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{{Short description|British politician (1917–1979)}} | |||
{{Infobox Chancellor | |||
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2022}} | |||
|name=Rt. Hon. Reginald Maudling | |||
{{Use British English|date=October 2022}} | |||
|image=Rmaudling1974.jpg | |||
|order=] | |||
{{more inline|date = July 2022}} | |||
|term_start =] ] | |||
{{Infobox officeholder | |||
|term_end =] ] | |||
| |
| honorific-prefix = ] | ||
| name = Reginald Maudling | |||
|successor =] | |||
| honorific-suffix = | |||
|birth_date = ],] | |||
| image = Reginald Maudling 1974.jpg | |||
|birth_place = ], ] | |||
| caption = Maudling in 1974 | |||
|death_date = ], ] | |||
| office = ] | |||
|death_place = | |||
| primeminister = ] | |||
|party=] | |||
| term_start = 20 June 1970 | |||
| term_end = 18 July 1972 | |||
| predecessor = ] | |||
| successor = ] | |||
| office1 = ] | |||
| primeminister1 = ]<br>] | |||
| term_start1 = 13 July 1962 | |||
| term_end1 = 16 October 1964 | |||
| predecessor1 = ] | |||
| successor1 = ] | |||
| office2 = ] | |||
| primeminister2 = ] | |||
| term_start2 = 9 October 1961 | |||
| term_end2 = 13 July 1962 | |||
| predecessor2 = ] | |||
| successor2 = ] | |||
| office3 = ] | |||
| primeminister3 = ] | |||
| term_start3 = 14 October 1959 | |||
| term_end3 = 9 October 1961 | |||
| predecessor3 = ] | |||
| successor3 = ] | |||
| office4 = ] | |||
| primeminister4 = ] | |||
| term_start4 = 14 January 1957 | |||
| term_end4 = 14 October 1959 | |||
| predecessor4 = ] | |||
| successor4 = ] | |||
| office5 = ] | |||
| primeminister5 = ] | |||
| term_start5 = 7 April 1955 | |||
| term_end5 = 14 January 1957 | |||
| predecessor5 = ] | |||
| successor5 = ] | |||
| office6 = ] | |||
| primeminister6 = ] | |||
| term_start6 = 24 November 1952 | |||
| term_end6 = 7 April 1955 | |||
| predecessor6 = ] | |||
| successor6 = ] | |||
| office7 = ] <br> for ]<br /><small>] (1950–1974)</small> | |||
| term_start7 = 23 February 1950 | |||
| term_end7 = 14 February 1979 | |||
| predecessor7 = ] | |||
| successor7 = ]{{Collapsed infobox section begin|] positions}} | |||
| office8 = ] | |||
| leader8 = ] | |||
| 1blankname8 = Shadowing | |||
| 1namedata8 = ]<br>] | |||
| term_start8 = 11 February 1975 | |||
| term_end8 = 11 April 1976 | |||
| predecessor8 = ] | |||
| successor8 = ] | |||
| leader9 = ]<br>] | |||
| 1blankname9 = Shadowing | |||
| 1namedata9 = ] | |||
| term_start9 = 27 July 1965 | |||
| term_end9 = 11 November 1965 | |||
| predecessor9 = ] | |||
| successor9 = ] | |||
| office10 = ] | |||
| leader10 = ] | |||
| 1blankname10 = Shadowing | |||
| 1namedata10 = ] | |||
| term_start10 = 21 April 1968 | |||
| term_end10 = 28 February 1969 | |||
| predecessor10 = ] | |||
| successor10 = ] | |||
| office11 = ] | |||
| leader11 = ] | |||
| 1blankname11 = Shadowing | |||
| 1namedata11 = ] | |||
| term_start11 = 16 October 1964 | |||
| term_end11 = 27 July 1965 | |||
| predecessor11 = ] | |||
| successor11 = ]{{Collapsed infobox section end}} | |||
| birth_date = {{birth date|1917|3|7|df=y}} | |||
| birth_place = ], ], England | |||
| death_date = {{death date and age|1979|2|14|1917|3|7|df=y}} | |||
| death_place = ], London, England | |||
| party = ] | |||
| spouse = {{Marriage|Beryl Laverick|1939}} | |||
| children = 4 | |||
| alma_mater = ] | |||
}} | }} | ||
'''Reginald Maudling''' (7 March 1917 – 14 February 1979)<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211029103135/https://archivesearch.lib.cam.ac.uk/repositories/9/resources/1720 |date=29 October 2021 }} Churchill Archives Centre, Archivesearch. Retrieved 29 October 2021</ref> was a British politician who served as ] from 1962 to 1964 and as ] from 1970 to 1972. From 1955 until the late 1960s, he was spoken of as a prospective ] leader, and he was twice seriously considered for the post; he was ]'s chief rival in ]. He also held directorships in several British financial firms. | |||
'''Reginald Maudling''' (],] - ], ]) was a ] ] known for his intellectual brilliance, political pragmatism, and easygoing nature but slightly dogged by a reputation for laziness. After helping rebuild the ] after its ], he became ] for ] and served as ] in the early 1960s. Maudling was considered for promotion to ] in 1963, and may also have made it in 1970 but for his 1965 defeat for the party leadership by ]. Serving in Heath's government as ], Maudling struggled to cope with the troubles of ] and was punched in Parliament by ] MP ], which led to her 6 month expulsion from the chamber. His later political career was overshadowed by financial ] including his dealings with corrupt architect ], and he was subjected to a great deal of lampooning. His hedonistic personal lifestyle led to an early death at the age of 61 as a result of ]. | |||
As Home Secretary, he was responsible for the UK Government's ] policy during the period that included ]. In July 1972, he resigned as Home Secretary due to an unrelated scandal in one of the companies of which he was director. | |||
== Youth == | |||
Reginald Maudling was born in North Finchley and was named after his father, Reginald George Maudling, who ran the Commercial Calculating Company Ltd which made calculating machines. His early years were spent in ] when the family moved to escape German air raids; he won a scholarship to attend the ] and ]. At ], Maudling stayed out of undergraduate politics and concentrated on developing a personal ] of ] and opposition to ideology. He worked hard, and obtained his degree in ] with first class honours. | |||
==Early life== | |||
Shortly after graduating he had formed the idea of going into politics. He set up a meeting with ] to discuss whether it would be better, as a moderate conservative by nature, to join the ] or ]; Nicolson advised him to wait. Maudling identified being a lawyer as a career, and was called to the ] by the ] in 1940. However he did not practise as a ] due to ], having volunteered for service in the ]. Poor eyesight led him to the RAF intelligence branch where he rose to the rank of Flight Lieutenant before switching to become Private Secretary to the ], ]. It was his experience helping Sinclair that led Maudling to confirm his decision to become active in politics. | |||
Reginald Maudling was born in Woodside Park, ], and was named after his father, Reginald George Maudling, an ] at R. Watson & Sons and Public Valuer,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=30501|page=1439|date=29 January 1918}}</ref> who contracted to do actuarial and financial calculations as the ]. The family moved to ] to escape German air raids; Maudling won scholarships to the ] and ].<ref name="MCreg">{{cite book|editor1-last=Levens|editor1-first=R.G.C.|title=Merton College Register 1900–1964|date=1964|publisher=Basil Blackwell|location=Oxford|page=267}}</ref> | |||
He stayed out of undergraduate politics at ], and studied the works of ]; he was to formulate his conclusions later as to the inseparability of economic and political freedom: "the purpose of State control and the guiding principle of its application is the achievement of true freedom". He obtained a first class ] degree.<ref>Shepherd 2004</ref> | |||
==Early political career== | |||
Maudling had decided to join the ]. As the war ended, he was adopted as parliamentary candidate for ] and ], a newly created ] in West ]. In the subsequent ] landslide ], Maudling was one of many Conservative candidates who failed to win seats thought to have been safe. However his defeat did not deter him from a career in politics. | |||
==Political career== | |||
After their defeat in the 1945 general election, the Conservative Party engaged in an extensive rethink of its policy. Maudling, unemployed after giving up his ] post, was recruited to play an important role as Head of Economics at the ]. He also acted as a personal adviser to ] on economic issues. He persuaded the party to accept many of the Labour government's ] programme and social services while cutting government spending. In March 1946 Maudling was adopted as the prospective candidate for ], close to his birthplace in north ]. Labour had unexpectedly won the seat in 1945, but it was considered to be marginal. In 1950 he was elected as ] with a majority of 10,534. | |||
Shortly after graduating, Maudling set up a meeting with ] to discuss whether it would be better, as a moderate conservative, to join the ] or ]; Nicolson advised him to wait. Maudling was ] at the ] in 1940. However, he did not practise as a ], having volunteered for service in the ] (RAF) in the ].{{cn|date=October 2022}} | |||
Owing to poor eyesight he took desk jobs in the RAF intelligence branch, where he rose—as a "Wingless Wonder", as officers who were not qualified to wear pilot's wings were nicknamed—to the rank of ]; he was then appointed ] to the ], ].<ref>Baston, ''Reggie'', Chapter 2</ref> | |||
==Ministerial office in the 1950s== | |||
Following the ], Churchill made Maudling a junior Minister at the Ministry of Civil Aviation. However, his experience of preparing economic policy led to his speaking on behalf of the ] on the 1952 budget and thus to an appointment, later that year, as Economic Secretary to the Treasury. With his mentor ] as ], Maudling worked to reduce taxes and controls in order to move from post-war austerity to affluence. He endorsed Butler's great vision of a doubling of incomes within 25 years. Maudling was also a natural performer on television, which was to prove a great asset in his later career. | |||
===Parliamentary candidate=== | |||
