Wikipedia

Dick Taverne

Dick Taverne, Baron Taverne (18 October 1928 – 25 October 2025) was a British politician and life peer who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Lincoln from 1962 to 1974.[1] A member of the Liberal Democrats, he was a Labour MP until his deselection in 1972,[2] following which he resigned his seat and won the subsequent by-election in 1973 as a Democratic Labour candidate.[3]

The Right Honourable
The Lord Taverne
KC
Official portrait, 2018
Financial Secretary to the Treasury
In office
13 October 1969 – 19 June 1970
Prime MinisterHarold Wilson
Preceded byHarold Lever
Succeeded byPatrick Jenkin
Minister of State for the Treasury
In office
6 April 1968 – 13 October 1969
Prime MinisterHarold Wilson
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded byBill Rodgers
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department
In office
6 April 1966 – 6 April 1968
Prime MinisterHarold Wilson
Preceded byGeorge Thomas
Succeeded byElystan Morgan
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
In office
5 February 1996 – 7 March 2025
Life Peerage
Member of Parliament
for Lincoln
In office
8 March 1962 – 20 September 1974
Preceded byGeoffrey de Freitas
Succeeded byMargaret Jackson
Personal details
Born(1928-10-18)18 October 1928
Sumatra, Dutch East Indies
Died25 October 2025(2025-10-25) (aged 97)
London, England
Political partyLabour (until 1972)
Democratic Labour (1972–80)
SDP (1981–88)
Liberal Democrats (1988–2025)
Children2, including Suzanna
Alma materBalliol College, Oxford

Taverne's 1973 victory in Lincoln was short-lived; despite retaining his seat at the February 1974 general election, Labour regained the seat at the October 1974 general election, by the future cabinet minister Margaret Beckett. However, his success opened the possibility of a realignment on the left of British politics, which took shape in 1981 as the Social Democratic Party (SDP), which Taverne joined. He later joined the Liberal Democrats when the SDP merged with the Liberal Party. Taverne sat as a Liberal Democrat life peer in the House of Lords from 1996 until 2025.

Early life and career

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Taverne was born in Sumatra on 18 October 1928, and was a Dutch national by birth; he was naturalised as British at age 21.[4] Educated at Charterhouse School, and then Balliol College, Oxford,[4] he graduated in Philosophy and Ancient History, qualified as a barrister in 1954[5] and became a Queen's Counsel (QC) in 1965.[6]

Taverne unsuccessfully contested Putney as the Labour Party candidate at the 1959 general election,[7] and was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Lincoln at a by-election in March 1962.[7] Under Harold Wilson's premiership in the 1960s, he served as a Home Office Minister from 1966 to 1968, Minister of State at the Treasury from 1968 to 1969 and then as Financial Secretary to the Treasury from 1969 to 1970.[4][8] In 1970, he helped to launch the Institute for Fiscal Studies, now an influential independent think tank and was the first Director, later chairman.[9]

In 1972, Taverne was deselected by the Lincoln Constituency Labour Party,[3][10][11] who disagreed with his pro-European Economic Community views. He then resigned from the Labour Party and from Parliament, and formed the Lincoln Democratic Labour Association. He was re-elected as an Independent Democratic Labour candidate at a by-election in March 1973,[12] and held the seat at the February 1974 general election.[4]

Taverne lost his seat in Parliament at the October 1974 general election,[6] but he continued to remain active with the Democratic Labour Association. He was a leading social democratic thinker,[8] publishing The Future of the Left: Lincoln and After in 1974.[13]

When the Social Democratic Party (SDP) was formed in the early 1980s, he joined them, serving on their national committee from 1981 until 1987. He stood as an SDP candidate in the 1982 Peckham by-election, coming second with 32% of the vote,[14] and in the 1983 general election, he stood in Dulwich, coming third.[15] When the SDP merged with the Liberal Party he joined the new Liberal Democrats, serving on its Federal Policy Committee from 1989 until 1990.[15] On 5 February 1996 he was created a life peer as Baron Taverne, of Pimlico in the City of Westminster,[16] and sat in the House of Lords as a Liberal Democrat. In May 2006 he was an unsuccessful candidate for the Liberal Democrats in local elections to Westminster City Council in the Marylebone High Street ward.[17]

Taverne was elected President of the Research Defence Society in 2004.[18] He was a member of the House of Lords Committee on the Use of Animals in Scientific Procedures, and was also a member of the Science and Technology Committee of the House of Lords.[18]

Personal life and death

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In 1955, Taverne married Janice Hennessey, a microbiologist.[4] He had two daughters, one of whom is former investment banker Suzanna.[19][20] He became interested in science and public policy, and in 2002 founded Sense about Science, a charity with the objective of advancing public understanding of science and the evidence-based approach to scientific issues.[21][4]

Taverne was an Honorary Associate of the National Secular Society[22] and a Distinguished Supporter of Humanists UK, as well as a vice-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Humanist Group.[23] He was also a member of the Steering Committee of the Bilderberg Group.[24] Taverne won the Science Writers' Award as Parliamentary Science Communicator of the Year 2005.[25] He was a listed member of Republic, the campaign for abolishing the monarchy.[8]

On 15 September 2010, Taverne, along with 54 other public figures, signed an open letter published in The Guardian, stating their opposition to Pope Benedict XVI's state visit to the UK.[26]

Taverne was interviewed in 2012 as part of The History of Parliament's oral history project.[27][28]

He was the author of The March of Unreason, published by Oxford University Press in May 2005.[29] It won him the Association of British Science Writers' award as parliamentary communicator of the year.[4][30] In 2014, Taverne published his memoir, Against the Tide.

