Edwin Leather

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Edwin Hartley Cameron "Ted" Leather (22 May 1919 – 5 April 2005), KCMG, KCVO, KStJ, LL.D. was a Conservative politician in the United Kingdom, and Governor of Bermuda.

Leather was born in Toronto, Canada. He was educated at Trinity College School, Port Hope and the Royal Military College of Canada, Kingston, Ontario. He served in Europe during World War II with the Toronto Scottish and Royal Canadian Artillery. He worked as an insurance broker and was secretary of the Central London branch of the Association of Supervisory Staffs, Executives and Technicians.

Leather stood without success in Bristol South in 1945 and was elected Member of Parliament for North Somerset in 1950. Leather never held political office but was a popular speaker at Party Conference and other events, as well as on radio and television. He was a One Nation Tory; he forcefully opposed racism and supported the European Union.

Leather was proposed for knighthood but, still a Canadian citizen, required the support of the Canadian government which had not made any honor recommendation for some years; Prime Minister John Diefenbaker declined to support the recommendation. He was eventually knighted in 1962 when he was made a Knight bachelor, having taken British citizenship.

Poor health and the low pay for MPs forced Leather to retire from Parliament in 1964 and enter business. He returned to the political scene a few years later, as vice-chairman of the National Union of the Conservative Party, taking a leading role in fundraising and at Party Conference. In 1973, following the murder of Sir Richard Sharples, Leather was appointed Governor of Bermuda. Despite the assassination of his predecessor, he lived informally and mixed with locals; he continued to live in Bermuda after his retirement in 1977. He became the local representative of N M Rothschild & Sons and wrote several thrillers.

He was appointed KCMG in 1974 and in 1975 became the first Canadian to be appointed KCVO since the future 1st Lord Shaughnessy in 1907. Leather was an active freemason and an Anglican lay reader. He was an accomplished gymnast and founded the International Sports Fellowship.

Leather married Sheila Greenlees in 1940; they had two daughters.

See also Nickle Resolution.