§ 2.36 p.m.
§ THE MINISTER WITHOUT PORTFOLIO (LORD CARRINGTON)My Lords, it was with a profound shock that I, and I am sure all of your Lordships, learnt the news this morning of the death of Lord Lucan. As your Lordships know, he had been, since 1954, the Chief Whip of the Labour Party in your Lordships' House, as indeed his father had been the Chief Whip of the Conservative Party in this House before him. It would not, perhaps, become me very well to speak of his great service to noble Lords opposite—they are in a far better position than I am to assess this—but what I can say, on behalf of all noble Lords who sit on this side of the House, is how very greatly we valued the way in which he carried out his duties, the spirit of reasonableness and compromise which he brought to the "usual channels", and the very great contribution that he made to the orderly and friendly working of your Lordships' House.
In so far as this House is concerned, that is his official recognition, but I do not think there is anybody in any quarter of the House who did not regard Lord Lucan as a personal friend. He was known to many of us before he came into this House, before he inherited, as a distinguished officer in the Coldstream Guards, and an officer who achieved the greatest ambition that any Regular soldier can have—that is, of commanding a battalion of his regiment.
My Lords, to all of us who had the privilege of knowing him, he was always exactly the same. He was quiet, unassuming, gentle and kind. But underneath this quietness there lay strong conviction and firm principle. He was for the under-privileged; and, if ever there was a question of a minority being bullied by a majority, he was there to speak for them. Noble Lords opposite are fortunate, if I may say so, to have such men in their ranks, and he will be greatly missed by everybody in this House. I know that it would be the wish of noble Lords who sit on this side of the House to send their deep sympathy to his wife and family in their sad and sudden bereavement.
EARL, ALEXANDER OF HILLS-BOROUGHMy Lords, I and all my colleagues on this side of the House are very much indebted to the noble Lord the Leader of the House for the kind manner in which he has referred to our departed friend, Pat Lucan. He was indeed a friend: the kind of friend before whom, as one writer has said, one could always fearlessly think aloud. I am grateful for what the noble Lord said about his relationships with the House at large. I do not think we could possibly have got a more quiet and friendly person to fill such a post—a post which, as every occupier of such a position must know, requires the holder to be a master of friendliness as well as of the basic principles of public relations. One could not have imagined anyone more fit for the post than he proved himself to be.
He entered upon his duties as Chief Whip in 1954 with a very difficult task to perform, for he was following on a Chief Whip who had a wider experience that any Labour Chief Whip had ever had in this House—a man who had been National Agent for the Labour Party, and a man who had been Chief Whip in this House for a quite long-lived Labour Government. Yet we can look back now at the record of the last more than eight years of service by Lord Lucan and say that he fulfilled the task to the highest satisfaction of all his colleagues in our Party, and that he did it in a manner which, as indicated by the noble Lord the Leader of the House, did not estrange him from the general membership of the House.
I am bound to say that I am inclined to speak my mind rather openly, and it was a very good thing sometimes to have Lord Lucan beside one, saying quietly, "Well, perhaps…", "Don't you think…", or "Perhaps it may be so; hadn't you better think of that again? "He had a wonderful manner for conveying what perhaps was a better spirit than I might otherwise have observed, and for that I am very grateful—deeply grateful—to him.
His career as a whole was properly distinguished. He fought bravely in the First War; he was injured, and was awarded the Military Cross. He served in South Africa as an A.D.C.—and what an A.D.C. he must have made!—to the Governor; and he always thereafter took 800 a great interest in African affairs. As the noble Lord, Lord Carrington, has said (I put it in my own language), he was always for the underdog, and wherever it seemed to him that injustice was likely to obtain he was always against that injustice. He was a great person. I could speak for very much longer, but perhaps your Lordships will excuse me if I do not do so; I am feeling rather deeply about this sudden loss. I am glad to think that he passed, in the end, peaceably. He had been sleeping with his wife in their room until early this morning, when he suddenly felt ill, and asked her if she could get a doctor. She got a doctor within a few minutes, but, by the time they got back to the room, he had passed away, probably from a coronary infection. It was perhaps a brave and easy way to end such a valuable life of service to Parliament, to his country and, above all, to his friends, who will never forget him.
§ 2.39 p.m.
LORD REAMy Lords, I hope the noble Lords to my left, of the official Opposition, will forgive me if, after that tribute from his Leader, I add a few words, on behalf of my noble friends on these Benches, about Lord Lucan. On these sad occasions, when we pay tribute and express our regret at the passing of one of our colleagues who has left us, it is of course inevitable that there is a margin, a degree, between merely official salutation and very personal sorrow. The convention in your Lordships' House permits us to record our tributes to a noble Lord who has held an official position in this Chamber, as Lord Lucan had done for the last ten or eleven years. But quite apart from his official position and his responsible duties which he carried out so meticulously, so modestly, so efficiently and pleasantly. there can be no regular, or semi-regular, attendant in this House who does not personally and sincerely mourn the loss of a friend and a good man—a good man who in the very political position of a Party Chief Whip nevertheless added honesty and integrity to political life.
He served his Party well in the ways in which we know; yet, such was his gentle nature, one saw him first as a kindly man, and only by thinking again would one remember that his chief rôle 801 was a Party rôle, with all that that implies. Our grief, as I am sure all will agree, is genuine and deep, and our sympathy for his wife and family is heartfelt and sincere.