When ] took over as Prime Minister in 1955, Maudling was promoted to head a department as ]. He supported the ]. The Ministry was responsible for aircraft production and supplying the armed forces, and Maudling came to agree with critics who argued that it was an unnecessary intermediary; he therefore recommended its abolition. Although supportive of ]'s appointment as Prime Minister over the rival claims of Butler in 1957, Maudling found himself in difficulties over his position in the new government. He refused to continue at the Ministry of Supply and also rejected an offer of the Ministry of Health because ], with whom he had a rivalry, had held the post five years earlier and Maudling did not want to be seen as five years behind him. | |||
Maudling wrote an essay on Conservative policy in November 1943, recommending that the Conservatives neither imitate the ] nor reflexively oppose all controls; in the ], he was selected as parliamentary candidate for ], a newly created ] in ], although there were four applicants and he had no ties to that constituency. In the subsequent Labour landslide Maudling was defeated like many others, although Heston and Isleworth had been expected to be a safe Conservative seat. After its defeat in the 1945 general election, the Conservative Party engaged in an extensive rethink of its policy. Maudling argued that the Party had depended excessively on outdated economic slogans and the popularity of ]. | |||
In November 1945, Maudling became the first staff member of the Conservative Parliamentary Secretariat, later the ], where he was head of the Economic Section. He persuaded the party to accept much of the Labour government's ] programme and ] while cutting government spending. In March 1946, Maudling was chosen as the prospective candidate for ], close to his birthplace in ], and began giving speeches there. Labour had unexpectedly won the seat in 1945, but it was considered to be ]. In 1950, Maudling was elected as Member of Parliament with an absolute majority.<ref>Baston, ''Reggie'', Chapters 3–5; "professional politician" (as opposed to gentleman amateur, born to politics, p. 49. Maudling had 53% of the vote in a three-party contest; the Conservative lead was 10,534 out of 70,687.</ref> | |||
Macmillan thought Maudling clever but also vain and somewhat lazy. He appointed him to the near sinecure post of ] and spokesman in the ] for the Ministry of Fuel and Power, which was technically a demotion. Nine months later, Maudling had proved his usefulness and Macmillan brought him into the ] (], ]) where he acted more as a ]: he had specific responsibility for chairing the talks to persuade the six members of the ] to join a free-trade area with Britain. This attempt was vetoed by ]. Meanwhile Maudling became an underwriting member of ] in December 1957, although his assets were somewhat below average for other 'names'. | |||
== |
===Member of Parliament and Cabinet=== | ||
Following the ], Churchill made Maudling a junior Minister at the ]. However, his experience of preparing economic policy led to his speaking on behalf of the ] on the 1952 budget and thus to an appointment, later that year, as ]. With his mentor ] as ], Maudling worked to reduce taxes and controls in order to move from post-war austerity to affluence. When ] took over as prime minister in 1955, Maudling was promoted to head a department as ]. He supported the ]. | |||
Maudling entered the front line of politics after the ] when appointed ]. He was responsible for introducing the government's proposals to help areas of high ]. This was achieved by paying grants to companies to create new plants in these deprived areas, and also by the government taking over unused land for development. Maudling also succeeded in negotiating a free trade agreement between the countries outside the ], this became the ] and was some compensation for his failure to negotiate a free trade area with the Common Market. Maudling was opposed to any proposal to join the Common Market, remarking "I can think of no more retrograde step economically or politically". This remark was to be quoted against him when he was part of later governments applying for Common Market membership. | |||
The Ministry was responsible for aircraft production and supplying the armed forces, and Maudling came to agree with critics who argued that it was an unnecessary intermediary; he therefore recommended its abolition. Although supportive of ]'s appointment as prime minister over the rival claims of Butler in 1957, Maudling found himself in difficulties over his position in the new government. He refused to continue at the ] and also rejected an offer of the Ministry of Health because ], with whom he had a rivalry, had held the post five years earlier and Maudling did not want to be seen as five years behind him. | |||
Reginald Maudling was for a short time, as ] in 1961, responsible for the process of decolonisation. In this position he chaired constitutional conferences for ], ] and ] which prepared them up for independence; his plan for Northern Rhodesia was controversial and he had to threaten resignation before it was approved. However Maudling was keen to return to economic policy, and seized his opportunity when Macmillan made it clear in private that he supported a voluntary ]. Maudling promptly made a persuasive case in public, and three weeks later was appointed ] in Macmillan's "]" attempt to rejuvenate his Cabinet. | |||
Macmillan appointed Maudling to the post of ] and spokesman in the ] for the Ministry of Fuel and Power, which was technically a demotion. Nine months later, Maudling had proved his usefulness; Macmillan brought him into the Cabinet on 17 September 1957, where he acted more as a ]: he had specific responsibility for persuading the six members of the embryonic ], who had recently signed the ], to abandon their proposal for a ] in favour of a wider free-trade area where each country would preserve their own external ]s. However, Maudling's lack of international experience led him to underestimate the importance of the nascent Community and what was constructive in it. Faced with widespread rejection of the proposals, Maudling aroused hostility in ] and Paris by seeking to play off the Germans against the French. | |||
==Chancellor of the Exchequer== | |||
As Chancellor of the Exchequer, Maudling soon cut ] and bank ]s. His 1963 ] aimed at "expansion without inflation". Following a period of economic difficulty, with a growth target of 4%. Maudling was able to remove ] from owner occupiers' residential premises. He also abolished the rate of duty on home-brewed ] which in effect legalised it. This was the period in which Maudling was at his most popular within the Conservative Party and in the country. | |||
On 14 November 1958, six months after the election of ] as premier, ], the French ], confirmed to the Press that France would reject the Maudling plan. Two days later, the British delegation to the Community formally called an end to accession negotiations. Maudling later revised his proposals, which were to form the basis of the ].<ref>{{cite book |last=Beloff |first=Nora |title=The General Says No |publisher=] |year=1963 |location=Harmondsworth |pages=78–80 }}</ref> | |||
] | |||
Meanwhile, Maudling became an underwriting member of ] in December 1957, although his assets were somewhat below average for other 'names'.<ref>Baston, ''Reggie'', Chapter 6–8</ref> | |||
By 1963 Maudling was being considered as a possible future Prime Minister after Macmillan. However, Macmillan's sudden illness and announcement of his resignation in October 1963 came at a time when Maudling was considered too junior. He had also performed disappointingly at the Conservative Party conference, which had become a hustings for the leadership. He retained his post as Chancellor under the new prime Minister ], and in the ] Maudling had a prominent role at the helm of the party's daily press conferences while Douglas-Home toured the country. | |||
===President of the Board of Trade=== | |||
Maudling was praised for conveying a calm and relaxed image, but was unable to prevent the party's narrow defeat. On the ]'s election results programme, the journalist ] said that he believed that if Maudling had been leader, the narrow Conservative defeat would have been a narrow Conservative victory. | |||
Maudling entered the front line of politics after the ] when appointed ]. He was responsible for introducing the government's proposals to help areas of high unemployment. This was achieved by paying grants to companies to create new plants in these deprived areas, and also by the government taking over unused land for development. Maudling also succeeded in negotiating a free trade agreement between the countries outside the ]; this became the ] and was some compensation for his failure to negotiate a free trade area with the Common Market. Maudling was opposed to any proposal to join the Common Market on the basis that it would end Britain's right to make commercial agreements with New Zealand and Australia. He was later to remark that "I can think of no more retrograde step economically or politically". This comment was to be quoted against him when, less than two years later, he was Chancellor of the Exchequer at the time of the reopening of negotiations for Common Market membership.<ref>Beloff, N., p. 87.</ref> | |||
===Colonial Secretary=== | |||
== Leadership bid == | |||
Reginald Maudling was for a short time, as ] in 1961, responsible for the process of ]. In this position he chaired constitutional conferences for ], ] and ] which prepared them for independence; his plan for Northern Rhodesia was controversial and he had to threaten resignation before it was approved. However, Maudling was keen to return to economic policy, and seized his opportunity when Macmillan made it clear in private that he supported a voluntary ]. Maudling promptly made his case in public, and three weeks later was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer in Macmillan's "]" attempt to rejuvenate his Cabinet.<ref>Baston, ''Reggie'', Chapters 9 and 10</ref> | |||
