Editing Giles Radice

{{Short description|British politician and author (1936–2022)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2022}}
{{Use British English|date=July 2015}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix = [[The Right Honourable]]
| name             = The Lord Radice
| honorific-suffix = {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|PC}}
| image            = Official portrait of Lord Radice crop 2.jpg
| alt              = 
| caption          = Official portrait, 2018
| office           = Chairman of the [[Treasury Select Committee]]
| primeminister    = [[Tony Blair]]
| term_start       = 17 July 1997
| term_end         = 7 June 2001
| predecessor      = 
| successor        = [[John McFall, Baron McFall of Alcluith|John McFall]]
| office1          = [[Shadow Secretary of State for Education|Shadow Secretary of State for<br />Education and Science]]
| leader1          = [[Neil Kinnock]]
| term_start1      = 2 October 1983
| term_end1        = 13 July 1987
| predecessor1     = Neil Kinnock
| successor1       = [[Jack Straw]]
| office2          = [[Member of the House of Lords]]<br />[[Lord Temporal]]
| term_start2      = 16 July 2001
| term_end2        = 1 August 2022
| term_label2      = [[Life peer]]age
| parliament3      = United Kingdom
| constituency_MP3 = [[North Durham]]
| prior_term3      = [[Chester-le-Street (UK Parliament constituency)|Chester-le-Street]] (1973–1983)
| term_start3      = 1 March 1973
| term_end3        = 14 May 2001
| predecessor3     = [[Norman Pentland]]
| successor3       = [[Kevan Jones]]
| birth_date       = {{birth date|1936|10|4|df=yes}}
| birth_place      = London, England
| death_date       = {{death date and age|2022|8|25|1936|10|4|df=yes}}
| death_place      = 
| birthname        = Giles Heneage Radice
| party            = [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]]
| spouse           = {{ubl|{{marriage|Penelope Angus|1959|1969|end = divorced}}|{{marriage|Lisanne Koch|1971}}}}
| children         = 2
| alma_mater       = [[Magdalen College, Oxford]]
| module           = {{Listen| embed=yes|filename=Giles Radice BBC Radio4 Westminster Hour 26 April 2009 b00jwxx2.flac|title=Radice's voice|type=speech|description=from the BBC programme ''[[Westminster Hour]]'', 26 April 2009<ref name="BBC-b00jwxx2">{{Cite episode|title= 26/04/2009|series= Westminster Hour|series-link= Westminster Hour|url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00jwxx2|access-date= 18 January 2014|station= BBC Radio 4|date= 26 April 2009|archive-date= 31 August 2022|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220831214521/https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00jwxx2|url-status= live}}</ref>}}

}}

'''Giles Heneage Radice, Baron Radice''', {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|PC}} (4 October 1936 – 25 August 2022) was a British [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] politician and author. He served as a [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] (MP) from 1973 to 2001, representing part of [[County Durham]], and then as a life peer in the [[House of Lords]] from 2001 until shortly before his death in 2022.<ref>{{cite web |title=Mr Giles Radice |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/people/mr-giles-radice/index.html |website=Hansard |access-date=13 May 2021 |archive-date=6 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210506025340/https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/people/mr-giles-radice/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Parliamentary career for Lord Radice – MPs and Lords |url=https://members.parliament.uk/member/510/career |website=UK Parliament |access-date=13 May 2021 |language=en |archive-date=13 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210513234819/https://members.parliament.uk/member/510/career |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Early life==
Radice was born in London on 4 October 1936, the son of a civil servant in the Indian Government, Lawrence Radice.<ref name="GuardianObit">{{cite news |last1=Langdon |first1=Julia |title=Lord Radice obituary |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/aug/30/lord-radice-obituary |access-date=30 August 2022 |work=The Guardian |date=30 August 2022 |language=en |archive-date=31 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220831214520/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/aug/30/lord-radice-obituary |url-status=live }}</ref> His mother, Patricia, was the daughter of Conservative politician [[Arthur Heneage]].<ref name="GuardianObit" /> Radice was educated at [[Winchester College]] and [[Magdalen College, Oxford]].<ref name = Times>{{cite news|url = https://www.thetimes.com/uk/article/lord-radice-obituary-07sbnkwms|title = Lord Radice obituary|newspaper = [[The Times]]|date = 27 August 2022|access-date = 27 August 2022|url-access = subscription|archive-date = 26 August 2022|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220826233524/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/lord-radice-obituary-07sbnkwms|url-status = live}}</ref> His national service was with the [[Coldstream Guards]].<ref name = Times/> He then worked as a research officer for the [[General and Municipal Workers' Union]] and was chair of the [[Young Fabians]] from 1967 to 1968.<ref name = Times/>

