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https://archives.blog.parliament.uk/2025/01/13/the-pragmatic-peer-lord-peter-carrington/

THE PRAGMATIC PEER: LORD PETER CARRINGTON

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staged colour photograph of Carrington in his office
Lord Peter Carrington, 1970s, PUD/15/7, Parliamentary Archives

Pragmatism is possibly the most underappreciated of all political skill sets. The potential knock-on effect for its practitioners is the assumption of being easily swayed or worse on occasion damningly termed a ‘wet’.

Lord Peter Carrington proved to be an exception to the rule in both words and deeds.

Carrington’s endeavours in different fields transcended the expected trajectory of an Upper House hereditary peer.

In this blog, I’ll revisit the career highs and lows of a unique Parliamentarian, recognised by a selection of Conservative Prime Ministers as a versatile talent worthy of a place at the ministerial top table.

Green front cover. The title of the book is 'Gold from your garden'.
Smallholding Guide, 1940s, FLS/11/1, Parliamentary Archives

LAST OF THE WHIGS

Harold Macmillan said of Lord Carrington that he was the ‘last of the Whigs’, a referential nod relating to his family’s early 18th century party allegiance. Originally Leicestershire drapers, the Carrington’s speculated successfully in a banking boom and Pitt the Younger rewarded them with a baronetcy. The third Lord Carrington better known as Charlie Lincolnshire, came to prominence within the Liberal ranks at the turn of the 20th Century. A court favourite of King Edward VII and a loyal ally to Prime Minister Campbell Bannerman, as Agricultural Board President in 1908 he legislatively created a national garden allotment system.

His nephew Peter born in 1919 had been advised by Eton tutors to go into ‘farming, soldiering or stockbroking’. Mild mannered and bespectacled, he surprisingly enlisted at Sandhurst Military Academy. The daily uniform drills and ‘covert’ missions to the local pub had been scant preparation for an outbreak of war in Europe. Joining the Grenadier Guards, he spent the majority of World War Two on the home front, however, Carrington made a significant contribution to the 1944-45 Normandy offensive helping defend crucial channel ports. His post-war plan already decided to take his late father’s vacant seat in the House of Lords.

(Read Charlie Lincolnshire (3rd Lord Carrington) introduce his 1908 Allotments Bill - parliament.uk/historic-hansard)

Original act tied with a red ribbon.
Peerage Act, 1963, HL/PO/PU/1/1963/c48, Parliamentary Archives)

 

CRASH ON DECK

Peerages aside, Carrington also inherited the 350-acre Bledlow Estate. Recently married, he and wife Iona immersed themselves in the Buckinghamshire country set and he joined the local Conservative Association. Farming concerns dominated his chamber speeches, and this hadn’t gone unnoticed amongst an observant Parliamentary Party contingent. When the Conservatives regained power in 1951 Winston Churchill appointed him as Junior Agricultural Minister impressing the hierarchy by taking responsibility for the controversial Crichel Down land sale. Judged as a safe pair of hands, Carrington was transferred to the Defence Ministry assisting Harold Macmillan in navy modernisation and developing a homegrown nuclear deterrent.

Later that decade he accepted the £5,000 a year salaried First Lord of the Admiralty position. At its Horse Guards Parade HQ, Carrington strived to keep disgruntled sealords on board championing initiatives favouring the building of cost-effective aircraft bases over traditional naval fortifications. Creating with colleague and future Black Rod Frank Twiss, the codeword ‘crash on deck’ for circumstances going awry. In this period, Tony Benn began a campaign to renounce his hereditary peerage to remain an elected MP. Carrington was supportive though he didn’t utilize it as an opportunity to give up his peerage and run for a Commons seat.

(Read Lord Peter Carrington make a statement on the Crichel Down Inquiry - parliament.uk/historic-hansard)

(Read more on Tony Benn’s Hereditary Peerage Disclamation -  archives.blog.parliament.uk)

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H Bomb – March on London Leaflet, 1958, LEV/40, Parliamentary Archives

 

black and white photograph
Edward Heath MP, 1970, PUD/18/66, Parliamentary Archives

 

THE FIXER

Managing security matters requires a fair amount of troubleshooting, but this intensified in the Cold War era. Soviet spy scandals were common in the early sixties and Carrington became embroiled in the John Vassall Affair an intriguing mix of espionage and blackmail. A baying press pack sought to expose all the salacious details and accusations of an establishment cover-up that damaged the moral standing of Macmillan’s administration. As the CND (Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament) movement grew Carrington became a token hate figure as designated spokesperson for Defence White Papers commissioning programmes including the fiercely opposed introduction of Polaris submarines.

