. Bowden was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1953 Coronation Honours.[3]

Bowden was regarded as being on the right of the Labour Party, and supported Hugh Gaitskell in his battles with the left before switching his allegiance to Harold Wilson following Gaitskell's death in 1963.[4] He was, as the Daily Telegraph later commented, somewhat "traditional" in his mindset, representing the "authentic... old hat, passé, reactionary voice of the Labour Party", but his forthright attitude to party discipline (which had earned him the sobriquet "The Sergeant Major" amongst Labour MPs) made him an efficient and much-respected parliamentary whip.[2][4] Thus, when Labour returned to power in 1964, Bowden was appointed Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Council, having become a Privy Counsellor in 1962. In 1966, he was moved to the new post of Secretary of State for Commonwealth Affairs, serving until 1967. On 1 September 1967 he succeeded Lord Hill as chairman of the Independent Television Authority, and stood down from the Commons two months later.[5]

Lords

On 20 September 1967, Bowden was created a life peer as Baron Aylestone, of Aylestone in the City of Leicester, taking the Labour whip.[6] He was appointed a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour in the 1975 Birthday Honours, and from 1984 to 1992 was a Deputy Speaker of the House of Lords.[7][8]

To many people's surprise,[4] he left Labour to join the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in 1981. Remaining with the SDP throughout the party's existence, after its demise in 1988 he chose to follow David Owen's breakaway 'continuing' SDP rather than support the merger with the Liberals. When the Owenite rump itself dissolved two years later, Aylestone sat in the Lords as an 'Independent Social Democrat' before joining the Liberal Democrats in 1992.[4][9]

Death

Lord Aylestone died in 1994, aged 89, in Worthing, Sussex, and was survived by his second wife and a daughter from his first marriage.[1][8]

References

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  1. ↑ a b c d Template:Cite DWB
  2. ↑ a b "Obituaries: Lord Aylestone", Daily Telegraph, 2 May 1994, p. 21.
  3. ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".Script error: No such module "London Gazette util".
  4. ↑ a b c d "Obituaries: Lord Aylestone", The Times, 2 May 1994, p. 17.
  5. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  6. ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".Script error: No such module "London Gazette util".
  7. ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".Script error: No such module "London Gazette util".
  8. ↑ a b Template:Who's Who
  9. ↑ Martin Linton, "Top sports events 'must stay with BBC and ITV': Lords debate", The Guardian, 6 June 1990, p. 6.

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Template:Error
Preceded byTemplate:S-bef/check Member of Parliament for Leicester South
1945–1950 Template:S-ttl/check 		Constituency abolished
New constituency Member of Parliament for Leicester South West
1950–1967 Template:S-ttl/check 		Template:S-aft/check Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded byTemplate:S-bef/check Lord President of the Council
1964–1966 Template:S-ttl/check 		Template:S-aft/check Succeeded by
Preceded byTemplate:S-bef/check Leader of the House of Commons
1964–1966 Template:S-ttl/check
Preceded byas Secretary of State for the Colonies Template:S-bef/check Secretary of State for Commonwealth Affairs
1966–1967 Template:S-ttl/check 		Template:S-aft/check Succeeded by
Preceded byas Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations Template:S-bef/check
Party political offices
Preceded byTemplate:S-bef/check Deputy Labour Chief Whip of the House of Commons
1951–1955 Template:S-ttl/check 		Template:S-aft/check Succeeded by
Preceded byTemplate:S-bef/check Labour Chief Whip of the House of Commons
1955–1964 Template:S-ttl/check 		Template:S-aft/check Succeeded by
Media offices
Preceded byTemplate:S-bef/check Chairman of the Independent Television Authority
1967–1972 Template:S-ttl/check 		ITA became the IBA
New title Chairman of the Independent Broadcasting Authority
1972–1975 Template:S-ttl/check 		Template:S-aft/check Succeeded by

Template:Leader of the House of Commons Template:ITV regulatory bodies

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