Edmund Dell

Edmund Emanuel Dell (15 August 1921 – 1 November 1999^[1]) was a British politician and businessman.

Early life

Dell was born in London, the son of a Jewish manufacturer. In World War II he served in the Rifle Corps and the Royal Artillery, leaving as a first lieutenant. He studied at Dame Alice Owen's School and Queen's College, Oxford where he was a member of the Communist Party, as his future ministerial colleague Denis Healey had been before the war. Dell graduated with first class honours in modern history in 1947.

Early career and politics

Dell soon began work for Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) in Manchester as an overseas sales manager, specialising in Latin American trade and eventually rose to Vice President of the Plastics Division. Dell soon began to find himself in the difficult position of balancing a career in business with Labour politics. In 1953 Dell was elected to Manchester City Council and served for seven years.

Political career

Labour party

He stood unsuccessfully for Parliament in 1955 in Middleton and Prestwich. Dell was dissuaded from standing for Parliament in 1959 by ICI on the grounds that it would make promotion to the highest ranks of the company difficult. However, Dell eventually gave in to the temptation of Parliament and was elected to Parliament as the Labour Member of Parliament for Birkenhead in 1964.^[1] He served as parliamentary private secretary to Jack Diamond, then Parliamentary Secretary for Technology under Tony Benn in 1966 and Under-Secretary of State for Economic Affairs under Peter Shore in 1967. In 1968 he was promoted to Minister of State for Trade. Switched to employment in 1969, he was made a privy councillor in 1970.

Dell was one of the 69 Labour MPs to rebel against the Labour government to vote for Britain's entry into the European Community in 1971.^[1] He subsequently refused to take a frontbench role while in opposition and served as Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee. When Wilson returned to Downing Street, Dell became Paymaster General, then Secretary of State for Trade and President of the Board of Trade in James Callaghan's government 1976-78.^[1] He was tipped to become Chancellor of the Exchequer but resigned his seat, increasingly disillusioned by Labour's drift to the Left as he moved sharply to the Right. He had always been much more oriented toward free market capitalism than his comrades in the Labour Party and grew increasingly uncomfortable in a party that was growing increasingly dominated by advocates of a planned economy and corporatism.

SDP and Liberal Democrats

Dell later joined the Social Democratic Party and, after the SDP's merger with the Liberal Party in 1988 was a member of the Liberal Democrats. Dell served as a trustee of both the SDP and the Liberal Democrats and served as one of SDP's three representatives during emergency negotiations with the Liberals in January 1988 when it appeared the two parties' merger might fall through after the failed launch by David Steel and Bob Maclennan of the joint manifesto, "Voices and Choices".

Post-Parliament life

After Parliament he had a career in business as chairman of Guinness Peat, founding chairman of Channel 4 and as a director of Shell Trading. In 1991-2 he was president of the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry. In 1996, he wrote The Chancellors: A History Of Chancellors Of The Exchequer 1945-90. His book, A Strange Eventful History, Democratic Socialism in Britain was published posthumously in 2000. It was a summation of his critique of the Labour Party's long history being attached to what he saw as "much Keynesianism and too much of the detritus of socialism." Although he had voted for Labour in 1992 and 1997, he still thought that New Labour ultimately "will not fully have entered the modern world until it learns to love capitalism with all its warts."

Personal life

Dell was married to Susan Gottschalk for 36 years.

References

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Edmund Dell

Presidents of the Board of Trade Shaftesbury Bridgewater Stamford Weymouth Stamford Winchilsea Guilford Berkeley Suffolk Holderness Fitzwalter Monson Halifax Sandys Townshend Shelburne Hillsborough Dartmouth Hillsborough Nugent Hillsborough Dartmouth Sackville Carlisle Grantham Sydney Liverpool Montrose Auckland Bathurst Clancarty Robinson Huskisson Grant Vesey-Fitzgerald Herries Auckland Thomson Baring Thomson Labouchere Ripon Gladstone Dalhousie Clarendon Labouchere Henley Cardwell Stanley Henley Dnoughmore Gibson Northcote Richmond Bright Parkinson-Fortescue Adderley Sandon Chamberlain Richmond Stanhope Mundella Stanley Hicks Beach Mundella Bryce Ritchie Balfour Salisbury Lloyd George Churchill Buxton Burns Runciman Stanley Geddes Horne Baldwin Cunliffe-Lister Graham Cunliffe-Lister Runciman Stanley Duncan Lyttelton Duncan Llewellin Dalton Lyttelton Cripps Wilson Shawcross Thorneycroft Eccles Maulding Erroll Heath Jay Crosland Mason Noble Davies Walker Benn Varley Joseph Jenkin Shore Dell Smith Nott Biffen Cockfield Parkinson Tebbit Brittan Channon Young Ridley Lilley Heseltine Lang Beckett Mandelson Byers Hewitt Johnson Darling Hutton Mandelson Cable

Paymasters General Parnell Stanley Knatchbull Baring Macaulay Granville Stanley Colchester Stanley Pleydell-Bouverie Lowe Donoughmore Lovaine Wilson Cowper Hutt Goschen Monsell Cave Dufferin Childers Adam Cave Plunket Wolverton Beauchamp Thurlow Beauchamp Brownlow Jersey Windsor Seale-Hayne Hopetoun Marlborough Crossley Causton Ashby Strachie Newton Henderson Compton-Rickett Walters Vacant Chamberlain Joynson-Hicks Boyd-Carpenter Gosling Vacant Sutherland Onslow Arnold Vacant Walters Rochester Hutchison Munster Winterton Vacant Cranborne Vacant Hankey Jowitt Cherwell Vacant Greenwood Marquand Addison Macdonald Cherwell Selkirk Vacant Monckton Maulding Mills Brooke Boyd-Carpenter Wigg Vacant Shackleton Hart Lever Eccles Macmillan Dell Williams A. Maude Pym Parkinson Gummer Clarke Brooke Caithness Ryder Belstead Cope Heathcoat-Amory Willetts Bates Robinson Primarolo Jowell F. Maude

Callaghan Cabinet Joel Barnett Tony Benn Albert Booth James Callaghan Anthony Crosland Edmund Dell Lord Elwyn-Jones David Ennals Michael Foot Roy Hattersley Denis Healey Roy Jenkins Harold Lever Roy Mason Bruce Millan John Morris Fred Mulley Stanley Orme David Owen Lord Peart Reg Prentice Merlyn Rees Bill Rodgers Lord Shepherd Peter Shore John Silkin John Smith Eric Varley Shirley Williams