Reginald Ernest Prentice, Baron Prentice, PC (16 July 1923 – 18 January 2001) was a British politician who held ministerial office in both Labour and Conservative Party governments. He was the most senior Labour figure ever to defect to the Conservative Party.

Education and war service

Reg Prentice was born in

Croydon Croydon is a large town in South London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a Districts of England, local government district of Greater London; it is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater Lond ...

, Surrey, and educated at Whitgift School in South Croydon, then at the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

. He served in Austria and Italy during

World War II 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 ...

Early politics

Prentice joined the staff of the Transport and General Workers Union (TGWU) in 1950. He was a councillor for Whitehorse Manor in the then- County Borough of Croydon from 1949, having stood unsuccessfully in Thornton Heath ward in 1947. He served on the Housing, Libraries, Planning & Development, Water and Reconstruction Committees. He first stood, unsuccessfully, for parliament in Croydon North in 1950 and 1951, then Streatham in 1955. As Labour Member of Parliament from 1957 for

East Ham North East Ham North was a parliamentary constituency centred on the East Ham district of London, which was in Essex until 1965. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by t ...

, later

Newham North East Newham North East was a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, in the London Borough of Newham. It returned one Member of Parliament, elected by the first past the post Fir ...

, he was a minister of state in

Harold Wilson James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx (11 March 1916 – 23 May 1995) was a British statesman and Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, from 1964 to 1970 and again from 197 ...

's first government at Education and Science (1964–66), then as Minister of Public Buildings and Works (1966–67), and finally was put in charge of the still-new Ministry of Overseas Development (1967–69). In the 1971 Shadow Cabinet election, Prentice just missed out on being elected, finishing in 13th place in the ballot for 12 available places. However, in April 1972 the resignations from the shadow cabinet of Harold Lever and George Thomson saw Prentice and 14th placed candidate John Silkin join the body in their place. At the next shadow cabinet election, Prentice topped the poll and he was again re-elected in

1973 Events January * January 1 – The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 14 - The 16-0 19 ...

, this time finishing in third place. When Labour regained power, he was Secretary of State for Education and Science between 1974 and 1975, subsequently becoming Minister for Overseas Development with a seat in the cabinet until 1976. In 1975, after his Constituency Labour Party had been infiltrated by Trotskyist Militants, he was deselected. He appealed unsuccessfully from the rostrum of the

Labour Party Conference The Labour Party Conference is the annual conference of the British Labour Party (UK), Labour Party. It is formally the supreme decision-making body of the party and is traditionally held in the final week of September, during the party conferen ...

for the National Executive Committee to overturn their endorsement of his deselection.

Switch of party

In 1977, Prentice left the Labour Party after a series of battles with left-wing constituency activists and joined the Conservative Party. He was elected as a Conservative Member of Parliament for

Daventry Daventry ( , ) is a market town and civil parish in the West Northamptonshire unitary authority area of Northamptonshire, England, close to the border with Warwickshire. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 Census, Daventry had a populati ...

in the 1979 general election. Lady Hesketh was instrumental in him standing for Daventry. He was a

Minister of State Minister of state is a designation for a government minister, with varying meanings in different jurisdictions. In a number of European countries, the title is given as an honorific conferring a higher rank, often bestowed upon senior minister ...

at the Department of Health and Social Security in

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...

's government between 1979 and 1981. He left the government owing to ill health. He was knighted in 1987, the year he stepped down as an MP. On 30 January 1992, he was created

Life Peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. Life peers are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister. With the exception of the D ...

as Baron Prentice, of

in the County of Northamptonshire. In the last few years before his death at age 77, he was President of the

Devizes Devizes () is a market town and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. It developed around Devizes Castle, an 11th-century Norman architecture, Norman castle, and received a charter in 1141. The castle was besieged during the Anarchy, a 12th-cent ...

Conservative Association.

Death and legacy

Prentice died at his home in Mildenhall, Wiltshire. His daughter, Christine, followed her father as a

London Borough of Croydon The London Borough of Croydon () is a London borough, borough in South London, part of Outer London. It covers an area of and had a population of 397,741 as of mid-2023, making it the most populous London borough. It is London's southernmost ...

councillor for Coulsdon East ward from 1992 to 1998. A biography, which provides an in-depth account of Prentice's party-political transition during the 1970s, was published in 2015: Geoff Horn, ''Crossing the floor: Reg Prentice and the crisis of British social democracy''.

References

External links