Richard Gordon Holme, Baron Holme of Cheltenham CBE, PC (27 May 1936 – 4 May 2008) was a British

Liberal Democrat Several political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties usually follow a liberal democratic ideology. Active parties Former parties See also *Liberal democracy *Lib ...

politician. Educated at

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

( BA

Jurisprudence Jurisprudence, or legal theory, is the theoretical study of the propriety of law. Scholars of jurisprudence seek to explain the nature of law in its most general form and they also seek to achieve a deeper understanding of legal reasoning ...

; St John's College) and

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA ...

, Holme joined 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 ...

in 1959, and was elected as the party's President in 1980 and 1981. He stood unsuccessfully as the Liberal candidate in

East Grinstead East Grinstead is a town in West Sussex, England, near the East Sussex, Surrey, and Kent borders, south of London, northeast of Brighton, and northeast of the county town of Chichester. Situated in the extreme northeast of the county, the civ ...

West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ...

, in

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarc ...

, and in a 1965 by-election. He then stood in Braintree,

Essex Essex () is a Ceremonial counties of England, county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the Riv ...

, in October 1974. He later sought election at the more promising

Cheltenham Cheltenham (), also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a spa town and borough on the edge of the Cotswolds in the county of Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort, following the discovery of mineral s ...

at the 1983 general election and at the 1987 general election. He was appointed a CBE in the 1983

New Year's Honours The New Year Honours is a part of the British honours system, with New Year's Day, 1 January, being marked by naming new members of orders of chivalry and recipients of other official honours. A number of other Commonwealth realms also mark this ...

. After the Liberal Party's merger with SDP in 1988, he joined the newly formed Liberal Democrats. He later said that he believed that had the merger happened before the 1987 general election, then the party could have attracted more votes and seats at that election and displaced Labour in the opposition. However, the merger did not happen sooner because of objections from SDP leader

David Owen David Anthony Llewellyn Owen, Baron Owen, (born 2 July 1938) is a British politician and physician who served as Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs as a Labour Party MP under James Callaghan from 1977 to 1979, and later ...

, who resigned later in 1987. Holme was a close advisor to

David Steel David Martin Scott Steel, Baron Steel of Aikwood, (born 31 March 1938) is a British politician. Elected as Member of Parliament for Roxburgh, Selkirk, and Peebles, followed by Tweeddale, Ettrick, and Lauderdale, he served as the final leade ...

when he was leader of the Liberal Party, and to his successor, the first Liberal Democrat leader

Paddy Ashdown Jeremy John Durham Ashdown, Baron Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon, (27 February 194122 December 2018), better known as Paddy Ashdown, was a British politician and diplomat who served as Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 1988 to 1999. Internati ...

. He was made a

life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. In modern times, life peerages, always created at the rank of baron, are created under the Life Peerages ...

on 29 May 1990, as Baron Holme of Cheltenham, of Cheltenham in the County of

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of ...

. In 2000, he was appointed as a

Privy Counsellor The Privy Council (PC), officially His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the sovereign of the United Kingdom. Its membership mainly comprises senior politicians who are current or former members of ei ...

. His 1999 appointment as chairman of the

Broadcasting Standards Commission The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries of the United Kingdom. Ofcom has wide-ranging powers acros ...

was cut short when he was forced to resign after ''

News of the World The ''News of the World'' was a weekly national red top tabloid newspaper published every Sunday in the United Kingdom from 1843 to 2011. It was at one time the world's highest-selling English-language newspaper, and at closure still had one ...

'' allegations of multiple adultery and 'bizarre sex games'. He was a fellow of the

British-American Project The British-American Project (BAP) is a transatlantic fellowship of more than 1,200 leaders and opinion formers from a broad spectrum of occupations, backgrounds and political views. BAP operates on a not-for-profit basis, funded through its member ...

and chair of the

Hansard Society The Hansard Society was formed in the United Kingdom in 1944 to promote parliamentary democracy. Founded and chaired by Commander Stephen King-Hall, the first subscribers were Winston Churchill and Clement Attlee. The society's co-presidents ar ...

from 2001 to 2007. Holme also served as a Member of the Board of Advisors for the Global Panel Foundation, a respected NGO that works behind the scenes in crisis areas around the world. Holme died from cancer on 4 May 2008.

References

External links

Financial Times - Lord Holme obituary
* ttp://www.hansardsociety.org.uk/blogs/hansard_in_the_media/archive/2008/05/06/hansard-society-chair-pays-tribute-to-lord-holme.aspx Hansard Society - Peter Riddell tribute* {{DEFAULTSORT:Holme, Richard Gordon 1936 births 2008 deaths Liberal Party (UK) parliamentary candidates Liberal Democrats (UK) life peers Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Alumni of St John's College, Oxford Harvard Business School alumni People associated with the University of Greenwich Deaths from cancer in England Politics of Cheltenham Life peers created by Elizabeth II