Roy Hattersley entered the House of Commons in 1964 as a Labour Member of Parliament. In 1967 he joined the Government as Under-secretary of State at the Department of Employment, then served as Minister of Defence. From 1974 he was Senior Minister of State at the Foreign Office and became a Privy Councillor the following year. He entered the Cabinet in 1976 as Secretary of State for Prices and Consumer Affairs. In 1983 he was elected Deputy Leader of the Labour Party and served until 1992 and was made a peer in 1998.
He stood down from Parliament at the 1997 general election to concentrate on his writing and speaking. He has been a Visiting Fellow of the Institute of Politics at Harvard, Nuffield College, Oxford, and a visiting Professor of Politics atthe University of Sheffield, an Honorary Fellow of Queen Mary College, University of London, and a Fellow of The Royal Society of Literature and has received five Honorary Doctorates.
One of the most prolific writers in Britain, Roy Hattersley is currently working on a biography of Lloyd George and is the author of twenty-three books, including The Edwardians and Borrowed Time, The Story of Britain between the Wars.
Photo credit Jane Brown