David Waddington, Baron Waddington

The Right Honourable The Lord Waddington GCVO PC QC DL
Governor of Bermuda
In office 11 April 1992 – 2 May 1997
Premier	John Swan David Saul Pamela Gordon
Preceded by	Desmond Langley
Succeeded by	Thorold Masefield
Leader of the House of Lords Lord Privy Seal
In office 28 November 1990 – 11 April 1992
Prime Minister	John Major
Preceded by	The Lord Belstead
Succeeded by	The Lord Wakeham
Home Secretary
In office 26 October 1989 – 28 November 1990
Prime Minister	Margaret Thatcher
Preceded by	Douglas Hurd
Succeeded by	Kenneth Baker
Chief Whip of the Conservative Party Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury
In office 13 June 1987 – 24 July 1989
Prime Minister	Margaret Thatcher
Preceded by	John Wakeham
Succeeded by	Tim Renton
Member of Parliament for Ribble Valley
In office 9 June 1983 – 28 November 1990
Preceded by	Constituency created
Succeeded by	Michael Carr
Member of Parliament for Clitheroe
In office 1 March 1979 – 9 June 1983
Preceded by	David Walder
Succeeded by	Constituency abolished
Member of Parliament for Nelson and Colne
In office 27 June 1968 – 10 October 1974
Preceded by	Sydney Silverman
Succeeded by	Doug Hoyle
Member of the House of Lords
In office 4 December 1990 – 26 March 2015
Personal details
Born	David Charles Waddington (1929-08-02)2 August 1929 Burnley, Lancashire, England
Died	23 February 2017(2017-02-23) (aged 87)
Political party	Conservative
Alma mater	Hertford College, Oxford Gray's Inn

David Charles Waddington, Baron Waddington, GCVO, PC, QC, DL (2 August 1929 – 23 February 2017) was a British politician and barrister.

A member of the Conservative Party, he served as a Member of Parliament (MP) in the House of Commons from 1968 to 1974, and from 1979 to 1990, and was then made a life peer. During his parliamentary career, Waddington worked in government as Chief Whip, then as Home Secretary and finally as Leader of the House of Lords. He then served as the Governor of Bermuda between 1992 and 1997.

Early life

Waddington was born in Burnley, Lancashire, the youngest of five. His father and grandfather were both solicitors in Burnley. He was educated at Cressbrook School and Sedbergh School, both independent schools.^[1]

He then attended Hertford College, Oxford, where he became President of the Oxford University Conservative Association. He was called to the Bar at Gray's Inn in 1951.^[2]

Stefan Kiszko trial

In 1976, Waddington led the defence in the trial of Stefan Kiszko, a case which became a significant miscarriage of justice. The British tax clerk from Rochdale, who was convicted of the murder of 12-year-old Lesley Molseed, served sixteen years in prison for a crime he did not commit. It is alleged that this was because Kiszko's defence team made significant mistakes.

• Firstly, they did not seek an adjournment when the Crown delivered thousands of pages of additional unused material on the first morning of the trial. Waddington recalled: "the unused material did not include the results of tests on Mr Kiszko's semen which were then in the hands of the Police and showed that Mr Kiszko was not the murderer".
• Secondly, it was alleged that, in court, Waddington maintained a defence of diminished responsibility which Kiszko had never authorised. Waddington stated that this assertion runs counter to what Kiszko's new counsel told the Court of Appeal. Stephen Sedley (later Lord Justice Sedley) said that "I am now completely satisfied that advice had been given to Mr Kiszko and his authority properly obtained."^[3]

Kiszko was finally released in 1992, after the Court of Appeal was told forensic evidence showed that he could not have been the murderer. The Court of Appeal was told that Kiszko was incapable of producing the sperm found on the girl's clothing, evidence to this effect being available at the time of the trial but not disclosed to the defence.