==Parliamentary career==
Radice first stood for Parliament at [[Chippenham (UK Parliament constituency)|Chippenham]] in [[1964 United Kingdom general election|1964]] and [[1966 United Kingdom general election|1966]], but came third each time. He was elected Labour [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] for [[Chester-le-Street (UK Parliament constituency)|Chester-le-Street]] from [[1973 Chester-le-Street by-election|a 1973 by-election]] to [[1983 United Kingdom general election|1983]] and then [[North Durham]] until his retirement in [[2001 United Kingdom general election|2001]].<ref name="auto">{{cite web|url=https://members.parliament.uk/member/510/contact|title=Contact information for Lord Radice – MPs and Lords – UK Parliament|website=members.parliament.uk|access-date=29 May 2021|archive-date=10 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180310213445/http://www.parliament.uk/biographies/lords/lord-radice/510|url-status=live}}</ref>

Radice served as Education spokesman in the Labour Shadow Cabinet under [[Neil Kinnock]] in the 1980s.<ref name = PA>{{cite news|url = https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/aug/26/wise-and-kind-labour-peer-giles-radice-dies-at-85|title = 'Wise and kind' Labour peer Giles Radice dies at 85|agency = [[Press Association]]|newspaper = [[The Guardian]]|date = 26 August 2022|accessdate = 27 August 2022|archive-date = 26 August 2022|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220826221855/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/aug/26/wise-and-kind-labour-peer-giles-radice-dies-at-85|url-status = live}}</ref> As chairman of the [[Treasury Select Committee]], Radice helped make the monetary policy committee of the [[Bank of England]] accountable to both Parliament and the people for its decisions over interest rates.<ref>House of Commons Treasury Select Committee ''Accountability of the Bank of England, 1st Report 1997 – 1998'' and ''Confirmation Hearings 3rd Report 1997-1998''</ref> He was a member of the House of Lords European Union Sub-Committee on external affairs until March 2015.<ref name="auto"/>

A [[Pro-Europeanism|europhile]], Radice was one of only five Labour MPs to vote for the [[third reading]] of the [[Maastricht Treaty]] in 1993, defying his [[party Whip]], which was to abstain.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/tory-mps-in-record-revolt-lamont-leaves-door-open-for-erm-reentry-corrected-2324115.html|title=Tory MPs in record revolt: Lamont leaves door open for ERM re-entry|newspaper=[[The Independent]]|date=21 May 1993|access-date=3 November 2017|archive-date=5 February 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150205153735/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/tory-mps-in-record-revolt-lamont-leaves-door-open-for-erm-reentry-corrected-2324115.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

