William Rodgers, Baron Rodgers of Quarry Bank

The Right Honourable The Lord Rodgers of Quarry Bank PC
Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords
In office 19 December 1997 – 7 June 2001
Leader	Paddy Ashdown Charles Kennedy
Preceded by	The Lord Jenkins of Hillhead
Succeeded by	The Baroness Williams of Crosby
Shadow Secretary of State for Defence
In office 14 June 1979 – 8 December 1980
Leader	Jim Callaghan Michael Foot
Preceded by	Fred Mulley
Succeeded by	Brynmor John
Shadow Secretary of State for Transport
In office 4 May 1979 – 14 June 1979
Leader	Jim Callaghan
Preceded by	Norman Fowler
Succeeded by	Albert Booth
Secretary of State for Transport
In office 10 September 1976 – 4 May 1979
Prime Minister	Jim Callaghan
Preceded by	John Gilbert (Minister of State)
Succeeded by	Norman Fowler (Minister of State)
Minister of State for Defence
In office 4 March 1974 – 10 September 1976
Prime Minister	Harold Wilson Jim Callaghan
Preceded by	George Younger
Succeeded by	John Gilbert
Member of Parliament for Stockton-on-Tees
In office 5 April 1962 – 9 June 1983
Preceded by	George Chetwynd
Succeeded by	Constituency abolished
Personal details
Born	28 October 1928 Liverpool, England, UK
Political party	Labour (Before 1981) Social Democrats (1981–1988) Liberal Democrats (1988–present)
Alma mater	Magdalen College, Oxford

William Thomas Rodgers, Baron Rodgers of Quarry Bank, PC (born Liverpool, Lancashire, 28 October 1928), usually known as William Rodgers but also often known as Bill Rodgers, was one of the "Gang of Four" of senior British Labour Party politicians who defected to form the Social Democratic Party (SDP). He subsequently helped to lead the SDP into the merger that formed the Liberal Democrats, and later served as that party's leader in the House of Lords.

Early life

Rodgers was educated at Quarry Bank High School in Liverpool and at Magdalen College, Oxford. He was general secretary of the Fabian Society 1953–1960 and a councillor on St. Marylebone Borough Council 1958–62. He also fought a byelection at Bristol West in 1957.

Member of Parliament

Rodgers first entered the British House of Commons at a by-election in 1962, and served in Labour Governments under Harold Wilson and James Callaghan, becoming Secretary of State for Transport in Callaghan's Cabinet in 1976. Within the Labour Party he was known for being a highly effective organiser around centrist causes such as multilateral nuclear disarmament and Britain's membership of the EEC. He held the post until Labour's defeat in the 1979 general election. From 1979 to 1981 he was Shadow Defence Secretary. With Labour drifting to the left, Rodgers joined Shirley Williams, Roy Jenkins and David Owen in forming the Social Democratic Party in 1981. He led the negotiations on the split of seats with the Liberals for the SDP side and his decision to go public on the difficulties encountered has often been blamed for starting the Alliance's slide in the opinion polls. On the other hand, only three seats eventually saw rival Liberal and Alliance candidates in the 1983 General Election so his tactics were in that sense successful.

Gang of Four

At the 1983 General Election the SDP–Liberal Alliance won many votes but few seats, and Rodgers lost his seat of Stockton North (known as Stockton-on-Tees before the boundary changes of 1983). He remained outside Parliament, unsuccessfully contesting Milton Keynes for the SDP in the 1987 General Election, until he was created a life peer as Baron Rodgers of Quarry Bank, of Kentish Town in the London Borough of Camden on 12 February 1992.^[1] During that interval he was Director-General of the Royal Institute of British Architects and also became Chairman of the Advertising Standards Authority.

In 1987 Rodgers was chairman of the successful "Yes to Unity" campaign within the SDP in favour of merger with the Liberal Party. He became the Liberal Democrats' Lords spokesman on Home Affairs in 1994 and was its leader in the Lords between 1997 and 2001. His autobiography was titled Fourth Among Equals, reflecting his position as the least prominent of the SDP's founders.

Rodgers was interviewed in 2012 as part of The History of Parliament's oral history project.^[2][3]

References

1. The London Gazette: no. 52836. p. 2711. 17 February 1992.
2. "Oral history: Rodgers, William (b.1928)". The History of Parliament. Retrieved 14 July 2016.
3. "Lord Rodgers of Quarrybank interviewed by Mike Greenwood". British Library Sound Archive. Retrieved 14 July 2016.

Bibliography

• John Campbell (2014). Roy Jenkins, a Well-Rounded Life. Jonathan Cape. ISBN 978-0-224-08750-6.

External links

• Lord Rodgers of Quarry Bank profile at the site of Liberal Democrats
• Recent Speeches in the Lords
• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by William Rodgers