Political career

Waddington stood for election several times before being successful. He was the Conservative candidate at Farnworth in the 1955 general election, at Nelson and Colne in 1964, and at Heywood and Royton in 1966.^[4]

He was first elected to Parliament at the 1968 Nelson and Colne by-election, caused by the death of Labour MP Sydney Silverman. He was re-elected there in 1970 and in February 1974, but lost his seat at the October 1974 general election by a margin of 669 votes to Labour's Doug Hoyle.^[2]

Waddington was returned to Parliament for Clitheroe at the by-election in March 1979, and was subsequently elected for the broadly similar Ribble Valley constituency in 1983.^[1]

In government

A junior minister under Margaret Thatcher, Waddington was a Lord Commissioner of the Treasury and Government Whip (1979–81), Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the Department of Employment (1981–83), Minister of State at the Home Office (1983–87), and Chief Whip from 1987 until his elevation to Cabinet level in 1989, when he became Home Secretary.^[4]

Life peer

On 4 December 1990, he was created a life peer as Baron Waddington, of Read in the County of Lancashire.^[5] He served as Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the House of Lords until 1992. He then served as Governor of Bermuda from 1992 until 1997.^[6][7]

Lord Waddington was appointed a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (GCVO) in 1994.^[8] In 2008, his amendment to the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill, known as the Waddington Amendment, inserted a freedom of speech clause into new anti-homophobic hate crime legislation.^[9]

In November 2009, the Government failed to repeal the Waddington Amendment in the Coroners and Justice Bill.^[10][11] On 26 March 2015, Lord Waddington retired from the House of Lords pursuant, to Section 1 of the House of Lords Reform Act 2014.^[12]

Death

Lord Waddington died on 23 February 2017, aged 87. He was survived by his wife, and their five children.^[2]

Arms

References

External links

• Profile on Parliament website
• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by David Waddington

Home Secretaries of the United Kingdom
Secretary of State for the Home Department	Shelburne Townshend North Temple Sydney Grenville Dundas Portland Pelham Yorke Hawkesbury Spencer Liverpool Ryder Sidmouth Peel Sturges Bourne Lansdowne Peel Melbourne Duncannon Wellington Goulburn Russell Normanby Graham Grey Walpole Palmerston Grey Walpole Sotheron-Estcourt Lewis Grey Walpole Hardy Bruce Lowe Cross Harcourt Cross Childers Matthews Asquith Ridley Ritchie Akers-Douglas Gladstone Churchill McKenna Simon Samuel Cave Shortt Bridgeman Henderson Joynson-Hicks Clynes Samuel Gilmour Simon Hoare Anderson Morrison Somervell Chuter Ede Maxwell-Fyfe Lloyd George Butler Brooke Soskice Jenkins Callaghan Maudling Carr Jenkins Rees Whitelaw Brittan Hurd Waddington Baker K. Clarke Howard Straw Blunkett C. Clarke Reid Smith Johnson May Rudd

Thatcher Cabinet
Margaret Thatcher Humphrey Atkins Kenneth Baker Lord Belstead John Biffen Leon Brittan Peter Brooke Mark Carlisle Lord Carrington Paul Channon Kenneth Clarke Lord Cockfield Nicholas Edwards Norman Fowler Ian Gilmour Lord Gowrie John Gummer Lord Havers Quintin Hogg Michael Heseltine Michael Howard Sir Geoffrey Howe David Howell David Hunt Douglas Hurd Patrick Jenkin Michael Jopling Keith Joseph Tom King Norman Lamont Nigel Lawson Peter Lilley John MacGregor James Mackay John Major Angus Maude John Moore Tony Newton John Nott Cecil Parkinson Chris Patten Jim Prior Francis Pym Peter Rees Nicholas Ridley Malcolm Rifkind Lord Soames Norman St John-Stevas Norman Tebbit David Waddington John Wakeham William Waldegrave Peter Walker William Whitelaw Lord Young of Graffham Baroness Young George Younger

Major Cabinet
Cabinet Members	Jonathan Aitken Kenneth Baker Virginia Bottomley Peter Brooke Kenneth Clarke Viscount Cranborne Stephen Dorrell Michael Forsyth Roger Freeman John Gummer William Hague Jeremy Hanley Michael Heseltine Douglas Hogg Michael Howard David Hunt Douglas Hurd Tom King Norman Lamont Ian Lang Peter Lilley John MacGregor Lord Mackay John Major Brian Mawhinney Patrick Mayhew David Mellor Tony Newton Chris Patten John Patten Michael Portillo John Redwood Malcolm Rifkind Gillian Shephard Lord Waddington Lord Wakeham William Waldegrave George Young
Also attended meetings	Norman Fowler Alastair Goodlad Richard Ryder