Alan Beith

Alan James Beith, Baron Beith (born 20 April 1943), is a British Liberal Democrat politician who represented Berwick-upon-Tweed as its Member of Parliament (MP) from 1973 to 2015.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

From 1992 to 2003 he was Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats. By 2015 he was the longest-serving member of his party's House of Commons delegation, and was the last Liberal Democrat MP to have experience of Parliament in the 1970s.

Beith was elevated as a life peer in the 2015 Dissolution Honours list,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and took his title and a seat on the House of Lords opposition benches on 23 November 2015.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Early life

Balliol College, Oxford

The son of John Beith, of Scottish extraction, he was born in 1943 at Poynton in Cheshire. He was educated at The King's School, Macclesfield before going to Balliol College, Oxford, where he read Philosophy, Politics and Economics graduating in 1964. He then pursued postgraduate studies at Nuffield College, receiving a Bachelor of Letters (BLitt) degree.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 1966, Beith began his career as a Politics lecturer at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. In 1969 he was elected as a Councillor on Hexham Rural District Council and, in 1970, he was also elected to Corbridge parish council. He contested Berwick-upon-Tweed as the Liberal candidate at the 1970 general election but was heavily defeated by the sitting Conservative MP Antony Lambton.

Parliamentary career

Beith became a member of Tynedale District Council in 1973. Later that year, Antony Lambton resigned as an MP following a Fleet Street exposé. At the ensuing by-election on 8 November 1973, Beith was narrowly elected by 57 votes, becoming Berwick's first Liberal MP since 1945.

Just three months after his by-election success, Beith was out canvassing his constituents again at the February 1974 general election, being returned to Parliament with an increased majority of 443. Later that same year and still less than a year after entering the House of Commons, Beith had to contest the constituency for a third time in less than a year at the October 1974 general election, retaining his seat with a slender majority of 73 votes.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He held his seat with comfortable majorities in the eight further elections he stood in.

Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party

Template:BLP unreferenced section Beith was appointed to the BBC Advisory Council in 1974, and served as a member until 1984. On the election of David Steel as Liberal Leader in 1976, Beith became the Party's Chief Whip in the Commons.<ref name="auto">Template:Cite web</ref> After the 1983 general election, he was appointed Liberal Spokesman for Constitutional Affairs. He was elected as Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party in 1985, in both cases continuing his duties as a Commons Chief Whip.

After the 1987 general election, Beith concentrated his efforts as Liberal Spokesman for Treasury Affairs and stood down from being Liberal Chief Whip after eleven years in post. In 1988, the Liberal and Social Democratic parties merged, initially as the Social and Liberal Democrats.

Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats

Template:BLP unreferenced section Beith stood against Paddy Ashdown in the first leadership election in 1988, an election which Ashdown won by a large margin. Beith stayed on as Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats following the 1992 general election under Ashdown until 2003, and was sworn of the Privy Council in 1992. In 1994, he became the Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesperson and continued in post under Charles Kennedy's leadership. After the 2001 general election he briefly became Lib Dem spokesperson for the Lord Chancellor's Department, but left the Lib Dem frontbench in 2002, though remaining its Deputy Leader until the following year.

After standing down from the Lib Dem frontbench he chaired the Commons Constitutional Affairs, and Justice Committees. Following Sir Menzies Campbell's resignation as Leader of the Liberal Democrats on 15 October 2007, Beith was encouraged to stand as a prospective compromise candidate for the Lib Dem leadership. However, via his personal website, he announced his decision not to stand for election as party leader.

Later developments

On 19 May 2009, Beith was the first MP to declare his candidacy to succeed Speaker Michael Martin, who stood down from the position on 21 June 2009. Beith pledged he was "willing to take on the task of leading reform" were he elected as Commons Speaker.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Conservative MP John Bercow won, becoming the 157th Speaker of the House Commons of the United Kingdom.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Insignia of a Knight Bachelor

Beith was knighted in the 2008 Birthday Honours.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

On 22 May 2009, Beith was reported by The Daily Telegraph to have claimed £117,000 in second home allowances while his wife, Baroness Maddock, claimed £60,000 Lords expenses for sharing the same address.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Replying in writing on both their behalf to The Telegraph journalist's exposé: "It would be quite wrong for the taxpayer to pay twice for the same costs, so we have shared the costs, either by sharing the cost of rent, or by my wife using her allowance towards costs incurred (she normally claims only half the Lords' overnight allowance)", he argued in defence.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Coalition Government

At the May 2010 general election he was returned as MP for Berwick; however, his majority was reduced by a substantial swing to the Conservatives.

