HL Deb 15 December 1964 vol 262 cc351-6

2.40 p.m.

THE LORD PRIVY SEAL (THE EARL OF LONGFORD)

My Lords, I rise to pay tribute to a noble Lord who was one of the most respected and distinguished Members of your Lordships' House. The noble Earl, Lord Woolton, had a remarkably varied career, but we may be inclined to agree that the most memorable of all his memorable services to the British people was his tenure of the office of Minister of Food during the darkest days of the war. In conditions of extreme difficulty he was able to maintain the services which were vital to the life of the nation, and, at the same time, to inspire confidence throughout the whole people.

Lord Woolton was born in Manchester. He was educated at the University of that city, where for a time he held a research fellowship in economics. Later he became Chancellor amidst general approval, which was often endorsed in subsequent years. Before the First World War he was a social worker, being one of the founders of the Liverpool University Settlement, of which he was the first warden. As so many are aware, social work remained one of his abiding interests throughout his life.

During the First World War he held a number of significant administrative posts, in which he was able to develop his particular gifts of organisation and leadership of human beings. When the war ended he entered business, in which he was immensely successful. At the same time, however, he was able to give a great deal of energy to the public services, and was a member of several important Government committees. He was also prominent in the civic life of Liverpool, his adopted city. Therefore, when called upon to enter the Government in 1939, Lord Woolton was already a man of wide experience, and for more than three years he held the arduous post of Minister of Food. In November, 1943, he was made Minister of Reconstruction with a seat in the War Cabinet, as my noble friend Lord Attlee and the noble Marquess, Lord Salisbury, will recall with special vividness. In this position he was given full authority to deal with all aspects of post-war reconstruction policy, and here his special knowledge of social conditions, derived from all his social work, was of the utmost value.

Lord Woolton left office with the caretaker Government in 1945. However, he returned to office in 1951, and retired from office again in December, 1955, being for a short period before his retirement Deputy Leader of this House. It has been a matter of great regret to all noble Lords that, as a result of ill health, he has not been able to attend the House recently as frequently as we would all have wished.

There are many here, including the noble Lord the Leader of the Opposition, and the noble Marquess, Lord Salisbury, and others, who could describe far more effectively and far more appropriately than I could his great and enduring service to the Conservative Party. I can only say—and I know it will be echoed on all Benches—that in all he did and strove for his absolute disinterestedness was appreciated at all times, even by many who opposed him on political grounds.

I would say ore word finally about Lord Woolton, as we found him here. He was a many-sided man of far reaching talents and achievements, but I venture to suggest that basically he was all of one piece and simple. His was a singularly outgoing nature, dedicated to service public and private, wherever the call might come. It came to him naturally to like, indeed to love, his fellow human beings. It was his reward, though he certainly never sought reward, that he was liked by all and loved by a great many. In this House he will always be remembered as one of our most elevated, patriotic and kindly Members. It will be long indeed before we include in our number a man so successful in so many large and arduous enterprises and, at the same time, so approachable, friendly and humble. I know that the whole House will wish to pay a tribute of sincere and grateful admiration to his memory, and to send a message of sympathy to his family.

2.46 p.m.

LORD CARRINGTON

My Lords, the noble Earl the Leader of the House has paid a notable tribute to Lord Woolton, which I am sure all your Lordships will echo. There are, of course, very many in this House who worked much more closely with Lord Woolton than I did, and who knew him far better; and I am glad to think that my noble friend Lord Salisbury is going to say a few words later on. Lord Woolton had a profound influence upon all. of us who sit on the Conservative Benches on this side of the House and who are interested in politics. The work that he did during the war affected the lives of every single man, woman and child in this country.

Lord Woolton really had two careers. The first was his business career, in which he was pre-eminently successful, but it was a career, as the Leader of the House has said, which was based on a knowledge of personal human problems which he acquired when he was a university teacher. Secondly, he had his political career, and it is of course for that which we in this House largely remember him. I would rather doubt whether in 1940 Lord Woolton had the smallest ambition to go into politics. He did so because he felt that it was his patriotic duty to use his skill and talents in the Government to help his country; and no man could have done more, or could have done it more successfully.

