David Stoddart, Baron Stoddart of Swindon

Lord Stoddart in 2009.

David Leonard Stoddart, Baron Stoddart of Swindon (born 4 May 1926) is a British independent Labour politician (that is, unaffiliated to the Labour Party).

Political career

Stoddart was a member of the County Borough Council of Reading from 1954 to 1972[1] and was the Leader of the Council from 1965 to 1972. He unsuccessfully fought Newbury in 1959 and 1964, before contesting Swindon in a by-election in 1969.

He was the Labour Member of Parliament for Swindon from 1970 to 1983, when he lost his seat to the Conservative Simon Coombs. Stoddart was a government whip from 1975 to 1978, PPC to the Housing Minister 1974–75 and Front Bench opposition spokesman on Trade & Industry.

House of Lords

Stoddart was raised to the peerage[1] as a life peer on 14 September 1983 taking the title Baron Stoddart of Swindon, of Reading in the Royal County of Berkshire.[2] He was Chief Front Bench spokesman on energy 1983–1988 and served as House of Lords Whip during the same period.

He was expelled from the Labour benches in the House of Lords in 2002 for backing a Socialist Alliance candidate in the 2001 general election, an action he took because he strongly opposed the parachuting of Shaun Woodward, a defector from the Conservative Party, into a safe Labour seat.[1]

Stoddart was for many years the Chairman of the Campaign for an Independent Britain, which campaigns for the United Kingdom to end its membership of the European Union,[3] a position he held from 1985 until May 2007.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Independent voice of a true democrat". Reading Chronicle. 26 March 2009. Retrieved 18 May 2010.
  2. ↑ The London Gazette: no. 49481. p. 12267. 19 September 1983.
  3. ↑ "Herron backers to challenge poll decision". The Journal (pay-per-view). 17 September 2004. Retrieved 18 May 2010.

External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Christopher Ward		 Member of Parliament for Swindon
1970–1983 		Succeeded by
Simon Coombs