Henry David Leonard George Walston, Baron Walston CVO, JP (16 June 1912 – 29 May 1991) was a British farmer, agricultural researcher and politician, firstly for the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

, then for

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

and then for the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Fo ...

Life

Walston was born in 1912 to Sir Charles Waldstein (later Walston) and his wife Florence (née Einstein), and was educated at

Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, ...

and

King's College, Cambridge King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the cit ...

. He was a landowner with estates in

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the ...

(2700 acres) and

St Lucia Saint Lucia ( acf, Sent Lisi, french: Sainte-Lucie) is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean. The island was previously called Iouanalao and later Hewanorra, names given by the native Arawaks and Caribs, two Amerindi ...

(3000 acres). Walston was appointed a

Commander of the Royal Victorian Order The Royal Victorian Order (french: Ordre royal de Victoria) is a dynastic order of knighthood established in 1896 by Queen Victoria. It recognises distinguished personal service to the British monarch, Canadian monarch, Australian monarch, o ...

(CVO) in

1976 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1976 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. They were announced on 1 January 1976 to celebra ...

. He was a Deputy chairman and then Vice-President of the

Royal Commonwealth Society The Royal Commonwealth Society (RCS) is a non-governmental organisation with a mission to promote the value of the Commonwealth and the values upon which it is based. The Society upholds the values of the Commonwealth Charter, promoting conf ...

, which he addressed in 1963; and Governor of

Guy's Hospital Guy's Hospital is an NHS hospital in the borough of Southwark in central London. It is part of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and one of the institutions that comprise the King's Health Partners, an academic health science centre. ...

Family

Walston married Catherine Crompton (1916–1978) in 1935, in the USA. Oliver Walston, a farmer and agricultural writer, is their second son. From 1946 Catherine was the mistress of the author

Graham Greene Henry Graham Greene (2 October 1904 – 3 April 1991) was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading English novelists of the 20th century. Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquir ...

, who was also her godfather. Walston demanded that the adulterous relationship should cease after the 1951 publication of ''

The End of the Affair ''The End of the Affair'' is a 1951 novel by British author Graham Greene, as well as the title of two feature films (released in 1955 and 1999) that were adapted from the novel. Set in London during and just after the Second World War, the n ...

'', Greene's ''

roman à clef ''Roman à clef'' (, anglicised as ), French for ''novel with a key'', is a novel about real-life events that is overlaid with a façade of fiction. The fictitious names in the novel represent real people, and the "key" is the relationship be ...

''; but it continued, ending by about 1966. After Catherine's death, Walston married Elizabeth Scott, who had previously been the wife of

Nicholas Scott Sir Nicholas Paul Scott (5 August 1933 – 6 January 2005) was a British Conservative Party politician. He was a liberal, pro-European Conservative who became President of the Tory Reform Group. During his time in the House of Commons he ser ...

. Press reports that

Betty Boothroyd Betty Boothroyd, Baroness Boothroyd (born 8 October 1929) is a British politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for West Bromwich and West Bromwich West from 1973 to 2000. From 1992 to 2000, she served as Speaker of the House of ...

, who acted as Walston's secretary before herself entering politics, had been his mistress and also cared for his six children by Catherine, were the subject of a successful libel case brought by Boothroyd.

In politics

Walston served as Member of the Huntingdonshire War Agricultural Committee (1939–1945), Director of Agriculture for the British Zone of Germany (1946–1947), Counsellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (1948–1950), Agricultural Adviser for Germany to the Foreign Office (1964–1967) and Chairman of the Institute of Race Relations (1968–1971). In the early 1940s he was selected as

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

prospective parliamentary candidate for King's Lynn. In 1945 his booklet 'From Forces to Farming' was published by the Liberal Party. The booklet called for state aided co-operative farming for ex-servicemen. He did not contest King's Lynn, instead switching to contest

Huntingdonshire Huntingdonshire (; abbreviated Hunts) is a non-metropolitan district of Cambridgeshire and a historic county of England. The district council is based in Huntingdon. Other towns include St Ives, Godmanchester, St Neots and Ramsey. The popu ...

later that year at the general election. He never managed to become a member of parliament despite contesting seats five times: Huntingdonshire in 1945 for the Liberals,

in 1951 and 1955 for Labour, and

Gainsborough Gainsborough or Gainsboro may refer to: Places * Gainsborough, Ipswich, Suffolk, England ** Gainsborough Ward, Ipswich * Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, a town in England ** Gainsborough (UK Parliament constituency) * Gainsborough, New South Wales, ...

in the 1956 by-election and in 1959 for Labour. On 10 February 1961 he was created a life peer as Baron Walston, of Newton in the County of Cambridge. He supported the

Campaign for Democratic Socialism The Campaign for Democratic Socialism or CDS was a social democratic and democratic socialist organisation in the British Labour Party, serving as a pressure group representing the right wing of the party. Established in 1960, the CDS was compose ...

Junior minister

Walston served in the

First Wilson ministry First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...

