Sir Harold Macdonald Steward (8 September 1904 – 3 March 1977) was a British consulting engineer and Conservative Party politician. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for

Stockport South Stockport South was a borough constituency which returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1950 until 1983. History Under the Representation of the People Act 1948, which came ...

for nine years, and later became Leader of

Liverpool City Council Liverpool City Council is the Local government in England, local authority for the City status in the United Kingdom, city of Liverpool in Merseyside, England. Liverpool has had a local authority since 1207, which has been reformed on numerous ...

Engineering training

Steward was born in

Rainhill Rainhill is a village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens, Merseyside, England. The population at the 2011 census was 10,853. Historically part of Lancashire, Rainhill was a township in the ecclesiastical parish of Prescot ...

, near St Helens. He went to the local secondary school and to Cowley School in St Helens. He went into business at the age of 14, continuing to train in engineering at the St Helens Municipal Technical College. Steward later became a production engineering manager, and later, still a development engineer; he worked for the same company all through. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he was seconded to work on

radar Radar is a system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), direction ( azimuth and elevation angles), and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It is a radiodetermination method used to detect and track ...

research, and after the end of the war, served on an inter-services mission to former enemy countries.

Involvement in politics

Already interested in politics (he had won a Conservative Party prize for public speaking before the war), Steward was appointed a Justice of the Peace for

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

in 1951 and fought Liverpool Edge Hill at the general election later that year. This was a near marginal constituency, although in the result, Labour improved its majority in the constituency against the national trend. Steward was elected to

in 1953.

Byelection candidate

In January 1955, Steward was selected from 60 applicants to be Conservative candidate for

where a byelection was pending after Sir Arnold Gridley was given a peerage. In a straight fight with a Labour candidate, Steward won with a majority of 2,563, which was almost the same as at the previous election (making allowances for the reduced turnout).

Parliament

Steward made his maiden speech on the 1955 Finance Bill, on 27 April 1955. He concentrated on the budget effects on industry, and he gave his opinion that the use of strikes in industry was becoming obsolete, because more and more problems would be solved by negotiation. Unlike most other councillors who became MPs, Steward did not give up his seat on Liverpool council and continued to be an active councillor. This activity inevitably restricted the time he had for Parliamentary activity. He was a very early supporter of a British application to join the European Communities.

Liverpool

Loyal to the government over the

Suez crisis The Suez Crisis, also known as the Second Arab–Israeli War, the Tripartite Aggression in the Arab world and the Sinai War in Israel, was a British–French–Israeli invasion of Egypt in 1956. Israel invaded on 29 October, having done so w ...

, Steward was a low-profile Member. He was part of a Parliamentary delegation to

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

in 1958. In 1959, Steward made a speech on Liverpool Council urging the establishment of a development board to regenerate

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial and metropolitan county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Greater Manchester to the east, Cheshire to the south, the Wales, Welsh county of Flintshire across ...

which attracted national publicity; the Labour majority on the council were sceptical of the position and instead called on the United Kingdom government to provide additional aid. In 1960, as Deputy Leader of the Conservative group, he strongly opposed a motion by the Labour majority on the council to boycott goods from

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

in protest at

apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

. He was elected as an

Alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law with similar officials existing in the Netherlands (wethouder) and Belgium (schepen). The term may be titular, denotin ...

in 1961; in the same year he chaired a conference on the effect of British membership of the

Common Market A single market, sometimes called common market or internal market, is a type of trade bloc in which most trade barriers have been removed (for goods) with some common policies on product regulation, and freedom of movement of the factors of ...

on the North West economy. Steward was chairman of the Planning Committee of Liverpool City Council in 1962. In January 1963, he was identified in a piece broadcast on

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

TV's ''

That Was the Week That Was ''That Was the Week That Was'', informally ''TWTWTW'' or ''TW3'', is a satirical television comedy programme that aired on BBC Television in 1962 and 1963. It was devised, produced, and directed by Ned Sherrin and Jack (aka John) Duncan, and pr ...

'' which named 13 MPs who had not spoken in the House of Commons since the previous general election. As with his constituency neighbour, Sir

Norman Hulbert Wing Commander Sir Norman John Hulbert, DL (5 June 1903 – 1 June 1972) was a British company director, Royal Air Force officer and politician who served as a member of parliament for the Conservative Party for nearly thirty years. Early in h ...

, he pleaded that making speeches was not the beginning and end of Parliamentary activity and he sought re-election in the 1964 general election; however, his marginal constituency fell to Labour.

Council leadership

After being chosen as Leader of the Conservative group on Liverpool City Council in 1964, Steward became Chairman of Liverpool Conservatives in 1966. He planned the Conservatives' election campaigns based on opposing rent and rate rises imposed by the Labour-controlled council. Although failing to make advances in the 1966 general election, the Conservatives did win a majority on Liverpool Council in 1967. Steward became Leader of the Council. From 1969 to 1972 he was Chairman of

Merseyside Passenger Transport Authority Merseytravel is a public transport body and the passenger transport executive of the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority responsible for delivering Public transport and other transport functions in the Liverpool City Region. It was origin ...

, responsible for running the

Mersey Ferry The Mersey Ferry is a ferry service operating on the River Mersey in northwest England, between Liverpool to the east and Birkenhead and Wallasey on the Wirral Peninsula to the west. Ferries have been used on this route since at least the 12 ...

, and campaigning for a new Mersey tunnel. In the 1972 New Year Honours, Steward was given a

Knighthood A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

. He stood down from the City Council in 1974 when it was reorganised.

References

*M. Stenton and S. Lees, "Who's Who of British MPs" Vol. IV (Harvester Press, 1981) *"Who Was Who", A & C Black *''The Times'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Steward, Harold 1904 births 1977 deaths Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1951–1955 UK MPs 1955–1959 UK MPs 1959–1964 People from Rainhill Conservative Party (UK) councillors in Liverpool