Defying the odds Edward Heath’s Conservatives triumphed in the 1970 General Election and Carrington returned to the familiar realms of defence. The troubles in Northern Ireland amidst continuing civil disorder resulted in him implementing internment without trial, as an emergency counter-terrorist measure. Somewhat of a trusted ‘fixer’ for the increasingly under-pressure Heath, he was entrusted with the Conservative chairmanship with the remit to raise £2 million for the next election fund by attracting donors from the financial world. Industrial unrest and three-day weeks of electricity rationing left the government on the precipice and inevitably after four years, they lost office.

(Read Lord Peter Carrington present the 1961 Defence White Paper -parliament.uk/historic-hansard)

booklet with a blue front cover.

 

FALL GUY

Always considered a ‘good traveller’, on gaining the premiership Margaret Thatcher in 1979, offered Carrington the Foreign Secretary posting. What appeared initially to be a minor issue, the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands (a British Overseas territory), slowly morphed into a major incident. By the spring of 1982 neighbouring country Argentina manoeuvred itself for a lightning-strike invasion. Carrington raised the alarm, yet no immediate action was taken. Once the Argentine forces landed Thatcher and Defence Minister John Nott went on red alert and a newspaper headline summed up the nation’s mood stating, ‘We are all Falkanders Now’.

If Parliament sat on a Saturday then something seismic had to be on the agenda as Thatcher relayed to the House the armed forces rapid response. At the Lords, there was a glaring absentee from proceedings as Carrington had resigned following a severe rebuking from the Conservative’s backbench 1922 Committee. Determined not to hide in the shadows, he kept a previous obligation to perform a eulogy at Rab Butler’s memorial service. In the aftermath, Lord Oliver Franks chaired an inquiry into the conflict noting in its conclusions that Carrington had informed the cabinet of Argentinian intentions at a ‘preventable stage’.

(Read Margaret Thatcher’s Falklands update at the April 1982 ‘Saturday Sitting’ - parliament.uk/historic-hansard)

(Read more on the Falklands War Saturday Sitting debate - archives.blog.parliament.uk)

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House of Lords—Modernising Parliament: Reforming the House of Lords: Government proposals, 1999, HL/PO/JO/10/11/3105/413, Parliamentary Archives

 

FULL CIRCLE

Unlike many politicians of his generation, Carrington embraced the tenets of internationalist institutions such as the European Community and NATO. Publicly beating the drum for further British alignment as a viable alternative to the ‘special relationship’ with America. Fittingly in 1984 he was chosen as NATO Secretary-General which meant relocating to Brussels. The highlight of the tenure was his involvement in bringing together Russian President Mikhail Gorbachev and his American counterpart Ronald Reagan to sign an arms reduction treaty. NATO bureaucracy exasperated Carrington. Privately he counted down the days before his term ended and resumed working life in Westminster.

Intermittently calls, for House of Lords reforms reverberated, and Carrington was a leading advocate for change even if it ultimately affected his status. Listed in the numerous pledges of Labour’s 1997 Election Manifesto was a commitment to reinvigorate the Lord’s membership profile centred on a mass cull of hereditary peerages. In the subsequent Reform Bill debate, he good-humouredly stressed that this ‘is probably the last speech I make in the House’. This wasn’t to be the case as he was given a Life Peerage and remained an active speaker into the 21st Century.

He passed away in 2018 aged 99.

(Read Lord Peter Carrington speaking at the House of Lords Bill 2nd Reading debate - parliament.uk/historic-hansard)

SOURCES

Carrington: An Honourable Man by Christopher Lee

Reflect on Things Past by Lord Carrington

Oxford Dictionary National Biography extract written by Simon Heffer

Reforming the Second Chamber by Lord Carrington

Lord Carrington's Obituary written by Dennis Kavanagh, independent.co.uk 

Times Digital Archive

Hansard Debates

 

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