31 Facts About David Steel

1.

David Steel's tenure spanned the duration of the alliance with the Social Democratic Party, which began in 1981 and concluded with the formation of the Liberal Democrats in 1988.

2.

David Steel was a member of the House of Lords as a life peer from 1997 to 2020.

3.

David Steel was brought up in Scotland and Kenya, and educated at Dumbarton Academy; James Gillespie's Boys' School, Edinburgh; the Prince of Wales School, Nairobi; and George Watson's College, Edinburgh, followed by the University of Edinburgh, where he first took an active part in Liberal politics, and was elected Senior President of the Students' Representative Council, and graduated in Law.

4.

David Steel was president of the British Anti-Apartheid Movement campaign from 1966 to 1970.

5.

David Steel represented this seat until 1983, when he was elected in Tweeddale, Ettrick, and Lauderdale, a new constituency covering much of the same territory.

6.

From 1966 to 1970, David Steel was president of the British Anti-Apartheid Movement campaign.

7.

David Steel became the Liberal Party's spokesman on employment, and, in 1970, its Chief Whip.

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8.

David Steel was criticised, both then and since, for not driving a harder bargain.

9.

However, David Steel's defenders contend that the continuing scandal surrounding Thorpe left the party in a very weak state to face an early general election, and David Steel was wise to buy himself some time from Prime Minister James Callaghan.

10.

David Steel had genuine hopes at that stage that the Alliance would win the next general election and form a coalition government.

11.

David Steel has often stated that he feels this portrayal seriously damaged his image.

12.

David Steel was convinced the answer to these difficulties was a single party with a single leader, and was the chief proponent of the 1988 merger between the Liberals and the SDP.

13.

David Steel emerged victorious in persuading both parties to accept merger in the teeth of opposition from Owen and radical Liberals such as Michael Meadowcroft, but badly mishandled the issuing of a joint policy document.

14.

David Steel's colleagues rejected it immediately and demanded a redraft, fatally wounding his authority.

15.

David Steel was briefly joint interim leader of the Social and Liberal Democrats in the run-up to elections in which he did not stand, before becoming the party's foreign affairs spokesman.

16.

David Steel became President of the Liberal International in 1994, holding the office until 1996.

17.

David Steel retired from the House of Commons at the 1997 general election and was made a life peer as Baron David Steel of Aikwood, of Ettrick Forest in the Scottish Borders, on 6 June 1997.

18.

David Steel campaigned for Scottish devolution, and in 1999 was elected to the Scottish Parliament as a Liberal Democrat MSP for Lothians.

19.

David Steel became the first Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament on 12 May 1999.

20.

David Steel suspended his Lib Dem membership for the duration of his tenure as Presiding Officer; that post, like the Speaker of the UK House of Commons, is strictly nonpartisan.

21.

David Steel stepped down as an MSP when the parliament was dissolved for the 2003 election, but remained as Presiding Officer until he had supervised the election of his successor George Reid on 7 May of that year.

22.

David Steel was appointed Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in both 2003 and 2004.

23.

On 14 May 2019, the Liberal Democrats ruled that there were "no grounds for action" against David Steel and reinstated him to party membership.

24.

On 25 February 2020, David Steel announced his resignation from the Liberal Democrats and subsequently his position as a member of the House of Lords, after admitting that during his leadership of the Liberal Party he "assumed" that Smith had been a child abuser, and failed to investigate claims made by Private Eye against Smith, dating from before Smith was a party member.

25.

David Steel retired officially from the House of Lords on 27 March 2020.

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26.

David Steel was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1990 New Year Honours for political and public service.

27.

David Steel has received numerous foreign honours, including: Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit in 1992; Chevalier in the Legion d'Honneur in 2003; and Honorary Knight of the Order of St George in 2016.

28.

David Steel has received a number of Honorary Doctorates from many universities including Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Stirling.

29.

David Steel married fellow law graduate Judith Mary MacGregor in October 1962.

30.

David Steel's recreations are angling and classic car rallying: he won the bronze medallion in 1998 for London to Cape Town.

31.

David Steel is a member of the National Liberal and Royal Over-Seas League clubs.