The Lord Stoneham of Droxford | |
---|---|
Liberal Democrat Chief Whip in the House of Lords | |
Assumed office 13 September 2016 | |
Leader | Tim Farron Vince Cable Jo Swinson Davey ·Brinton |
Preceded by | The Lord Newby |
Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal | |
Assumed office 17 January 2011 Life Peerage | |
Personal details | |
Born | 26 August 1948 |
Political party | Labour (Before 1981) Social Democratic (1981–1988) Liberal Democrats (1988– present) |
Alma mater | Christ's College,Cambridge University of Warwick University of London |
Benjamin Russell Mackintosh Stoneham,Baron Stoneham of Droxford (born 26 August 1948) [1] is a British peer,journalist,and Liberal Democrat politician. [2] He is currently the Liberal Democrat Chief Whip in the House of Lords,having been elected to that position in October 2016.
He was educated at Harrow School,Christ's College,Cambridge (BA,1970),the University of Warwick (MA,1971) and London Business School.
Stoneham's early politics were Labour. At the age of 29 he was Labour candidate in the Saffron Walden by-election of 1977. [3] [4] He was later treasurer of the moderate Campaign for Labour Victory, [5] many of whose leading lights later joined the SDP. Stoneham was the SDP candidate for Parliament in Stevenage in 1983 and 1987. In 1983,he had the best finish by any non-incumbent SDP candidate in an English seat and narrowly lost by about 1,700 votes.
In 2004,he stood for election in Denmead,Winchester,and in 2010 he stood for election in Bishops Waltham,Winchester.
He is a senior party activist for the Liberal Democrat party. [6] From 2003 to 2010,he was operations director of the party,under the leadership of Charles Kennedy, [7] and Nick Clegg. [8] He was made a Life peer on 17 January 2011 as Baron Stoneham of Droxford,of Meon Valley in the County of Hampshire. [9] He gave his maiden speech on 20 January 2011. [10]
In October 2016,Lord Stoneham was elected as the Liberal Democrat Chief Whip in the House of Lords,succeeding Lord Newby.
Lord Stoneham came to prominence on 19 May 2011 when used parliamentary privilege to reveal details of a super-injunction during a debate in the House of Lords. He questioned whether a super-injunction prevented bank regulators from investigating corporate governance at the Royal Bank of Scotland: [11]
Every taxpayer has a direct public interest in the events leading up to the collapse of the Royal Bank of Scotland, so how can it be right for a super-injunction to hide the alleged relationship between Sir Fred Goodwin and a senior colleague.
If true, it would be a serious breach of corporate governance and not even the Financial Services Authority would be allowed to know about it. [12]
Lord Stoneham was reprimanded on 27 February 2013 by his own party following reports he telephoned and angrily remonstrated with one of the women who had complained to newspapers about his close friend Lord Rennard's alleged sexual harassment of party workers. Nick Clegg's aides described Lord Stoneham's conduct as "completely unacceptable." Liberal Democrat chief whip in the House of Lords, Lord Newby gave a warning to Lord Stoneham over his conduct. [13]
He is married to Anne Kristine Mackintosh. Lady Stoneham is appointed as Chair of The Board of Trustees of the charity St Christopher’s Fellowship and a member of the Avon Tyrrell Trust. In the 2012 New Year Honours she was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE), for services to young people. [14] [15]
Shirley Vivian Teresa Brittain Williams, Baroness Williams of Crosby, was a British politician and academic. Originally a Labour Party Member of Parliament (MP), she served in the Labour cabinet from 1974 to 1979. She was one of the "Gang of Four" rebels who founded the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in 1981 and, at the time of her retirement from politics, was a Liberal Democrat.
David Martin Scott Steel, Baron Steel of Aikwood, is a retired British politician. Elected as Member of Parliament for Roxburgh, Selkirk, and Peebles, followed by Tweeddale, Ettrick, and Lauderdale, he served as the final leader of the Liberal Party, from 1976 to 1988. His tenure spanned the duration of the alliance with the Social Democratic Party, which began in 1981 and concluded with the formation of the Liberal Democrats in 1988.
Robert Adam Ross Maclennan, Baron Maclennan of Rogart, was a British Liberal Democrat politician and life peer.
John Patrick Aubone Burnett, Baron Burnett is a Liberal Democrat politician in the United Kingdom, a member of the House of Lords, and was a Member of Parliament for Torridge and West Devon between 1997 and 2005 general elections.
Anthony Robert Greaves, Baron Greaves was a British politician and life peer. He was a Liberal Democrat member of the House of Lords.
Herbert William Bowden, Baron Aylestone, was a British Labour politician.