Out of office, Maudling felt the loss of his Chancellor's salary keenly. He accepted the offer of a seat on the board of ] in November 1964, one of the factors which led to his being shifted to spokesman on Foreign Affairs in early 1965. Unlike other potential leadership contenders, Maudling publicly maintained his loyalty to Douglas-Home as criticisms of his leadership mounted. When Douglas-Home resigned, after putting in place a system in which the leadership was directly elected, Maudling fought against ] for the position of candidate to the party centre-right. Unfortunately, for Maudling, ] also stood as a candidate supporting ] and proto-] economics. | |||
===Chancellor of the Exchequer=== | |||
Maudling's business directorships with Kleinwort Benson and others were mentioned by his opponents as evidence of his lack of commitment for the role, and he was felt to be too close to the Macmillan/Douglas-Home style of politics when the Conservative Party needed a fresh start. He won 133 votes against Heath's 150; Powell's 15 votes would have been more likely to go to Maudling had Powell not stood. The defeat was a surprise to Maudling, as the Conservative Parliamentary Party was felt to be more in tune with his policies than with those of Heath (although feeling in the country and in most newspapers favoured the election of Heath). | |||
As Chancellor, Maudling soon cut ] and bank interest rates.<ref>Edmund Dell, ''The Chancellors: A History of the Chancellors of the Exchequer, 1945–90'' (HarperCollins, 1997) pp 283–303, covers his term as Chancellor.</ref> His 1963 budget<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080228223126/http://cairsweb.llgc.org.uk/images/ilw1/ilw3641.gif |date=28 February 2008 }} Illingworth Exhibition: Cartoons of the 1960s. Contemporary cartoon of the budget announcement. Retrieved 25 February 2008.</ref> aimed at "expansion without inflation". Following a period of economic difficulty, with a growth target of 4%, Maudling was able to remove ] from owner-occupiers' residential premises. He also abolished the rate of duty on ] beer which in effect legalised it. This was the period in which Maudling was at his most popular within the Conservative Party and in the country. | |||
However, later commentators have been less kind to Maudling: ] and his Chancellor ] (who nevertheless sounded out Maudling for the governorship of the Bank of England in 1966)<ref>Baston, Chapter 16</ref> blamed the "dash for growth" that followed the 1963 budget for increasing ]'s chronic instability between 1964 and 1967 and by greatly increasing domestic demand the budget certainly exacerbated the existing ] problem. Maudling largely recognised this himself by the time of the 1964 budget and, although he increased taxes, he did little to subdue demand in an election year. | |||
==Deputy Leader and Home Secretary== | |||
Maudling served as Deputy Leader under Heath, and was also a prominent member of the ]. However, he was neither close to Edward Heath personally or politically, and as a consequence his influence declined; his support for an incomes policy now went against party policy. He also tended to make gaffes, as for example when he said ] had been following the same policy as the Conservatives on ] and "I can't think of anything he has done wrongly". When the Conservatives returned to power in 1970, Maudling was appointed ]; the most pressing problem at the Home Office was tackling ] in ]. Maudling did not enjoy this responsibility. After boarding the aeroplane at the end of his first visit to the province, he remarked "For God's sake bring me a large ]. What a bloody awful country." | |||
===First unsuccessful leadership bid=== | |||
] | |||
By 1963, during the ], there was talk, encouraged by ] (Chief Whip) and ] (Party Chairman), of Maudling succeeding Macmillan as prime minister. Maudling visited Butler (Deputy Prime Minister) and obtained a mutual promise that they would, if necessary, agree to serve under one another – Maudling believed that he had gained an advantage in obtaining the agreement of Butler, his senior, to serve under him if necessary. ] claimed in '']'' on 28 July that Butler led Maudling by 2:1 in the Cabinet, although Maudling had more support amongst backbench MPs.<ref>Howard 1987, pp. 300–2</ref> | |||
Macmillan's sudden illness and announcement of his resignation in October 1963 came at a time when Maudling's support had fallen. He was also poorly received at the Conservative Party conference, which had become a hustings for the leadership, despite coaching from ], in how to deliver his speech. Back in London the following week, a process of "consultation" by ] ] and by Redmayne declared Foreign Secretary ], rather than Maudling or Butler, to be the compromise candidate. ], Macleod, ] and Maudling (known as "the Quad" in some accounts of the following days) sought to persuade Butler to refuse to serve under Home, so that Butler rather than Home would have to become prime minister. Macleod and Maudling demanded that Dilhorne lay the results of his consultations before the Cabinet but he refused.<ref name="Howard 1987, p. 316-21">Howard 1987, p. 316-21</ref> Maudling attended the meeting at Powell's house late in the evening of 17 October, "well-refreshed" after attending a formal dinner and seems to have "gone along with it" rather than being a ringleader, although he and Hailsham agreed to serve under Butler.<ref>Sandford 2005, pp. 705</ref> On the morning of Saturday 19 October Butler then Maudling agreed to serve under Home, enabling him to accept office as prime minister.<ref name="Howard 1987, p. 316-21"/> | |||
Maudling's tendency to exude reassuring calmness in interviews, normally helpful to him, was damaging when he referred to reducing ] violence to "an acceptable level", a remark widely regarded as a ]. He also tended to trust the ] controlled ] and gloss over differences between their approach and that of the United Kingdom government. This approach backfired when the ] ] resigned over a split in March 1971. That August, Maudling reluctantly authorised the Northern Ireland government to introduce ] without trial for terror suspects, which caused widespread upheaval and anger among the ] population due to its exclusive use on that community, and was followed by a massive escalation in the level of violence. | |||
Maudling retained his post as Chancellor under the new prime minister and in the ], Maudling had a prominent role at the helm of the party's daily press conferences, while Douglas-Home toured the country. On the ]'s election results programme, the journalist ] said that he believed that if Maudling had been leader, the narrow Conservative defeat would have been a narrow Conservative victory.<ref>Baston, ''Reggie'', chapters 11–13. Howard quoted from Maudling's autobiography.</ref> Upon being forced out of the post by the election defeat, Maudling left a note to his successor, James Callaghan, simply stating ''"Good luck, old cock.... Sorry to leave it in such a mess"''.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Owen |first1=Paul |title=Ex-Treasury secretary Liam Byrne's note to his successor: there's no money left |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2010/may/17/liam-byrne-note-successor |access-date=14 September 2023 |work=The Guardian |date=17 May 2010}}</ref> | |||
Maudling's statement in the ] after ] agreed with the ]'s claim that the ] had only fired in self-defence, and so inflamed the nationalist MP ] a witness to the events who was not called on to speak that she punched him. | |||
===Second unsuccessful leadership bid=== | |||
Eventually ] decided to bring in direct rule of Northern Ireland under a separate ]. Maudling's prominence within the Heath government led to much lampooning by comedians, especially ], which Maudling himself took in good humour. On one occasion Maudling was called upon to present a TV award from ] to the now-deceased ] of the Python team; Chapman fell to the ground on receiving the award and "crawl all the way back to his table, screaming loudly, as loudly as he could." | |||
{{unsourced|section|date=August 2022}} | |||
Out of office, Maudling accepted the offer of a seat on the board of ] in November 1964, one of the factors which led to his being shifted to spokesman on Foreign Affairs in early 1965. Unlike other potential leadership contenders, Maudling publicly maintained his loyalty to Douglas-Home as criticisms of his leadership mounted. When Douglas-Home resigned, after putting in place a system in which ], Maudling fought against ] for the position of candidate to the party centre-right. | |||
Unfortunately for Maudling, ] also stood, but he was a candidate supporting ] and proto-] economics, which at that time had little support. Powell won 15 votes. Maudling won 133 votes against Heath's 150; Powell's 15 votes were seen as more likely to have gone to Maudling had Powell not stood, but they would have made no difference to Heath's narrow majority. This was a moment of philosophical instability for the Conservatives. Their historic scepticism of Keynesianism began to grow through the 1960s because there was little to distinguish between the policies of the Conservatives and Labour. The cross-party support for economic planning and union negotiation was becoming increasingly unable to stimulate high levels of economic growth. | |||
Regarding criminal justice matters, Maudling was mildly progressive. He made no attempt, despite his personal support, to reintroduce ] after its abolition in 1969. He introduced Community Service, a new concept, as an alternative to prison, and in 1971 modestly tightened up the immigration rules. He was criticised for ordering the ] of ], later one of the founders of the ]. Dutschke, who was in Britain to recuperate from an assassination attempt, was considered a ] ]. | |||
Maudling's business directorships with Kleinwort Benson and others were mentioned by his opponents as evidence of his lack of commitment for the role, and he was criticised as too close to the Macmillan/Douglas-Home style of politics. | |||