Taverne died at his home in London, on 25 October 2025, at the age of 97.[4][15] Andrew Copson wrote of Taverne that "His legacy lies not only in the causes he advanced but the manner in which he did so: calm, rigorous, and humane. He showed how a humanist outlook can anchor an ethical and courageous public life."[31]

Books

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  • Taverne, Dick (1974). The Future of the Left: Lincoln and After. ISBN 0-224-00950-8.
  • Taverne, Dick (2005). The March of Unreason: Science, Democracy and the New Fundamentalism. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-280485-5.
  • Stanley Feldman, Dr; Marks, Vincent (28 July 2006). Contributed to Panic Nation: Unpicking the Myths We're Told About Food and Health. John Blake. ISBN 9781857828405.
  • Taverne, Dick (2014). Against The Tide: Politics and Beyond. Biteback. ISBN 978-1849546690.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Taverne, Baron, (Dick Taverne) (born 18 Oct. 1928)". WHO'S WHO & WHO WAS WHO. 2007. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u37050. ISBN 978-0-19-954088-4. Retrieved 5 May 2021.
  2. ^ Shaw, Eric (1988). Discipline and discord in the Labour Party : the politics of managerial control in the Labour Party, 1951–87. Manchester: Manchester University Press. ISBN 071902482X. OCLC 17412352.
  3. ^ a b "Dick Taverne: "Some of the Labour Party people have absolutely nowhere to go"". www.newstatesman.com. Retrieved 8 October 2019.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Bates, Stephen (26 October 2025). "Lord Taverne obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 October 2025.
  5. ^ "Board of Trustees". Sense About Science. 14 September 2016. Retrieved 31 October 2025.
  6. ^ a b Chidwick, Tom (1 March 2023). "'Return Taverne': 50 years on from the Lincoln by-election". 2025-10-31. Retrieved 31 October 2025.
  7. ^ a b Stenton, Michael; Lees, Stephens (1981). Who's Who of British Members of Parliament: Volume IV, 1945–1979. Brighton: The Harvester Press. p. 360. ISBN 0-85527-335-6.
  8. ^ a b c Jones, Nigel (26 October 2025). "Dick Taverne was the last social democrat". The Spectator. Retrieved 31 October 2025.
  9. ^ Taverne, Dick (March 2014). Against the Tide:politics and beyond (PDF). p. 201. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 May 2021. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
  10. ^ Shaw, Eric (1988). Discipline and discord in the Labour Party : the politics of managerial control in the Labour Party, 1951–87. Manchester: Manchester University Press. ISBN 071902482X. OCLC 17412352.
  11. ^ Garner, Robert (1998). British political parties today. Kelly, Richard N. (2nd ed.). Manchester: Manchester University Press. ISBN 0719051045. OCLC 39305531.
  12. ^ Corfe, Ollie. "George Galloway becomes UK's most successful political outsider". The Telegraph. Retrieved 31 October 2025.
  13. ^ Taverne, Dick (1974). The Future of the Left: Lincoln and After. Cape. ISBN 0-224-00950-8.
  14. ^ Boothroyd, David. "Results of Byelections in the 1979–83 Parliament". United Kingdom Election Results. Archived from the original on 9 June 2000. Retrieved 31 October 2025.
  15. ^ a b c Bunn, George (25 October 2025). "Liberal Democrat founder dies aged 97 as tributes pour in for 'principled politician'". GBNews. Retrieved 25 October 2025.
  16. ^ "No. 54312". The London Gazette. 9 February 1996. p. 2027.
  17. ^ London Borough Council Elections May 2006 Archived 17 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine (2006) at london.gov.uk, accessed 30 July 2015
  18. ^ a b "Lord Taverne, moderate Labour front bencher ousted by the hard Left in 1972 as a 'filthy Tory'". The Telegraph. 26 October 2025. Retrieved 31 October 2025.
  19. ^ Stone, Leslie (10 January 1965). "18-Hour Day of a British 'Backbencher'; British 'Backbencher'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 1 July 2025.
  20. ^ Lister, David (8 September 2001). "Business high-flyer quits from top job at the British Museum after just two years". The Independent.
  21. ^ "What We Do". Sense about Science. 9 August 2016. Retrieved 26 October 2025.
  22. ^ "National Secular Society Honorary Associates". National Secular Society. Retrieved 27 July 2019
  23. ^ "All Party Parliamentary Humanist Group". British Humanist Association. Archived from the original on 30 June 2009. Retrieved 3 August 2010.
  24. ^ "Former Steering Committee Members". bilderbergmeetings.org. Bilderberg Group. Archived from the original on 30 June 2009. Retrieved 8 February 2014.
  25. ^ "Dick Taverne". Migration Museum. Retrieved 31 October 2025.
  26. ^ "Letters: Harsh judgments on the pope and religion". The Guardian. London. 15 September 2010. Archived from the original on 30 June 2009. Retrieved 16 September 2010.
  27. ^ "Oral history: TAVERNE, Dick (b.1928)". The History of Parliament. Retrieved 14 July 2016.
  28. ^ "Lord Taverne interviewed by Jason Lower". British Library Sound Archive. Retrieved 14 July 2016.
  29. ^ "The March of Unreason". Oxford University Press. Retrieved 26 October 2025.
  30. ^ "ABSW award winners from 1966-2023". Association of British Science Writers. Retrieved 26 October 2025.
  31. ^ Copson, Andrew (29 October 2025). "Letter: Lord Taverne obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 October 2025.
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