15 Facts About Desmond Plummer

Desmond Plummer was elected to St Marylebone Borough Council in May 1952 and served as Mayor of the Borough in 1958.

Desmond Plummer was selected as a Conservative candidate for a byelection to the London County Council in St Marylebone in 1960, and returned unopposed for the safe seat.

Desmond Plummer was elected to its successor, the Greater London Council, in 1964 for Westminster and the City of London and in 1973 for St Marylebone.

Desmond Plummer's GLC pioneered the sale of council housing, and negotiated from the Government the power to run the London Underground and the rest of London Transport in 1969.

Desmond Plummer was the only Leader of the GLC to get a second term.

Desmond Plummer believed that London's streets, constructed before the car, were insufficient to cope with the growing traffic, and proposed to deal with the problem by creating urban Motorways in the 'Motorway Box'.

Desmond Plummer had a series of prominent posts within the Conservative Party.

Desmond Plummer had already been Chairman of his own Association in 1965, and served on the Executive of the National Union of Conservative and Unionist Associations from 1967 to 1976.

Desmond Plummer resigned the Leadership of the Conservative Group on the GLC that year, to be succeeded by Horace Cutler, and resigned from the Council in 1976.

Desmond Plummer resumed his business career, becoming a member of Lloyd's of London and Chairman of the Portman Building Society.

Desmond Plummer took up the job of President of the Political Committee of the Carlton Club, the leading Conservative club, from 1979 to 1984.

Desmond Plummer was created a life peer on 29 May 1981 as Baron Plummer of St Marylebone in the City of Westminster.

Desmond Plummer lived in St John's Wood later in life, and he continued to work and to attend the House of Lords well into his final years.

Desmond Plummer was not, as some authors have said, an angler but a supporter of making the Thames clean and took an active interest in the angling clubs on the river.

Desmond Plummer died at St John's Hospice in London on 2 October 2009, at the age of 95.