==Scandal== | |||
In 1972 Maudling's business activities were causing considerable disquiet and speculation in the press. He had obtained in 1966 a directorship in the company of ], an ] for whom Maudling helped obtain some lucrative contracts. Poulson routinely did business through ] and in 1972 was made ]. The bankruptcy hearings disclosed his bribe payments, and Maudling's connection became public knowledge. Maudling came to the decision that his responsibility for the ], which was beginning ] investigations into Poulson, made his position as Home secretary untenable. He resigned on ], to general sympathy from the press. Shortly after receiving Maudling's resignation Edward Heath's government performed a 'U-turn' on economic policy and subsequently adopted an approach strikingly similar to Maudling's. | |||
===Deputy Leader and Home Secretary=== | |||
{{wikiquote}} | |||
Maudling served as Deputy Leader under Heath, and was also a prominent member of the ]. However, he was neither personally nor politically close to Heath, and as a consequence his influence declined; his support for an incomes policy now went against party policy. He also tended to make gaffes, as for example when he said ] had been following the same policy as the Conservatives on ] and "I can't think of anything he has done wrongly". After Enoch Powell had been sacked from the Shadow Cabinet in 1968 for his controversial '']'' speech, Maudling was moved from the position of ] to become ] until 1969 when he was replaced by ]. When the Conservatives returned to power in 1970, Maudling was appointed ]; the most pressing problem at the Home Office was tackling ] in Northern Ireland. After boarding the aircraft at the end of his first visit to the region, he remarked "For God's sake bring me a large ]. What a bloody awful country."<ref>''Sunday Times'' Insight Team, ''Ulster'' (Penguin, 1972), page 213; {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081210131828/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4587382.stm |date=10 December 2008 }} BBC News Online, 6 January 2006. Retrieved 25 February 2008.</ref> When Iain Macleod, who had been appointed as Chancellor in the new Conservative Government, died after barely a month in office, it was reported in '']'' that Maudling "was being consistently tipped" at Westminster to move from the Home Office back to his old post.<ref name="GHp122July1970">{{cite news |last1=Warden |first1=John |title=Maudling tipped as Chancellor |work=The Glasgow Herald |date=22 July 1970 |page=1}}</ref> Ultimately the post went to ]. | |||
Heath advised Maudling not to drop out of the public eye and he continued to make many media appearances. On the Conservative Party's electoral defeat in 1974, ] was replaced as leader by ]. She surprised many by appointing Maudling to the post of Shadow Foreign Secretary. However, Maudling failed to make an impact in his new role and clashed with Mrs. Thatcher over economics. He was dismissed on ], ]. Maudling then openly attacked the ] economic theory which she had adopted. | |||
Maudling's attitude of reassuring calmness in interviews, normally helpful to him, was sometimes damaging. At a 15 December 1971 news conference in Belfast, Maulding said that the British Army had the power to reduce ] violence to "]", a remark widely regarded as a ].<ref>Mansbach, Richard (1973), ''Northern Ireland: Half a Century of Partition'', Facts on File, Inc, New York, pg 123, ISBN 0-87196-182-2</ref> He also tended to trust the ]-controlled ] and gloss over differences between their approach and that of the United Kingdom government. This backfired when the ], ], resigned when denied the full number of troops he requested in March 1971. That August, Maudling authorised the Northern Ireland government to introduce ] without trial for terror suspects, which caused widespread upheaval and anger among the ] population due to its exclusive use on that community,<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070205092334/http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/people/biography/mpeople.htm |date=5 February 2007 }}, CAIN Web Service. Retrieved 25 February 2008.</ref> and was followed by an already planned massive escalation in the level of violence. | |||
Regarding criminal justice, Maudling made no attempt, despite his personal support, to reintroduce capital punishment after its abolition in 1969. He introduced Community Service, a new alternative to prison, and in 1971 modestly tightened the immigration rules.<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200810060641/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/24/newsid_2518000/2518513.stm |date=10 August 2020 }} BBC News Online. Retrieved 25 February 2008.</ref> He was criticised for ordering the ] of ], a leader of the ]. Dutschke, who was in Britain to recuperate from an assassination attempt, was considered a student anarchist.{{citation needed|date=September 2012}} | |||
Maudling was often the target of satirical cartoons in major newspapers, and was lampooned in the magazine '']'' and the television comedy show '']''.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Larsen|first1=Darl|title=Monty Python's Flying Circus: An Utterly Complete, Thoroughly Unillustrated, Absolutely Unauthorized Guide to Possibly All the References|date=2008|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-1461669708|page=221|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ud9h3kdxQNQC&pg=PA221|access-date=13 February 2017|archive-date=17 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170217053545/https://books.google.com/books?id=Ud9h3kdxQNQC&pg=PA221|url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
===Bloody Sunday=== | |||
After soldiers from the ] shot and killed 14 protestors from a ] (NICRA) march on 30 January 1972, Maudling gave a statement in the House of Commons, agreeing with statements published by army spokesmen claiming that the regiment had only opened fire in self-defence.<ref>, www.time.com. Retrieved 25 February 2008.</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2010/jun/15/bloody-sunday-inquiry-key-findings|title=Bloody Sunday inquiry: key findings|first1=Haroon|last1=Siddique|first2=Megan|last2=French|date=15 June 2010|access-date=19 January 2019|work=The Guardian|archive-date=27 October 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151027172026/http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2010/jun/15/bloody-sunday-inquiry-key-findings|url-status=live}}</ref> Northern Irish politician and MP ], who had been present in ] when the incident occurred, attempted to respond to Maudling's statement but was denied by Speaker of the House ]; Devlin responded by walking across the commons floor and slapping Maudling. Devlin subsequently told journalists that Maudling's statement contained numerous falsehoods and expressed no regrets for the victims of the incident.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EKx0wOFQP8|title=Bernadette Devlin delivers a proletarian protest (31/01/1972)|date=21 November 2014 |access-date=19 January 2019|via=YouTube|archive-date=9 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181209191708/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EKx0wOFQP8|url-status=live}}</ref><ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060623133532/http://news.bbc.co.uk/vote2001/hi/english/northern_ireland/newsid_1263000/1263861.stm |date=23 June 2006 }} BBC News Online, 6 April 2001 Retrieved 25 February 2008.</ref> Eventually, Edward Heath decided to bring in ] of Northern Ireland under a separate ]. In 1974, Shane Paul O'Doherty, an ] member, sent Maudling a ], which slightly injured him.<ref>{{cite news|last=Horsnell|first=Michael|title=Mr Maudling slightly hurt by letter bomb|url=http://find.galegroup.com/ttda/infomark.do?&source=gale&prodId=TTDA&userGroupName=oxford&tabID=T003&docPage=article&searchType=BasicSearchForm&docId=CS18577986&type=multipage&contentSet=LTO&version=1.0|access-date=31 January 2014|work=The Times|date=2 February 1974|page=1}}</ref> | |||
===Scandal=== | |||
In 1972, Maudling's business activities were causing considerable disquiet and speculation in the press. In 1966, he had obtained a directorship in the company of ], an architect Maudling helped obtain lucrative contracts. Poulson routinely did business through bribery and in 1972 was made bankrupt. The bankruptcy hearings disclosed his bribe payments, and Maudling's connection became public knowledge. Maudling came to the decision that his responsibility for the ], which was beginning fraud investigations into Poulson, made his position as Home Secretary untenable. He resigned on 18 July, to general sympathy from the press.{{citation needed|date=September 2012}} | |||
Shortly after receiving Maudling's resignation, Edward Heath's government performed a 'U-turn' on economic policy and subsequently adopted an approach strikingly similar to Maudling's. Heath advised Maudling not to drop out of the public eye and he continued to make many media appearances. In the year after the Conservative Party's electoral defeat in 1974, Heath was replaced as leader by ]. She appointed Maudling to the post of Shadow Foreign Secretary. However, Maudling clashed with Thatcher over economics, and after less than two years in the role he was dismissed on 19 November 1976. Departing, Maudling summed up his career as "hired by Winston Churchill, fired by Margaret Thatcher".{{citation needed|date=September 2012}} | |||
==Last years== | ==Last years== | ||
