Robert Carr
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The Lord Carr of Hadley PC | |
---|---|
Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer | |
In office 4 March 1974 – 11 February 1975 | |
Leader | Edward Heath |
Preceded by | Denis Healey |
Succeeded by | Geoffrey Howe |
Home Secretary | |
In office 18 July 1972 – 4 March 1974 | |
Prime Minister | Edward Heath |
Preceded by | Reginald Maudling |
Succeeded by | Roy Jenkins |
In office 7 April 1972 – 5 November 1972 | |
Prime Minister | Edward Heath |
Preceded by | William Whitelaw |
Succeeded by | Jim Prior |
Secretary of State for Employment | |
In office 20 June 1970 – 7 April 1972 | |
Prime Minister | Edward Heath |
Preceded by | Barbara Castle |
Succeeded by | Maurice Macmillan |
Member of Parliament for Carshalton | |
In office 28 February 1974 – 15 January 1976 | |
Preceded by | Walter Elliot |
Succeeded by | Nigel Forman |
Member of Parliament for Mitcham | |
In office 23 February 1950 – 8 February 1974 | |
Preceded by | Tom Braddock |
Succeeded by | Constituency abolished |
Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal | |
In office 15 January 1976 – 17 February 2012 Life peerage | |
Personal details | |
Born | Leonard Robert Carr 11 November 1916 |
Died | 17 February 2012 | (aged 95)
Nationality | British |
Political party | Conservative |
Children | 2 |
Education | Westminster School |
Alma mater | Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge |
Leonard Robert Carr, Baron Carr of Hadley, PC (11 November 1916 – 17 February 2012) was a British Conservative politician who served as Home Secretary from 1972 to 1974.
Early life[]
Robert Carr was educated at Westminster School[1] and Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where he read Natural Sciences, graduating in 1938. After graduation he applied his knowledge of metallurgy at John Dale & Co, the family metal engineering firm.[1] A collapsed lung kept him from war service but his firm specialised in the construction of airframes for Lancaster bombers.[2]
Political career[]
He was elected Member of Parliament for Mitcham in 1950 and served there until 1974 when the seat was merged and he moved to Carshalton.
In Edward Heath's government he served as Secretary of State for Employment and was responsible for the modernising Industrial Relations Act 1971, which balanced the introduction of compensation for unfair dismissal with curbs on the freedom to strike and the virtual abolition of closed shop agreements. The Industrial Relations Act 1971 was deeply disliked by the trade unions whose industrial action lead to the three day week and ultimately to the defeat of the government. The victorious Labour Party promptly repealed the Industrial Relations Act, replacing it with their own Trade Union and Labour Relations Act 1974 which, while scrapping the "offensive" provisions, effectively re-enacted the remainder of Carr's 1971 Act.
In 1971, Carr escaped injury when The Angry Brigade anarchist group exploded two bombs outside his house.[3] More than thirty years later, a member of the group issued a public apology to Carr, and sent him a Christmas card.[4]
In 1972, Carr served a brief period as Lord President of the Council and was then appointed Home Secretary after the resignation of Reginald Maudling. After his defeat in the first ballot of the 1975 Conservative leadership contest, Edward Heath asked Carr to "take over the functions of leader" until a new leader was elected.[5] The day after her election the new leader, Margaret Thatcher met with Carr, according to her at his request, before forming her shadow cabinet. According to her memoirs, given that Carr had been close to Heath she would have understood "if he did not relish the prospect of serving under" her. She stated that Carr made it clear that the only post he would accept would be that of Shadow Foreign Secretary. She told him that she could not promise this and confided in her memoirs that, at that stage when she was still considering appointments, she was "not convinced" she would offer Carr any role in the shadow cabinet. She proceeded to appoint Maudling as Shadow Foreign Secretary and saw Carr again later to inform him of her decision. In her memoirs she speculated that Carr might have been "persuaded to stay in another capacity", but she did not offer him the chance and noted that "I was not keen to have another strong opponent in any position on the team".[6]
Later life[]
Carr was created a life peer as Baron Carr of Hadley, of Monken Hadley, North London, in 1976.[7]
Death[]
Carr died 17 February 2012 at the age of 95 years. His body was buried in the graveyard of St. Peters Church, in the Gloucestershire village of Farmington. He was survived by his wife, Joan, and two daughters.[8]
References[]
- ^ Jump up to: a b Goodman, Geoffrey (20 February 2012). "Lord Carr of Hadley obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 February 2012.
- ^ "Lord Carr of Hadley obituary". the Guardian. 20 February 2012. Retrieved 29 July 2021.
- ^ "1971: British minister's home bombed". On This Day 1950–2005. BBC News. 6 December 1972. Retrieved 22 August 2011.
- ^ Bright, Martin (3 February 2002). "Angry Brigade's bomb plot apology". The Observer. London. Retrieved 22 August 2011.
- ^ The Times (59312). London. 5 February 1975. col A. Missing or empty
|title=
(help) - ^ Thatcher, Margaret (2013). Margaret Thatcher the Autobiography. London: Harper Press. pp. 176–179. ISBN 978-0-00-742528-0.
- ^ "No. 46803". The London Gazette. 20 January 1976. p. 919.
- ^ "Lord Carr of Hadley". The Daily Telegraph. 19 February 2012. Archived from the original on 19 April 2012. Retrieved 12 August 2013.
Bibliography[]
External links[]
- Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Robert Carr
- 1916 births
- 2012 deaths
- Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
- Conservative Party (UK) life peers
- Parliamentary Private Secretaries to the Prime Minister
- Lord Presidents of the Council
- British Secretaries of State for Employment
- Secretaries of State for the Home Department
- Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge
- People educated at Westminster School, London
- Presidents of Surrey County Cricket Club
- Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
- UK MPs 1950–1951
- UK MPs 1951–1955
- UK MPs 1955–1959
- UK MPs 1959–1964
- UK MPs 1964–1966
- UK MPs 1966–1970
- UK MPs 1970–1974
- UK MPs 1974
- UK MPs 1974–1979
- UK MPs who were granted peerages
- Leaders of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom
- Monken Hadley
- Ministers in the Eden government, 1955–1957
- Ministers in the Macmillan and Douglas-Home governments, 1957–1964