Although during his life he held many high offices, it will be, as the noble Earl, Lord Longford, has said, for the period when he was Minister of Food that he will be most generally remembered. For those of us in the Conservative Party he will be remembered not only for that time but also for the work he did when he was the Chairman of the Conservative Party immediately after the crushing electoral defeat which we suffered in 1945. It was to his experience of business and organisation, to his leadership, and to his strong personal example that we owed the great revival which took place in the six years after that Election; and I know that those of us who were at that time starting on our political careers are especially grateful to him for his kindliness and his encouragement.

Lord Woolton was known to everybody as "Uncle Fred", and that was not by accident. Almost everyone has, or has had at one time, a favourite uncle who was generous and kind, shrewd and wise and full of good advice, who took a personal interest in the doings of his nephews and nieces and was fun to be with, fascinating to listen to, and who hid behind an air of avuncular benevolence a mind that was keen and considerate, and who was, above all, a man whose visits and whose company were especially welcome and greatly enjoyed. All this, and much more, was true of Lord Woolton. And as when a favourite uncle dies he is greatly mourned and sadly missed, not only by his immediate family, but by all those who knew him, whose lives, by his example or by what he did, he had altered, ever so slightly or perhaps very greatly, so we mourn Lord Woolton to-day, happy to have known him, grateful for what he did for his country, and rejoicing in the memory of a great and good man.

2.50 p.m.

LORD REA

My Lords, I should like to add from these Liberal Benches our tribute to the late Lord Woolton. If I may touch on a personal note, may I say that I knew him over forty years ago when I was a very young man and he, a man in his thirties, was warden of a settlement. He had at that time, as I think he always had, a slightly chilling aspect when one first met him, but as soon as he spoke and as soon as his eyes twinkled one knew that he had a warm heart and was always ready to give a helping hand. Indeed, there were few matters of welfare in that part of the country when I first knew him which did not receive a sympathetic hearing and much help from Lord Woolton himself.

As has been said, it is for his work in the time of the last war that he is probably most remembered by the public, and I think sometimes we forget what a difficult task he had. The food situation was so bad that it was very difficult to keep up the hearts of the British people, but just as his great leader Sir Winston Churchill encouraged us when things were so black, so, in a slightly minor way, Lord Woolton could "put over" the food situation in a manner which made us forget that things were quite as bad as they were. We owe a great deal to him for his work in this sphere.

In this House we miss him very much personally. He was a friend and was very accessible to all of us, and I think the nickname to which the noble Lord, the Leader of the Opposition, has referred was really used by all of us, either behind his back or to his face. "Uncle Fred" was a dear man and we shall greatly miss him.

THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURY

My Lords, may I, who worked with Lord Woolton for many years, in peace time and in war time, as a very close colleague, add one short but very heartfelt word in amplification of what has already been so well said about him by the leaders of the Parties?

I suppose there is no one in any part of this House who knew Lord Woolton who does not feel that he has lost a friend; and that, I am sure, is exactly what the whole country feel. They loved him. This nickname which has been referred to by the noble Lord, Lord Carrington, and the noble Lord, Lord Rea, was a real sign of their deep affection. It was in this way a sort of endearment. In all his public life, and especially, I think, during the war, he never let his fellow countrymen down. He always told them the truth as he understood it, however unpalatable it might be. In this way, I think above all, he gained their trust; and during the whole of the rest of his long life he never lost it.

He was a good man; he was a kind man; he was essentially a wise man; and his country owes him very much. I feel it is very right that we in this House should pay our tribute this afternoon to his memory, here, where he was so loved a figure. I am sure we shall all wish to send a message of deep sympathy to Lady Woolton and to his family, whose sorrow we so greatly share.

EARL ATTLEE

My Lords as an old colleague of Lord Woolton in the wartime Administration, I should like to say a few words. My mind goes back 55 years, to when I was a young social worker and I listened to him, as Fred Marquis of the University Settlement, reading a paper on social work. We did not meet again until the war, when he did wonderful work as Minister of Food. Not only had he great administrative gifts; but he had human sympathy. The ordinary people felt that here was a man who understood their wants. This was expressed to me by an old Devonshire dame, who said: "That Lord Woolton, he do sometimes right and sometimes wrong; but we poor folk are beholden to him because he thinks of us." I thought that was a very great tribute. Then I recall his presiding at large committees on reconstruction after the war. He was kindly, helpful, working all the time, and a good colleague. We valued his work. We send our sympathy to Lady Woolton and to his son.