In 1969, Maudling had been president of the Real Estate Fund of America, whose chief executive, Jerome Hoffman, had been imprisoned for fraud; Maudling had also been an adviser to the Peachey Property Corporation, whose chairman, ], had ] company money and later took his own life. He was revealed to have lobbied for more aid to ] after obtaining a commission for Poulson there, which had led to heavy losses for the Maltese government. These further revelations led to a Parliamentary inquiry into the conduct of Maudling and two other MPs linked to Poulson. This inquiry published its report on 14 July 1977; the report concluded that Maudling had indulged in "conduct inconsistent with the standards which the House is entitled to expect from its members".{{citation needed|date=September 2012}} | |||
When the report was considered by the House of Commons, the Conservative Party organised its MPs to attend the debate to |
When the report was considered by the House of Commons, the Conservative Party organised its MPs to attend the debate to "Save Reggie". An amendment was put down to "take note" of the report, instead of endorsing it, and carried by 230 votes (211 Conservatives, 17 Labour, 2 Liberals and 2 Ulster Unionists) to 207. No punishment was imposed. An attempt by backbench Labour MPs to expel Maudling from the House was defeated by 331 votes to 11, and a move to suspend him for six months was lost by 324 to 97. | ||
As Lewis Baston's 2004 biography recounts, Maudling and his wife became heavy drinkers once his political career was effectively ended by the scandal. The drinking turned to alcoholism and Maudling's health rapidly deteriorated in the late 1970s. He collapsed in early 1979.{{citation needed|date=July 2018}} | |||
Maudling's intention to continue his political career was hindered by his chronic ] which became an increasing problem in the late 1970s. His health was damaged and he lacked the motivation to overcome his problems. In early 1979 he collapsed and there were fears his treatment would be hindered by the strikes in the ']'. He died on ] of ] of the ] and ] failure in the ] at the age of 61. Maudling had married the actress Beryl Laverick six days after the outbreak of World War II in 1939; they had three sons and a daughter. | |||
==Death== | |||
Maudling died at the ] in London, from ] failure and ] of the ], on 14 February 1979; he was 61. His body was buried in the churchyard of ] in Hertfordshire. A stone seat from his garden was placed beside the grave. | |||
==Family life== | |||
Maudling married actress Beryl Laverick (1919–1988) in 1939.<ref name=MCreg /> They had three sons and a daughter, Caroline Maudling, who became a journalist in the 1960s as the "travelling teenager" of the '']'' and, among other things, appeared alongside ] on ]'s '']'' in 1963.<ref name="Baston, Chapter 13">Baston, Chapter 13</ref> | |||
Maudling's mother had disowned him as a result of his marriage, and Maudling did not attend her funeral in 1956.<ref>Baston, Chapter 2</ref> When Caroline aroused comment by having a child out of wedlock in the late 1960s, Maudling was staunch in her defence, publicly expressing paternal pride.<ref name="Baston, Chapter 13"/> Beryl Maudling's body was buried next to her husband's at Little Berkhamsted.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.hartfordhundred.org.uk/little-berkhamsted|title=Little Berkhamsted|publisher=Hartford Hundred West Group of Parishes|access-date=27 September 2021|archive-date=27 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210927161735/https://www.hartfordhundred.org.uk/little-berkhamsted|url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
==In popular culture== | |||
Maudling was portrayed by actor ] in the ]-produced 2018 limited television series '']''. | |||
==See also== | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
==References== | ==References== | ||
{{Reflist}} | |||
*Lewis Baston (2004) "Reggie: The Life of Reginald Maudling". Sutton Publishing. ISBN 0-7509-2924-3 | |||
*Michael Gillard (1974) "A little pot of money. The story of Reginald Maudling and the Real Estate Fund of America". ] productions / André Deutsch. ISBN 0-233-96444-4 | |||
==Further reading== | |||
*Michael Gillard (1980) "Nothing to declare: the political corruptions of John Poulson". John Calder. ISBN 0-7145-3625-3 | |||
* Dell, Edmund. ''The Chancellors: A History of the Chancellors of the Exchequer, 1945–90'' (HarperCollins, 1997) pp 283–303, covers his term as Chancellor. | |||
*Reginald Maudling (1978) "Memoirs". Sidgwick & Jackson. ISBN 0-283-98446-5 | |||
*Lewis Baston (2004) ''Reggie: The Life of Reginald Maudling''. Sutton Publishing. {{ISBN|0-7509-2924-3}} Principal source, where no other is specified. | |||
*Robert Shepherd (2004) "Reginald Maudling" in ], ]. | |||
*Michael Gillard (1974) ''A little pot of money. The story of Reginald Maudling and the Real Estate Fund of America''. ] productions / André Deutsch. {{ISBN|0-233-96444-4}} | |||
*Michael Gillard (1980) ''Nothing to declare: the political corruptions of John Poulson''. John Calder. {{ISBN|0-7145-3625-3}} | |||
* ] ''RAB: The Life of R. A. Butler'', Jonathan Cape 1987 {{ISBN|978-0-224-01862-3}} | |||
*Reginald Maudling (1978) ''Memoirs''. Sidgwick & Jackson. {{ISBN|0-283-98446-5}} | |||
* {{cite book|last = Sandbrook|first = Dominic| year = 2005| title = Never Had It So Good| location = London| publisher = Little, Brown| isbn = 978-0-349-11530-6}} | |||
*Robert Shepherd (2004) "" in '']'', ]. | |||
==External links== | ==External links== | ||
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Latest revision as of 23:03, 26 October 2024
British politician (1917–1979)
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The Right HonourableReginald Maudling | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Maudling in 1974 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Home Secretary | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In office 20 June 1970 – 18 July 1972 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Prime Minister | Edward Heath | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Preceded by | James Callaghan | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Succeeded by | Robert Carr | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chancellor of the Exchequer | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In office 13 July 1962 – 16 October 1964 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Prime Minister | Harold Macmillan Alec Douglas-Home | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Preceded by | Selwyn Lloyd | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Succeeded by | James Callaghan | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Secretary of State for the Colonies | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In office 9 October 1961 – 13 July 1962 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Prime Minister | Harold Macmillan | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Preceded by | Iain Macleod | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Succeeded by | Duncan Sandys | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
President of the Board of Trade | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In office 14 October 1959 – 9 October 1961 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Prime Minister | Harold Macmillan | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Preceded by | David Eccles | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Succeeded by | Frederick Erroll | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Paymaster General | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In office 14 January 1957 – 14 October 1959 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Prime Minister | Harold Macmillan | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Preceded by | Walter Monckton | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Succeeded by | The Lord Mills | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Minister of Supply | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In office 7 April 1955 – 14 January 1957 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Prime Minister | Anthony Eden | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Preceded by | Selwyn Lloyd | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Succeeded by | Aubrey Jones | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Economic Secretary to the Treasury | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In office 24 November 1952 – 7 April 1955 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Prime Minister | Winston Churchill | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Preceded by | John Edwards | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Succeeded by | Edward Boyle | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Member of Parliament for Chipping Barnet Barnet (1950–1974) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In office 23 February 1950 – 14 February 1979 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Preceded by | Stephen Taylor | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Succeeded by | Sydney Chapman | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | (1917-03-07)7 March 1917 North Finchley, Middlesex, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Died | 14 February 1979(1979-02-14) (aged 61) Hampstead, London, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Political party | Conservative | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Spouse |
Beryl Laverick (m. 1939) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Children | 4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Alma mater | Merton College, Oxford | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Reginald Maudling (7 March 1917 – 14 February 1979) was a British politician who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1962 to 1964 and as Home Secretary from 1970 to 1972. From 1955 until the late 1960s, he was spoken of as a prospective Conservative leader, and he was twice seriously considered for the post; he was Edward Heath's chief rival in 1965. He also held directorships in several British financial firms.