Beith served as Chairman of the Commons Justice<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and of the Liaison Select Committees until retiring in 2015.

He was one of only four Liberal Democrat MPs to vote against the third reading of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill.<ref>MPs who voted against the Third Reading of the Equal Marriage Bill Template:Webarchive. Pink News. Retrieved 31 January 2014.</ref> He was the only Liberal Democrat MP to oppose recognising Palestine as a state in the Commons vote on 13 October 2014.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Beith campaigned throughout his years in the House of Commons for the A1 road to be made a dual carriageway in Northumberland.<ref>Retiring MP Sir Alan Beith Template:Webarchive. Chronicle. Retrieved 6 October 2014.</ref>

Elevation to the House of Lords

On 7 August 2013, Beith announced that he would retire as an MP at the next election, as he would by the time of the election have represented Berwick-upon-Tweed for 42 years.<ref>Alan Beith to step down in 2015 Template:Webarchive. Liberal Democrat Voice (7 August 2013); retrieved 31 January 2014.</ref> He was announced as a life peer in the 2015 Dissolution Honours and was created Baron Beith, of Berwick-upon-Tweed in the County of Northumberland, on the afternoon of 19 October.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref>

Politics

Beith is more left-leaning and liberal in social issues, and more right-leaning and conservative economically.

Taxes

Beith has only voted for reducing VAT once, on 13 December 2008; from then on he voted for raising it.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Beith supports higher taxes for alcohol.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He always voted against a mansion tax.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He also has voted for reducing capital gains tax<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and corporation tax. He has voted for raising the threshold for paying income tax.

Social

He voted against the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 in its third reading.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Beith also voted for smoking bans<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and against a hunting ban.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He supports lowering the voting age to 16.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Liberal Democrats generally support assisted dying; he has voted against it.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Personal life

Beith was married in 1965 to Barbara Ward, and they had a son and a daughter. His first wife died in 1998, and he then married in 2001 Diana Maddock (née Derbyshire), formerly MP for Christchurch (1993–1997).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Until her death on 26 June 2020, Lord Beith and Baroness Maddock divided their time between homes at Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland, and London SW1; they were one of the few married couples both titled in their own right.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Lord Beith serves as President of the Historic Chapels Trust, a charity he helped to found and of which he was Chair of Trustees between 2001 and 2014. He is also President of Northumberland Hospital Radio and of the National Liberal Club.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Lord Beith is a circuit lay preacher for the Methodist church, a role that he has undertaken for nearly 60 years. In 2016 the Methodist church in Berwick upon Tweed presented a certificate to Beith in recognition of his 50 years of service to that church.<ref> Template:Cite news </ref> In 2013 Lord Beith wrote an essay entitled "Should the State forgive?" for the book Liberal Democrats do God, which discussed the theological interplay between the Christian understanding of forgiveness and a government's criminal justice system.<ref> Template:Cite book </ref> He is a past President of the Liberal Democrat Christian Forum.<ref> Template:Cite news</ref>

He reportedly speaks French, Norwegian, Swedish and Welsh, and is a keen supporter of heritage matters.<ref>Profile Template:Webarchive, georgiangroup.org.uk; accessed 11 February 2016.</ref>

Honours

• Membership of Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council (13 June 1992)<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref>
• Life peer (2015)<ref name="auto"/>
• Knight Bachelor (2008)<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref>

Honorary doctorates:

• Hon. DCL (Newcastle) 1998.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• DCL (Northumbria) 16 July 2010.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Hon. DHL (Earlham).

External links

• Template:Official website
• Profile at the Liberal Democrats
• Template:UK MP links
• Profile at New Statesman "Your Democracy"
• www.burkespeerage.com: MADDOCK, LP
• Template:C-SPAN