, as

Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs is a vacant junior position in the British government, subordinate to both the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and since 1945 also to the Minister of State for Foreign Affa ...

from 20 October 1964 to the beginning of 1967. In internal Foreign Office discussion, Walston supported James Cable's line, that the USA should cut its losses in the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...

, and argued that the UK should have a pro-active policy of seeking peace. By the second half of 1965 Walston was in fact pushing this line harder than Cable himself. In June 1966 Walston was passing through South Vietnam on an envoy mission, when he was contacted by Janusz Lewandowski, who said he was acting for the Polish government and attempting to find peace in the Vietnam War. Walston, however, treated this as a freelance approach. Following

Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) was a statement adopted by the Cabinet of Rhodesia on 11 November 1965, announcing that Southern Rhodesia or simply Rhodesia, a British territory in southern Africa that had governed it ...

(UDI) Walston was envoy to

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

, attempting to negotiate an end to sanction-breaking pumping of oil to

Southern Rhodesia Southern Rhodesia was a landlocked self-governing British Crown colony in southern Africa, established in 1923 and consisting of British South Africa Company (BSAC) territories lying south of the Zambezi River. The region was informally kno ...

via Beira, Mozambique. His diplomacy was overtaken by Security Council resolution 221 of 9 April 1966. As a Foreign Office junior minister, Walston argued that the UK government should not grant Rhodesian independence except on terms of

majority rule Majority rule is a principle that means the decision-making power belongs to the group that has the most members. In politics, majority rule requires the deciding vote to have majority, that is, more than half the votes. It is the binary deci ...

. While Rhodesia was the responsibility of the Commonwealth Relations Office, he maintained that UDI had increased the chances of communist penetration in Africa and that this was a proper concern of the Foreign Office. During this time at the Foreign Office, Walston was a trustee of one of John Collins's secret Christian Action trusts, channelling funds to the

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a social-democratic political party in South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when the first post-apartheid election install ...

. He expressed very positive feelings about Fidel Castro. Walston was then

Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade The Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade in the United Kingdom was a member of Parliament assigned to assist the Board of Trade and its President with administration and liaison with Parliament. It replaced the Vice-President of the Board ...

, in 1967.

Later political life

On a lecture tour of South Africa in 1968, Walston had private discussions with B. J. Vorster, and as a consequence attempted to open a channel of communication to

Kenneth Kaunda Kenneth David Kaunda (28 April 1924 – 17 June 2021), also known as KK, was a Zambian politician who served as the first President of Zambia from 1964 to 1991. He was at the forefront of the struggle for independence from British rule. Diss ...

. He also visited Nelson Mandela on

Robben Island Robben Island ( af, Robbeneiland) is an island in Table Bay, 6.9 kilometres (4.3 mi) west of the coast of Bloubergstrand, north of Cape Town, South Africa. It takes its name from the Dutch word for seals (''robben''), hence the Dutch/Afrik ...

, concluding that the prisoner Mandela was being well treated. At this period the South African government wished to broker a deal between the UK and

Ian Smith Ian Douglas Smith (8 April 1919 – 20 November 2007) was a Rhodesian politician, farmer, and fighter pilot who served as Prime Minister of Rhodesia (known as Southern Rhodesia until October 1964 and now known as Zimbabwe) from 1964 to 1 ...

, and to use Walston's contacts. Walston was a member of the Council of Europe between 1970 and 1975, and a

Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...

from 1975 to 1977. In the period from 1970 to 1976 Labour politicians met in his apartment in The Albany, forming a retrospectively-christened "Walston group" of pro-European MPs. Walston joined the

in 1981. During the eighties, Walston became active with the UN accredited non-governmental organisation Agri-Energy Roundtable and served as vice chairman for several years.

Pamphlets

Walston published political pamphlets on agricultural topics: *''From Forces to Farming. A Plan for the Ex-Service Man'' (1944), Liberal Party Publication Department; as prospective Liberal Party candidate for King's Lynn. *
Land Nationalisation: For and Against
' (1958), Fabian Society Issue 312. With John Mackie. *''The Farmer and Europe'' (1962), Fabian Society. On planning for farming if the UK joined the

Common Market The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organization created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisbo ...

. *''Agriculture under Communism'' (1962). *''Farm Gate to Brussels'' (1970), Fabian Society. *''Dealing with Hunger'' (1976).

Arms

References

* *

Notes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Walston, Henry Walston, Baron 1912 births 1991 deaths Politicians from London People from Cambridgeshire British Ashkenazi Jews English people of Jewish descent English people of American descent People educated at Eton College Alumni of King's College, Cambridge English farmers English landowners Jewish British politicians Liberal Party (UK) parliamentary candidates Social Democratic Party (UK) politicians Labour Party (UK) MEPs MEPs for the United Kingdom 1973–1979 Labour Party (UK) life peers Social Democratic Party (UK) life peers Parliamentary Under-Secretaries of State for Foreign Affairs Parliamentary Secretaries to the Board of Trade Commanders of the Royal Victorian Order Henry Walston,Baron Walston Ministers in the Wilson governments, 1964–1970 Life peers created by Elizabeth II