As Home Secretary, he was responsible for the UK Government's Northern Ireland policy during the period that included Bloody Sunday. In July 1972, he resigned as Home Secretary due to an unrelated scandal in one of the companies of which he was director.
Early life
Reginald Maudling was born in Woodside Park, North Finchley, and was named after his father, Reginald George Maudling, an actuary at R. Watson & Sons and Public Valuer, who contracted to do actuarial and financial calculations as the Commercial Calculating Company Ltd. The family moved to Bexhill to escape German air raids; Maudling won scholarships to the Merchant Taylors' School and Merton College, Oxford.
He stayed out of undergraduate politics at Oxford, and studied the works of Hegel; he was to formulate his conclusions later as to the inseparability of economic and political freedom: "the purpose of State control and the guiding principle of its application is the achievement of true freedom". He obtained a first class Greats degree.
Political career
Shortly after graduating, Maudling set up a meeting with Harold Nicolson to discuss whether it would be better, as a moderate conservative, to join the Conservative Party or National Labour; Nicolson advised him to wait. Maudling was called to the Bar at the Middle Temple in 1940. However, he did not practise as a barrister, having volunteered for service in the Royal Air Force (RAF) in the Second World War.
Owing to poor eyesight he took desk jobs in the RAF intelligence branch, where he rose—as a "Wingless Wonder", as officers who were not qualified to wear pilot's wings were nicknamed—to the rank of flight lieutenant; he was then appointed Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Air, Sir Archibald Sinclair.
Parliamentary candidate
Maudling wrote an essay on Conservative policy in November 1943, recommending that the Conservatives neither imitate the Labour Party nor reflexively oppose all controls; in the general election of July 1945, he was selected as parliamentary candidate for Heston and Isleworth, a newly created constituency in Middlesex, although there were four applicants and he had no ties to that constituency. In the subsequent Labour landslide Maudling was defeated like many others, although Heston and Isleworth had been expected to be a safe Conservative seat. After its defeat in the 1945 general election, the Conservative Party engaged in an extensive rethink of its policy. Maudling argued that the Party had depended excessively on outdated economic slogans and the popularity of Winston Churchill.
In November 1945, Maudling became the first staff member of the Conservative Parliamentary Secretariat, later the Conservative Research Department, where he was head of the Economic Section. He persuaded the party to accept much of the Labour government's nationalisation programme and social services while cutting government spending. In March 1946, Maudling was chosen as the prospective candidate for Barnet, close to his birthplace in Finchley, and began giving speeches there. Labour had unexpectedly won the seat in 1945, but it was considered to be marginal. In 1950, Maudling was elected as Member of Parliament with an absolute majority.
Member of Parliament and Cabinet
Following the 1951 election, Churchill made Maudling a junior Minister at the Ministry of Civil Aviation. However, his experience of preparing economic policy led to his speaking on behalf of the Treasury on the 1952 budget and thus to an appointment, later that year, as Economic Secretary to the Treasury. With his mentor Rab Butler as Chancellor of the Exchequer, Maudling worked to reduce taxes and controls in order to move from post-war austerity to affluence. When Anthony Eden took over as prime minister in 1955, Maudling was promoted to head a department as Minister of Supply. He supported the invasion of Suez.
The Ministry was responsible for aircraft production and supplying the armed forces, and Maudling came to agree with critics who argued that it was an unnecessary intermediary; he therefore recommended its abolition. Although supportive of Harold Macmillan's appointment as prime minister over the rival claims of Butler in 1957, Maudling found himself in difficulties over his position in the new government. He refused to continue at the Ministry of Supply and also rejected an offer of the Ministry of Health because Iain Macleod, with whom he had a rivalry, had held the post five years earlier and Maudling did not want to be seen as five years behind him.
Macmillan appointed Maudling to the post of Paymaster General and spokesman in the House of Commons for the Ministry of Fuel and Power, which was technically a demotion. Nine months later, Maudling had proved his usefulness; Macmillan brought him into the Cabinet on 17 September 1957, where he acted more as a Minister without Portfolio: he had specific responsibility for persuading the six members of the embryonic European Economic Community, who had recently signed the Treaty of Rome, to abandon their proposal for a customs union in favour of a wider free-trade area where each country would preserve their own external tariffs. However, Maudling's lack of international experience led him to underestimate the importance of the nascent Community and what was constructive in it. Faced with widespread rejection of the proposals, Maudling aroused hostility in Bonn and Paris by seeking to play off the Germans against the French.
On 14 November 1958, six months after the election of General de Gaulle as premier, Jacques Soustelle, the French Minister of Information, confirmed to the Press that France would reject the Maudling plan. Two days later, the British delegation to the Community formally called an end to accession negotiations. Maudling later revised his proposals, which were to form the basis of the European Free Trade Association.
Meanwhile, Maudling became an underwriting member of Lloyd's of London in December 1957, although his assets were somewhat below average for other 'names'.
President of the Board of Trade
Maudling entered the front line of politics after the 1959 election when appointed President of the Board of Trade. He was responsible for introducing the government's proposals to help areas of high unemployment. This was achieved by paying grants to companies to create new plants in these deprived areas, and also by the government taking over unused land for development. Maudling also succeeded in negotiating a free trade agreement between the countries outside the Common Market; this became the European Free Trade Association and was some compensation for his failure to negotiate a free trade area with the Common Market. Maudling was opposed to any proposal to join the Common Market on the basis that it would end Britain's right to make commercial agreements with New Zealand and Australia. He was later to remark that "I can think of no more retrograde step economically or politically". This comment was to be quoted against him when, less than two years later, he was Chancellor of the Exchequer at the time of the reopening of negotiations for Common Market membership.
Colonial Secretary
Reginald Maudling was for a short time, as Secretary of State for the Colonies in 1961, responsible for the process of decolonisation. In this position he chaired constitutional conferences for Jamaica, Northern Rhodesia and Trinidad and Tobago which prepared them for independence; his plan for Northern Rhodesia was controversial and he had to threaten resignation before it was approved. However, Maudling was keen to return to economic policy, and seized his opportunity when Macmillan made it clear in private that he supported a voluntary incomes policy. Maudling promptly made his case in public, and three weeks later was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer in Macmillan's "Night of the Long Knives" attempt to rejuvenate his Cabinet.