Christopher John Rennard, Baron Rennard, is a British life peer in the House of Lords, appointed to the Liberal Democrats' benches in 1999. He was Director of Campaigns & Elections for the Liberal Democrats from 1989 to 2003, and Chief Executive of the party from 2003 to 2009.
The Social Democratic Party (SDP) formed in 1988 was a political party in the United Kingdom led by David Owen, which lasted for only two years. A successor party to the original Social Democratic Party (SDP), it was known informally as the 'continuing' SDP.
Richard Mark Newby, Baron Newby is a British politician who has been the Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords since September 2016. He served as the Deputy Government Chief Whip in the House of Lords, and the Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard between 2012 and 2015, and the Liberal Democrat Chief Whip in the House of Lords from 2012 to 2016.
Matthew Alan Oakeshott, Baron Oakeshott of Seagrove Bay, is a British investment manager and member of the House of Lords, formerly sitting in Parliament as a Liberal Democrat.
The Welsh Liberal Democrats are a branch of the United Kingdom Liberal Democrats that operates in Wales. The party is led by Jane Dodds, who served as MP for Brecon and Radnorshire from August to December 2019, and MS for Mid and West Wales since May 2021. The party currently has 1 elected member in the Senedd and no Welsh seats in the UK House of Commons, but does have several members of the House of Lords. The party had 69 local councilors serving in principal authorities as of the 2022 local authority elections, up 10 from 2017.
The 2007 Liberal Democrats leadership election was held following the resignation of Sir Menzies Campbell as leader on 15 October 2007, after 19 months as leader of the Liberal Democrats, the third-largest political party in the United Kingdom. Vincent Cable, the deputy leader of the parliamentary party, was acting leader until the conclusion of the leadership election. The result was announced on 18 December 2007 with Nick Clegg winning by a narrow margin of 1.2%.
The Liberal Democrats are a liberal political party in the United Kingdom. Since the 1992 general election, with the exception of the 2015 general election, they have been the third-largest UK political party by the number of votes cast. They have 14 Members of Parliament in the House of Commons, 83 members of the House of Lords, four Members of the Scottish Parliament and one member in the Welsh Senedd. The party has over 2,500 local council seats. The party holds a twice-per-year Liberal Democrat Conference, at which party policy is formulated. In contrast to its main opponents' conference rules, the Lib Dems grant all members attending its Conference the right to speak in debates and vote on party policy, under a one member, one vote system. The party also allows its members to vote online. The party served as the junior party in a coalition government with the Conservative Party between 2010 and 2015; with Scottish Labour in the Scottish Executive from 1999 to 2007, and with Welsh Labour in the Welsh Government from 2000 to 2003 and from 2016 to 2021.
The Cameron–Clegg coalition was formed by David Cameron and Nick Clegg when Cameron was invited by Queen Elizabeth II to form a government, following the resignation of Prime Minister Gordon Brown on 11 May 2010, after the general election on 6 May. It was the UK's first coalition government since the Churchill caretaker ministry in 1945. The coalition was led by Cameron as Prime Minister with Clegg as Deputy Prime Minister and composed of members of both Cameron's centre-right Conservative Party and Clegg's centrist Liberal Democrats.
Kathryn Jane Parminter, Baroness Parminter is a Liberal Democrat life peer, and Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords of the United Kingdom.
The British privacy injunctions controversy began in early 2011, when London-based tabloid newspapers published stories about anonymous celebrities that were intended to flout what are commonly known in English law as super-injunctions, where the claimant could not be named, and carefully omitting details that could not legally be published. In April and May 2011, users of non-UK hosted websites, including the social media website Twitter, began posting material connecting various British celebrities with injunctions relating to a variety of potentially scandalous activities. Details of the alleged activities by those who had taken out the gagging orders were also published in the foreign press, as well as in Scotland, where the injunctions had no legal force.
Qurban Hussain, Baron Hussain is a British–Pakistani Liberal Democrat politician and life peer.
Andrew Timothy Cooper, Baron Cooper of Windrush is a British politician and former Director of Strategy in the Cameron–Clegg coalition. He entered the House of Lords as a Conservative peer, but was suspended from the party whip for endorsing the Liberal Democrats in the 2019 European Parliament elections.
The 2015 Liberal Democrats leadership election was held on 16 July 2015 following the resignation of Nick Clegg as leader on 8 May 2015, after almost eight years as leader of the Liberal Democrats, following the party's poor performance at the 2015 general election.
MNB v News Group Newspapers also known as Goodwin v News Group Newspapers is an English privacy law case in which then banker Fred Goodwin successfully applied for a temporary injunction to prevent The Sun from publishing details about his private life. The injunction was breached by John Hemming MP in the House of Commons where the case was inaccurately referred to as a super-injunction.