He was made a [[life peer]] as '''Baron Radice''', of [[Chester-le-Street]] in the [[County of Durham]], on 16 July 2001.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=56281|date=20 July 2001|page=8601}}</ref> He retired from the House of Lords on 1 August 2022.<ref>{{cite web |title=Retirement of One Member (Retirement List) Lord Radice (1 August) |url=https://lordsbusiness.parliament.uk/ItemOfBusiness?itemOfBusinessId=115366&sectionId=53&businessPaperDate=2022-07-21 |website=UK Parliament |access-date=21 July 2022 |archive-date=21 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220721082832/https://lordsbusiness.parliament.uk/ItemOfBusiness?itemOfBusinessId=115366&sectionId=53&businessPaperDate=2022-07-21 |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Writing and political ideas== 
As an advocate for Labour to ditch traditional dogmas, Radice has been described as a forerunner to [[Tony Blair]].<ref name = Times/> In his 1989 book ''Labour's Path to Power: The New Revisionism'', Radice set out his vision for a modernised Labour Party, which included abandoning [[Clause IV]] of the party constitution.<ref>{{cite news |title=Lord Radice, Labour moderate who helped prepare the intellectual ground for Tony Blair – obituary |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2022/08/28/lord-radice-labour-moderate-who-helped-prepare-intellectual/ |access-date=30 August 2022 |work=The Daily Telegraph |date=28 August 2022 |archive-date=28 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828221008/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2022/08/28/lord-radice-labour-moderate-who-helped-prepare-intellectual/ |url-status=live }}</ref> His 1992 pamphlet "Southern Discomfort" also made a case for reform, arguing that Labour did not appear supportive of economic aspiration, and this was costing them support from working class voters in [[Southern England]], particularly London.<ref name = Times/>

Philip Stephens later wrote in the ''Financial Times'', <blockquote>At that time, Giles Radice, then an MP, wrote a brilliant essay on what he called Labour's 'southern discomfort'.  The party would not win, he argued, unless and until it managed to connect its ambitions for social justice with the individualistic aspirations of the voters in southern England. Here was the template for Mr Blair.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Stephens |first1=Philip |title=Philip Stephens: North-south divide of UK politics |url=https://www.ft.com/content/25803d92-f4be-11da-86f6-0000779e2340 |website=Financial Times |date=5 June 2006 |access-date=27 August 2022 |archive-date=27 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220827172818/https://www.ft.com/content/25803d92-f4be-11da-86f6-0000779e2340 |url-status=live }}</ref></blockquote>

Radice returned to this theme following Labour's 2010 defeat: his "Southern Discomfort Again" pamphlet (with [[Patrick Diamond]]) found that voters perceived that Labour had run out of steam, were out of touch (particularly on immigration), unfair and poorly led. In this pamphlet and in "Southern Discomfort: One Year On" (2011), Radice warned that the 'southern problem' is more than geographical: social change means that Labour support collapsed in other areas, including the Midlands.<ref name = LFF>{{cite web |title=Leading Labour strategist says Labour must recapture the south |url=https://leftfootforward.org/2010/09/leading-labour-strategist-says-labour-must-recapture-the-south/ |website=Left Foot Forward: Leading the UK's progressive debate |date=24 September 2010 |access-date=27 August 2022 |archive-date=27 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220827180215/https://leftfootforward.org/2010/09/leading-labour-strategist-says-labour-must-recapture-the-south/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name = PN>{{cite web |title=Publications – Southern Discomfort Again |url=http://www.policy-network.net/publications/3899/Southern-Discomfort-Again |date=11 October 2010 |website=Policy Network |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110223023852/http://www.policy-network.net/publications/3899/Southern-Discomfort-Again |archive-date=23 February 2011}}</ref> A committed pro-European, Radice was a leading member both of the European Movement and Britain in Europe, and wrote a polemic called ''Offshore'' in 1992, in which he put the case for Britain in Europe.<ref>{{cite web |title=Offshore: Britain and the European Idea |url=https://www.waterstones.com/book/offshore/giles-radice/9781850433620 |website=Waterstones |access-date=30 August 2022}}</ref>

After his retirement as an MP in 2001 Radice, wrote ''Friends and Rivals'', an acclaimed triple biography of three modernisers from an earlier generation—[[Roy Jenkins]], [[Denis Healey]], and [[Anthony Crosland]]—arguing that their failure to work more closely together had harmed the modernising cause. This was followed by ''The Tortoise and the Hares'', a comparative biography of [[Clement Attlee]], [[Ernest Bevin]], [[Stafford Cripps]], [[Hugh Dalton]] and [[Herbert Morrison]]. ''Trio: Inside the Blair, Brown, Mandelson Project'' was published in 2010. In a review of ''Trio'', Andrew Blick wrote that, "With his previous work ''Friends and Rivals'' (2002) and ''The Tortoise and the Hares'' (2008), Radice developed a distinctive approach to contemporary history, using group biography ....Radice adds to his historical approach not only a readable writing style, but the judgements of an experienced Labour politician."<ref>''Political Quarterly'', Vol 82, Issue 2, 2011, pp. 322–25.</ref>

