Robert Maclennan, Baron Maclennan of Rogart

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Lord Maclennan of Rogart)
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English Script error: No such module "infobox".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".

Robert Adam Ross "Bob" Maclennan, Baron Maclennan of Rogart, Template:Post-nominals (26 June 1936 – 18 January 2020) was a British Liberal Democrat politician and life peer.

He was the last leader of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), serving during the negotiations that led to its merger with the Liberal Party in 1988. He then became joint interim leader of the new party, known as the Social and Liberal Democrats (SLD) and later as the Liberal Democrats. He served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1966 to 2001, when he was elevated to the House of Lords.

Early life

MacLennan was born in Glasgow in 1936.[1] His father, Sir Hector MacLennan, was a renowned gynaecologist and obstetrician.[1] His mother, Isabel Margaret (née Adam), was a physician and public health activist.[1] He was the brother of actor and director David MacLennan, actress and writer Elizabeth MacLennan, and Kenneth MacLennan.[1]

He was educated at Glasgow Academy; Balliol College, Oxford; Trinity College, Cambridge; and Columbia University, New York City.[1] He was called to the bar in 1962 at Gray's Inn and before entering parliament practised as an international lawyer based in London.[2] From 1963 to 1964, he worked at Sullivan & Cromwell in New York.[1]

In Parliament

File:RobertMacLennan1987.jpg
Maclennan (then SDP leader) addressing the Liberal Assembly in 1987

He became Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of Caithness and Sutherland in 1966, and serving until 1997; and for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross after boundary changes, from 1997 to 2001.[1]

He was first elected as a member of the Labour Party, where he was described as a "gentle Jenkinsite" and served as a junior minister in the Labour government of 1974–1979.[1] In 1981 defected to become a founder member of the SDP, co-founded by Jenkins.[1] Maclennan helped write the party's constitution.[1] He was one of the few SDP MPs to keep their seats in the 1983 general election. Following his stint as SDP Leader in 1988, he served as a front bench spokesman for the Liberal Democrats, and as their president from 1994 until 1998.[1]

He was appointed to the Privy Council in 1997.[3]

After his retirement at the 2001 general election, he was raised to the House of Lords, created a life peer as Baron Maclennan of Rogart, of Rogart in Sutherland.[4][5] He was the party's Cabinet Office and Scotland spokesman in the House of Lords until 2015.

Personal life and death

In 1968, Maclennan married Helen Noyes (née Cutter), daughter of Justice Richard Ammi Cutter of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.[6] As Maclennan's spouse she was Lady Maclennan of Rogart. She had one son from a previous marriage, and a son and a daughter with Maclennan.[2]

Maclennan died at his home in the City of Westminster on 18 January 2020, at age 83.[1][2]

References

Template:Reflist

External links

Template:S-endTemplate:UK Liberal DemocratsTemplate:Authority control
Template:Error
Preceded byTemplate:S-bef/check Member of Parliament
for Caithness and Sutherland
1966–1997 Template:S-ttl/check 		Constituency abolished
New constituency Member of Parliament
for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross
1997–2001 Template:S-ttl/check 		Template:S-aft/check Succeeded by
Party political offices
Preceded byTemplate:S-bef/check Leader of the Social Democratic Party
1987–1988 Template:S-ttl/check 		Position abolished
New office Leader of the Liberal Democrats
ActingScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
1988
Served alongside: David SteelTemplate:S-ttl/check 		Template:S-aft/check Succeeded by
Preceded byTemplate:S-bef/check President of the Liberal Democrats
1994–1998 Template:S-ttl/check 		Template:S-aft/check Succeeded by
  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l Template:Cite ODNB
  2. ↑ a b c Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  3. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  4. ↑ Template:London Gazette
  5. ↑ Template:London Gazette
  6. ↑ For Justice Cutter's stature as an American judge, see a transcript of the court memorial session on the state of Massachusetts's government website accessed March 17, 2024. https://www.mass.gov/person/richard-ammi-cutter
Retrieved from "http://debianws.lexgopc.com/wiki143/index.php?title=Robert_Maclennan,_Baron_Maclennan_of_Rogart&oldid=169073"