Chancellor of the Exchequer
As Chancellor, Maudling soon cut purchase tax and bank interest rates. His 1963 budget aimed at "expansion without inflation". Following a period of economic difficulty, with a growth target of 4%, Maudling was able to remove income tax from owner-occupiers' residential premises. He also abolished the rate of duty on home-brewed beer which in effect legalised it. This was the period in which Maudling was at his most popular within the Conservative Party and in the country.
However, later commentators have been less kind to Maudling: Harold Wilson and his Chancellor James Callaghan (who nevertheless sounded out Maudling for the governorship of the Bank of England in 1966) blamed the "dash for growth" that followed the 1963 budget for increasing sterling's chronic instability between 1964 and 1967 and by greatly increasing domestic demand the budget certainly exacerbated the existing balance of payments problem. Maudling largely recognised this himself by the time of the 1964 budget and, although he increased taxes, he did little to subdue demand in an election year.
First unsuccessful leadership bid
By 1963, during the Profumo affair, there was talk, encouraged by Martin Redmayne (Chief Whip) and Lord Poole (Party Chairman), of Maudling succeeding Macmillan as prime minister. Maudling visited Butler (Deputy Prime Minister) and obtained a mutual promise that they would, if necessary, agree to serve under one another – Maudling believed that he had gained an advantage in obtaining the agreement of Butler, his senior, to serve under him if necessary. William Rees-Mogg claimed in The Times on 28 July that Butler led Maudling by 2:1 in the Cabinet, although Maudling had more support amongst backbench MPs.
Macmillan's sudden illness and announcement of his resignation in October 1963 came at a time when Maudling's support had fallen. He was also poorly received at the Conservative Party conference, which had become a hustings for the leadership, despite coaching from Iain Macleod, in how to deliver his speech. Back in London the following week, a process of "consultation" by Lord Chancellor Dilhorne and by Redmayne declared Foreign Secretary Lord Home, rather than Maudling or Butler, to be the compromise candidate. Enoch Powell, Macleod, Hailsham and Maudling (known as "the Quad" in some accounts of the following days) sought to persuade Butler to refuse to serve under Home, so that Butler rather than Home would have to become prime minister. Macleod and Maudling demanded that Dilhorne lay the results of his consultations before the Cabinet but he refused. Maudling attended the meeting at Powell's house late in the evening of 17 October, "well-refreshed" after attending a formal dinner and seems to have "gone along with it" rather than being a ringleader, although he and Hailsham agreed to serve under Butler. On the morning of Saturday 19 October Butler then Maudling agreed to serve under Home, enabling him to accept office as prime minister.
Maudling retained his post as Chancellor under the new prime minister and in the 1964 election, Maudling had a prominent role at the helm of the party's daily press conferences, while Douglas-Home toured the country. On the BBC's election results programme, the journalist Anthony Howard said that he believed that if Maudling had been leader, the narrow Conservative defeat would have been a narrow Conservative victory. Upon being forced out of the post by the election defeat, Maudling left a note to his successor, James Callaghan, simply stating "Good luck, old cock.... Sorry to leave it in such a mess".
Second unsuccessful leadership bid
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Out of office, Maudling accepted the offer of a seat on the board of Kleinwort Benson in November 1964, one of the factors which led to his being shifted to spokesman on Foreign Affairs in early 1965. Unlike other potential leadership contenders, Maudling publicly maintained his loyalty to Douglas-Home as criticisms of his leadership mounted. When Douglas-Home resigned, after putting in place a system in which the leadership was directly elected, Maudling fought against Edward Heath for the position of candidate to the party centre-right.
Unfortunately for Maudling, Enoch Powell also stood, but he was a candidate supporting monetarist and proto-Thatcherite economics, which at that time had little support. Powell won 15 votes. Maudling won 133 votes against Heath's 150; Powell's 15 votes were seen as more likely to have gone to Maudling had Powell not stood, but they would have made no difference to Heath's narrow majority. This was a moment of philosophical instability for the Conservatives. Their historic scepticism of Keynesianism began to grow through the 1960s because there was little to distinguish between the policies of the Conservatives and Labour. The cross-party support for economic planning and union negotiation was becoming increasingly unable to stimulate high levels of economic growth.
Maudling's business directorships with Kleinwort Benson and others were mentioned by his opponents as evidence of his lack of commitment for the role, and he was criticised as too close to the Macmillan/Douglas-Home style of politics.
Deputy Leader and Home Secretary
Maudling served as Deputy Leader under Heath, and was also a prominent member of the Shadow Cabinet. However, he was neither personally nor politically close to Heath, and as a consequence his influence declined; his support for an incomes policy now went against party policy. He also tended to make gaffes, as for example when he said Harold Wilson had been following the same policy as the Conservatives on Rhodesia and "I can't think of anything he has done wrongly". After Enoch Powell had been sacked from the Shadow Cabinet in 1968 for his controversial Rivers of Blood speech, Maudling was moved from the position of Shadow Commonwealth Secretary to become Shadow Defence Secretary until 1969 when he was replaced by Geoffrey Rippon. When the Conservatives returned to power in 1970, Maudling was appointed Home Secretary; the most pressing problem at the Home Office was tackling the Troubles in Northern Ireland. After boarding the aircraft at the end of his first visit to the region, he remarked "For God's sake bring me a large Scotch. What a bloody awful country." When Iain Macleod, who had been appointed as Chancellor in the new Conservative Government, died after barely a month in office, it was reported in The Glasgow Herald that Maudling "was being consistently tipped" at Westminster to move from the Home Office back to his old post. Ultimately the post went to Anthony Barber.
Maudling's attitude of reassuring calmness in interviews, normally helpful to him, was sometimes damaging. At a 15 December 1971 news conference in Belfast, Maulding said that the British Army had the power to reduce IRA violence to "something which is acceptable", a remark widely regarded as a gaffe. He also tended to trust the Unionist-controlled Government of Northern Ireland and gloss over differences between their approach and that of the United Kingdom government. This backfired when the Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, James Chichester-Clark, resigned when denied the full number of troops he requested in March 1971. That August, Maudling authorised the Northern Ireland government to introduce internment without trial for terror suspects, which caused widespread upheaval and anger among the nationalist population due to its exclusive use on that community, and was followed by an already planned massive escalation in the level of violence.
Regarding criminal justice, Maudling made no attempt, despite his personal support, to reintroduce capital punishment after its abolition in 1969. He introduced Community Service, a new alternative to prison, and in 1971 modestly tightened the immigration rules. He was criticised for ordering the deportation of Rudi Dutschke, a leader of the German student movement. Dutschke, who was in Britain to recuperate from an assassination attempt, was considered a student anarchist.
Maudling was often the target of satirical cartoons in major newspapers, and was lampooned in the magazine Private Eye and the television comedy show Monty Python's Flying Circus.
Bloody Sunday
After soldiers from the Parachute Regiment shot and killed 14 protestors from a Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) march on 30 January 1972, Maudling gave a statement in the House of Commons, agreeing with statements published by army spokesmen claiming that the regiment had only opened fire in self-defence. Northern Irish politician and MP Bernadette Devlin, who had been present in Derry when the incident occurred, attempted to respond to Maudling's statement but was denied by Speaker of the House Selwyn Lloyd; Devlin responded by walking across the commons floor and slapping Maudling. Devlin subsequently told journalists that Maudling's statement contained numerous falsehoods and expressed no regrets for the victims of the incident. Eventually, Edward Heath decided to bring in direct rule of Northern Ireland under a separate Secretary of State. In 1974, Shane Paul O'Doherty, an IRA member, sent Maudling a letter bomb, which slightly injured him.
Scandal
In 1972, Maudling's business activities were causing considerable disquiet and speculation in the press. In 1966, he had obtained a directorship in the company of John Poulson, an architect Maudling helped obtain lucrative contracts. Poulson routinely did business through bribery and in 1972 was made bankrupt. The bankruptcy hearings disclosed his bribe payments, and Maudling's connection became public knowledge. Maudling came to the decision that his responsibility for the Metropolitan Police, which was beginning fraud investigations into Poulson, made his position as Home Secretary untenable. He resigned on 18 July, to general sympathy from the press.