==Other positions==
Lord Radice had been a member of the advisory board of the [[Centre for British Studies]] of Berlin's [[Humboldt University]] since 1998.<ref>[http://www.gbz.hu-berlin.de/the-centre/advisory-council Humboldt University of Berlin Advisory Council website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120218135843/http://www.gbz.hu-berlin.de/the-centre/advisory-council |date=18 February 2012 }}, gbz.hu-berlin.de; accessed 21 February 2016.</ref> He was also a member of the [[Fabian Society]].<ref name = Times/> Radice was a chair of the British Association for Central and Eastern Europe (BACEE), and chair of the [[European Movement]], from 1995 to 2001. He was also a chairman of Policy Network, the international progressive thinktank based in London.<ref name = Times/>

==Personal life==
Radice married Penelope Angus in 1959; they had two daughters and divorced in 1969. In 1971, he married historian Lisanne Koch.<ref name = Times/> He was a longtime resident of [[London Borough of Camden|Camden]], living in [[Gloucester Crescent]] in the 1960s before relocating to [[Parliament Hill, London|Parliament Hill]].<ref>{{cite news|url = https://www.hamhigh.co.uk/news/obituaries/lord-radice-tributes-9238868|title = 'Wise and kind': Tributes to Labour politician Giles Radice|last = Langlois|first = André|newspaper = Ham & High|publisher = [[Archant]]|date = 28 August 2022|accessdate = 29 August 2022|archive-date = 28 August 2022|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220828144156/https://www.hamhigh.co.uk/news/obituaries/lord-radice-tributes-9238868|url-status = live}}</ref>

Radice died from cancer on 25 August 2022, at age 85.<ref name="GuardianObit" /><ref name = Times/>

