David Digby Rendel (15 April 1949 – 16 May 2016) was a British politician for the Liberal Democrats. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Newbury from 1993 to 2005. He won the seat in a by-election in May 1993 caused by the death of Judith Chaplin, and he held it until his defeat at the 2005 general election to Conservative candidate Richard Benyon. At the time he lost his seat he was the Liberal Democrats' spokesman on Higher and Further Education. In September 2014, Rendel was selected as Liberal Democrat candidate in the 2015 general election for the seat of

Somerton and Frome Somerton and Frome is a constituency in Somerset represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by David Warburton, who was elected as a Conservative, but currently sits as an Independent after losing the Conservative whip in ...

in Somerset; however, he lost to the Conservative candidate,

David Warburton David John Warburton (born 28 October 1965) is a British politician serving as Member of Parliament (MP) for Somerton and Frome. On his election in the 2015 general election he represented the Conservative Party, but was suspended from the p ...

Early life

Rendel was born in Athens. He was educated at Eton College,

Magdalen College, Oxford Magdalen College (, ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by William of Waynflete. Today, it is the fourth wealthiest college, with a financial endowment of £332.1 million as of 2019 and one of the s ...

, and

St Cross College, Oxford St Cross College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1965, St Cross is an all-graduate college with gothic and traditional-style buildings on a central site in St Giles', just south of Pusey Street. It a ...

, Rendel was a member of the winning Oxford boat race crew of

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...

. After a gap year volunteering in Africa, he worked in the finance department of Shell Oil Company. His father Sandy Rendel was a SOE agent and foreign correspondent for '' The Times'', and he was a great-grandson of civil engineer Sir Alexander Meadows Rendel, and a great-great-nephew of Liberal MP Stuart Rendel.

Political career

Rendel fought and lost two elections in

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

and

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

, before moving to Newbury in 1986, when his wife started work as a GP. He became a Newbury District Councillor from 1987 to 1995, and fought the Newbury seat unsuccessfully in the 1992 general election, gaining 37% of the votes. He won the

1993 Newbury by-election The 1993 Newbury by-election was triggered by the death of the Member of Parliament (MP) for Newbury, the Conservative Judith Chaplin. The by-election was held on 6 May 1993, and was won by David Rendel of the Liberal Democrats with a large s ...

with a large majority of 22,055, receiving 65% of the votes. He first came to national attention for supporting the Newbury bypass, and in 1999 stood in the election for the leadership of the Liberal Democrats, but came fifth of five candidates, with Charles Kennedy being elected. Rendel held on to his seat in 1997 and 2001 with reduced majorities, but at the 2005 election he was defeated by the Conservative candidate, Richard Benyon. Rendel was a directly elected member of the Liberal Democrats’ Federal Executive committee until 2014. In May 2006, Rendel was selected by local party members as the Liberal Democrat candidate for the Newbury seat for the next election. At the general election in May 2010, he was again defeated by the sitting Conservative, Richard Benyon, whose majority grew to 21%. After the election of 2010, Rendel was the only member on the party's Federal Executive to vote against the proposal that the party form a coalition government with the Conservatives.

Death

Rendel died from cancer in Berkshire on 16 May 2016, aged 67.

References

External links

David Rendel
profile at the site of Liberal Democrats
TheyWorkForYou.com – David RendelThe Public Whip – David Rendel
voting record
BBC News – David Rendel
profile 10 February 2005 {{DEFAULTSORT:Rendel, David 1949 births 2016 deaths Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford Alumni of St Cross College, Oxford Councillors in Berkshire Deaths from cancer in England Liberal Democrats (UK) MPs for English constituencies Liberal Democrats (UK) councillors Liberal Party (UK) parliamentary candidates Newbury, Berkshire People educated at Eton College UK MPs 1992–1997 UK MPs 1997–2001 UK MPs 2001–2005