Shortly after receiving Maudling's resignation, Edward Heath's government performed a 'U-turn' on economic policy and subsequently adopted an approach strikingly similar to Maudling's. Heath advised Maudling not to drop out of the public eye and he continued to make many media appearances. In the year after the Conservative Party's electoral defeat in 1974, Heath was replaced as leader by Margaret Thatcher. She appointed Maudling to the post of Shadow Foreign Secretary. However, Maudling clashed with Thatcher over economics, and after less than two years in the role he was dismissed on 19 November 1976. Departing, Maudling summed up his career as "hired by Winston Churchill, fired by Margaret Thatcher".
Last years
In 1969, Maudling had been president of the Real Estate Fund of America, whose chief executive, Jerome Hoffman, had been imprisoned for fraud; Maudling had also been an adviser to the Peachey Property Corporation, whose chairman, Sir Eric Miller, had embezzled company money and later took his own life. He was revealed to have lobbied for more aid to Malta after obtaining a commission for Poulson there, which had led to heavy losses for the Maltese government. These further revelations led to a Parliamentary inquiry into the conduct of Maudling and two other MPs linked to Poulson. This inquiry published its report on 14 July 1977; the report concluded that Maudling had indulged in "conduct inconsistent with the standards which the House is entitled to expect from its members".
When the report was considered by the House of Commons, the Conservative Party organised its MPs to attend the debate to "Save Reggie". An amendment was put down to "take note" of the report, instead of endorsing it, and carried by 230 votes (211 Conservatives, 17 Labour, 2 Liberals and 2 Ulster Unionists) to 207. No punishment was imposed. An attempt by backbench Labour MPs to expel Maudling from the House was defeated by 331 votes to 11, and a move to suspend him for six months was lost by 324 to 97.
As Lewis Baston's 2004 biography recounts, Maudling and his wife became heavy drinkers once his political career was effectively ended by the scandal. The drinking turned to alcoholism and Maudling's health rapidly deteriorated in the late 1970s. He collapsed in early 1979.
Death
Maudling died at the Royal Free Hospital in London, from kidney failure and cirrhosis of the liver, on 14 February 1979; he was 61. His body was buried in the churchyard of Little Berkhamsted in Hertfordshire. A stone seat from his garden was placed beside the grave.
Family life
Maudling married actress Beryl Laverick (1919–1988) in 1939. They had three sons and a daughter, Caroline Maudling, who became a journalist in the 1960s as the "travelling teenager" of the Daily Mail and, among other things, appeared alongside John Lennon on BBC TV's Juke Box Jury in 1963.
Maudling's mother had disowned him as a result of his marriage, and Maudling did not attend her funeral in 1956. When Caroline aroused comment by having a child out of wedlock in the late 1960s, Maudling was staunch in her defence, publicly expressing paternal pride. Beryl Maudling's body was buried next to her husband's at Little Berkhamsted.
In popular culture
Maudling was portrayed by actor Michael Culkin in the BBC-produced 2018 limited television series A Very English Scandal.
See also
References
- The Papers of Reginald Maudling Archived 29 October 2021 at the Wayback Machine Churchill Archives Centre, Archivesearch. Retrieved 29 October 2021
- "No. 30501". The London Gazette. 29 January 1918. p. 1439.
- ^ Levens, R.G.C., ed. (1964). Merton College Register 1900–1964. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. p. 267.
- Shepherd 2004
- Baston, Reggie, Chapter 2
- Baston, Reggie, Chapters 3–5; "professional politician" (as opposed to gentleman amateur, born to politics, p. 49. Maudling had 53% of the vote in a three-party contest; the Conservative lead was 10,534 out of 70,687.
- Beloff, Nora (1963). The General Says No. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. pp. 78–80.
- Baston, Reggie, Chapter 6–8
- Beloff, N., p. 87.
- Baston, Reggie, Chapters 9 and 10
- Edmund Dell, The Chancellors: A History of the Chancellors of the Exchequer, 1945–90 (HarperCollins, 1997) pp 283–303, covers his term as Chancellor.
- "April – The Chancellor, Reginald Maudling, announces the Budget" Archived 28 February 2008 at the Wayback Machine Illingworth Exhibition: Cartoons of the 1960s. Contemporary cartoon of the budget announcement. Retrieved 25 February 2008.
- Baston, Chapter 16
- Howard 1987, pp. 300–2
- ^ Howard 1987, p. 316-21
- Sandford 2005, pp. 705
- Baston, Reggie, chapters 11–13. Howard quoted from Maudling's autobiography.
- Owen, Paul (17 May 2010). "Ex-Treasury secretary Liam Byrne's note to his successor: there's no money left". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
- Sunday Times Insight Team, Ulster (Penguin, 1972), page 213; The politics of drinking in power Archived 10 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine BBC News Online, 6 January 2006. Retrieved 25 February 2008.
- Warden, John (22 July 1970). "Maudling tipped as Chancellor". The Glasgow Herald. p. 1.
- Mansbach, Richard (1973), Northern Ireland: Half a Century of Partition, Facts on File, Inc, New York, pg 123, ISBN 0-87196-182-2
- Biographies of Prominent People – 'M' Archived 5 February 2007 at the Wayback Machine, CAIN Web Service. Retrieved 25 February 2008.
- 1971: UK restricts Commonwealth migrants Archived 10 August 2020 at the Wayback Machine BBC News Online. Retrieved 25 February 2008.
- Larsen, Darl (2008). Monty Python's Flying Circus: An Utterly Complete, Thoroughly Unillustrated, Absolutely Unauthorized Guide to Possibly All the References. Scarecrow Press. p. 221. ISBN 978-1461669708. Archived from the original on 17 February 2017. Retrieved 13 February 2017.
- "The Bitter Road from Bloody Sunday", www.time.com. Retrieved 25 February 2008.
- Siddique, Haroon; French, Megan (15 June 2010). "Bloody Sunday inquiry: key findings". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 27 October 2015. Retrieved 19 January 2019.
- "Bernadette Devlin delivers a proletarian protest (31/01/1972)". 21 November 2014. Archived from the original on 9 December 2018. Retrieved 19 January 2019 – via YouTube.
- Maiden speeches in short supply Archived 23 June 2006 at the Wayback Machine BBC News Online, 6 April 2001 Retrieved 25 February 2008.
- Horsnell, Michael (2 February 1974). "Mr Maudling slightly hurt by letter bomb". The Times. p. 1. Retrieved 31 January 2014.
- ^ Baston, Chapter 13
- Baston, Chapter 2
- "Little Berkhamsted". Hartford Hundred West Group of Parishes. Archived from the original on 27 September 2021. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
Further reading
- Dell, Edmund. The Chancellors: A History of the Chancellors of the Exchequer, 1945–90 (HarperCollins, 1997) pp 283–303, covers his term as Chancellor.
- Lewis Baston (2004) Reggie: The Life of Reginald Maudling. Sutton Publishing. ISBN 0-7509-2924-3 Principal source, where no other is specified.
- Michael Gillard (1974) A little pot of money. The story of Reginald Maudling and the Real Estate Fund of America. Private Eye productions / André Deutsch. ISBN 0-233-96444-4
- Michael Gillard (1980) Nothing to declare: the political corruptions of John Poulson. John Calder. ISBN 0-7145-3625-3
- Howard, Anthony RAB: The Life of R. A. Butler, Jonathan Cape 1987 ISBN 978-0-224-01862-3
- Reginald Maudling (1978) Memoirs. Sidgwick & Jackson. ISBN 0-283-98446-5
- Sandbrook, Dominic (2005). Never Had It So Good. London: Little, Brown. ISBN 978-0-349-11530-6.
- Robert Shepherd (2004) "Reginald Maudling" in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press.
External links
- Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Reginald Maudling
- BBC News 'On this Day', includes a 1971 filmed interview on the Immigration Bill
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