David Evan Trant Luard (31 October 1926 – 8 February 1991), most commonly known as Evan Luard, was a British Labour Party and

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 ...

(SDP) politician, and a renowned

international relations International relations (IR), sometimes referred to as international studies and international affairs, is the Scientific method, scientific study of interactions between sovereign states. In a broader sense, it concerns all activities betwe ...

scholar.

Education and early career

Luard was educated at

King's College School, Cambridge King's College School is a coeducational independent preparatory school for children aged 4 to 13 in Cambridge, England, situated on West Road off Grange Road, west of the city centre. It was founded to educate the choristers in the King's ...

Felsted School (Keep your Faith) , established = , closed = , type = Public school Independent day and boarding , religion = Church of England , president = , head_label = Headmaster , head = Chris Townsend , r_head_ ...

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 ...

, where he gained a First in Part I of the Modern Languages

tripos At the University of Cambridge, a Tripos (, plural 'Triposes') is any of the examinations that qualify an undergraduate for a bachelor's degree or the courses taken by a student to prepare for these. For example, an undergraduate studying mathe ...

. In 1950, Luard joined the Foreign Service, and after learning Chinese he was stationed in

Peking } Beijing ( ; ; ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the Capital city, capital of the China, People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's Li ...

from 1952 to 1954. In 1956 he resigned from the diplomatic service in protest of Britain's involvement in the

Suez Crisis The Suez Crisis, or the Second Arab–Israeli war, also called the Tripartite Aggression ( ar, العدوان الثلاثي, Al-ʿUdwān aṯ-Ṯulāṯiyy) in the Arab world and the Sinai War in Israel,Also known as the Suez War or 1956 Wa ...

. He became a research fellow at

St Antony's College, Oxford St Antony's College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1950 as the result of the gift of French merchant Sir Antonin Besse of Aden, St Antony's specialises in international relations, economics ...

, in 1957, where he was able to research Chinese relations with Britain. He was a Labour councillor on Oxford City Council from 1958 to 1961.

Political career

Having first contested the seat in 1964, Luard was elected as the Labour Party

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house ...

(MP) for

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the Un ...

in 1966. He served as MP until 1970 and again from October 1974 to 1979. He was the only Labour member ever to represent the constituency in its original form. He served as a Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Foreign Office from 1969 to 1970 and again from 1976 until Labour left power in 1979. Luard joined the SDP soon after its formation, and contested the

1983 general election The following elections occurred in the year 1983. Africa * 1983 Cameroonian parliamentary election * 1983 Equatorial Guinean legislative election * 1983 Kenyan general election * 1983 Malagasy parliamentary election * 1983 Malawian general e ...

for the party in the newly formed constituency of

Oxford West and Abingdon Oxford West and Abingdon is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2017 by Layla Moran, a Liberal Democrat. History Creation The seat was created in 1983 as part of the reconfiguration of those in the c ...

. He was de-selected as candidate in 1987 in favour of

Chris Huhne Christopher Murray Paul-Huhne (born 2 July 1954), known as Chris Huhne, is a British energy and climate change consultant and former journalist and politician who was the Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Eastleigh from 2005 to 2013 a ...

Publications

Luard is mainly known for his extensive writings on numerous aspects of international relations.Adam Roberts, 'Evan Luard as a Writer on International Affairs', ''Review of International Studies'', vol. 18, no. 1, January 1992. He is also known for his sociological theories including the hierarchy theory. His exhaustive study of war, ''War in International Society: A Study in International Sociology'', was published in Britain in 1986 and by Yale University Press in the United States in 1987. Luard also contributed a number of studies in support of "community socialism" in Britain, most notably ''Socialism and the State'' (1979). An account of his life and work appeared in the ''

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

'' in 2004.

References

External links

* 1926 births 1991 deaths Alumni of King's College, Cambridge Fellows of St Antony's College, Oxford Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Members of Oxford City Council Ministers in the Wilson governments, 1964–1970 People educated at Felsted School Social Democratic Party (UK) politicians UK MPs 1966–1970 UK MPs 1974–1979 {{England-Labour-UK-MP-stub