== Books ==
* ''[https://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/Documents/Detail/divide-and-rule-the-industrial-relations-bill-1971/110121 Divide and rule : the Industrial Relations Bill].'' (with [[Jon Vickers (trade unionist)|J. O. N. Vickers]]) Fabian Society, London. 1971 {{ISBN|0-7163-0406-6}}<ref name="ENCB">{{cite web |title=Giles Radice bibliography |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/radice-giles-1936 |website=Encyclopedia.com |access-date=30 August 2022 |archive-date=11 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220311223541/https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/radice-giles-1936 |url-status=live }}</ref>
* ''[https://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/Documents/Detail/community-socialism-1979/114185 Community socialism]''. Fabian Society, London. 1979<ref name="BLAB">{{cite web|title=Giles Radice bibliography|url=https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/search/author/Giles%20Radice|website=Blackwells|access-date=30 August 2022|archive-date=31 August 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220831214522/https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/search/author/Giles%20Radice|url-status=live}}</ref>
* ''[https://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/Documents/Detail/equality-and-quality-socialist-plan-for-education-1986/117489 Equality and quality: a socialist plan for education].'' Fabian Society, London. 1986<ref name="BLAB" />
* ''Labour's Path to Power: The New Revisionism'' Palgrave Macmillan, 1989, {{ISBN|978-0333480724}}<ref name="ENCB" />
* ''Offshore: Britain and the European Idea'' [[I.B.Tauris]], 1992, {{ISBN|978-1-85043-362-0}}<ref name="ENCB" />
* ''The New Germans'' Michael Joseph, 1995, {{ISBN|978-0718137809}}<ref name="ENCB" />
* ''Friends and Rivals'' [[Octagon Press]], 2003, {{ISBN|978-0-349-11734-8}}<ref name="ENCB" />
* ''Diaries 1980–2001: The Political Diaries of Giles Radice'' [[Orion Publishing Group|Orion]], 2004, {{ISBN|978-0-297-84900-1}}<ref>{{cite web |title=Diaries – Giles Radice |url=https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/Diaries-1980-2001-by-Giles-Radice/9780297849001 |website=Blackwells |access-date=30 August 2022 |archive-date=31 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220831214521/https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/Diaries-1980-2001-by-Giles-Radice/9780297849001 |url-status=live }}</ref>
* ''The Tortoise and the Hares: Attlee, Bevin, Cripps, Dalton, Morrison'' [[Politicos Publishing]], 2008, {{ISBN|978-1-84275-223-4}}<ref>{{cite web |title=The Tortoise and the Hares |url=https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-tortoise-and-the-hares/giles-radice/9781842752234 |website=Waterstones |access-date=30 August 2022}}</ref>
* ''Trio: Inside the Blair, Brown, Mandelson Project'' [[I.B.Tauris]], 2010, {{ISBN|978-1-84885-445-1}}<ref>{{cite web |title=Trio: Inside the Blair, Brown, Mandelson Project |url=https://www.waterstones.com/book/trio/giles-radice/9781848854451 |website=Waterstones |access-date=30 August 2022}}</ref>
* ''[https://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/Documents/Detail/southern-discomfort-1992/119375 Southern Discomfort]'' Fabian Society, 1992, 978-0716305552<ref name="BLAB" />
* ''[https://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/Documents/Detail/more-southern-discomfort-a-year-on-taxing-and-spending-1993/119526 More Southern Discomfort : a year on – taxing and spending]'' Fabian Society, 1993<ref name="BLAB" />
* ''Southern Discomfort Again'' (with Patrick Diamond) Policy Network, 2010<ref name = LFF/>
* ''Southern Discomfort Again: One Year On'' (with Patrick Diamond), Policy Network, 2011<ref name = PN/>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Rayment-hc|external links=y|date=March 2012}}
* {{Hansard-contribs|mr-giles-radice|Giles Radice}}
* {{NPG name|id=120724}}

{{S-start}}
{{S-par|uk}}
{{S-bef | before = [[Norman Pentland]] }}
{{S-ttl
 | title = Member of Parliament for [[Chester-le-Street (UK Parliament constituency)|Chester-le-Street]]
 | years = [[1973 Chester-le-Street by-election|1973]]–[[1983 United Kingdom general election|1983]]
}}
{{S-non | reason = Constituency abolished }}
{{S-new | constituency}}
{{S-ttl
 | title = Member of Parliament for [[North Durham]]
 | years = [[1983 United Kingdom general election|1983]]–[[2001 United Kingdom general election|2001]]
}}
{{S-aft | after = [[Kevan Jones]] }}
{{S-ppo}}
{{Succession box|title=Treasurer of the [[Fabian Society]]|years=1974–1976|before=[[Anthony Lester]]|after=[[John Roper, Baron Roper|John Roper]]}}
{{Succession box|title=Chair of the [[Fabian Society]]|years=1976–1977|before=[[Colin Crouch]]|after=[[Dick Leonard]]}}
{{S-end}}
{{Fabian Society}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Radice, Giles Heneage}}
[[Category:1936 births]]
[[Category:2022 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century British male writers]]
[[Category:20th-century British non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:21st-century British male writers]]
[[Category:21st-century British non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford]]
[[Category:British political writers]]
[[Category:Chairs of the Fabian Society]]
[[Category:Coldstream Guards officers]]
[[Category:Deaths from cancer in England]]
[[Category:GMB (trade union)-sponsored MPs]]
[[Category:Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies]]
[[Category:Labour Party (UK) life peers]]
[[Category:Life peers created by Elizabeth II]]
[[Category:Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:People educated at Winchester College]]
[[Category:Place of death missing]]
[[Category:Treasurers of the Fabian Society]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1970–1974]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1974]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1974–1979]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1979–1983]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1983–1987]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1987–1992]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1992–1997]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1997–2001]]
[[Category:Writers from London]]
[[Category:Peers retired under the House of Lords Reform Act 2014]]