Bill Rodgers, Baron Rodgers of Quarry Bank

The Right Honourable The Lord Rodgers of Quarry Bank PC
Official portrait, 2019
Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords
In office 19 December 1997 – 7 June 2001
Leader	Paddy Ashdown Charles Kennedy
Preceded by	The Lord Jenkins of Hillhead
Succeeded by	The Baroness Williams of Crosby
Secretary of State for Transport
In office 10 September 1976 – 4 May 1979
Prime Minister	James Callaghan
Preceded by	John Gilbert
Succeeded by	Norman Fowler
Junior ministerial offices Minister of State for Defence In office 4 March 1974 – 10 September 1976 Prime Minister Harold Wilson James Callaghan Sec. of State Roy Mason Fred Mulley Preceded by George Younger Succeeded by John Gilbert Minister of State for the Treasury In office 13 October 1969 – 19 June 1970 Prime Minister Harold Wilson Chancellor Roy Jenkins Preceded by Dick Taverne Succeeded by Terence Higgins Minister of State for the Board of Trade In office 1 July 1968 – 13 October 1969 Prime Minister Harold Wilson President Anthony Crosland Roy Mason Preceded by Edmund Dell Succeeded by Goronwy Roberts Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs In office 7 January 1967 – 3 July 1968 Prime Minister Harold Wilson Sec. of State George Brown Michael Stewart Preceded by The Lord Walston Succeeded by Maurice Foley (Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs) Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Economic Affairs In office 21 October 1964 – 7 January 1967 Serving with Maurice Foley (1964–1966) Prime Minister Harold Wilson Sec. of State George Brown Michael Stewart Preceded by Office established Succeeded by Harold Lever Peter Shore
Shadow cabinet offices Shadow Secretary of State for Defence In office 14 June 1979 – 8 December 1980 Leader James Callaghan Michael Foot Shadowing Francis Pym Preceded by Fred Mulley Succeeded by Brynmor John Shadow Secretary of State for Transport In office 4 May 1979 – 14 June 1979 Leader James Callaghan Shadowing Norman Fowler Preceded by Norman Fowler Succeeded by Albert Booth
Parliamentary offices Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal In office 12 February 1992 – 12 December 2023 Life peerage Member of Parliament for Stockton-on-Tees In office 6 April 1962 – 13 May 1983 Preceded by George Chetwynd Succeeded by Constituency abolished
Personal details
Born	(1928-10-28) 28 October 1928 Liverpool, England
Political party	Liberal Democrats (1988–present)
Other political affiliations	Labour (before 1981) SDP (1981–1988)
Spouse	Silvia Szulman ​ ​ (m. 1955; died 2006)​
Children	3
Alma mater	Magdalen College, Oxford

William Thomas Rodgers, Baron Rodgers of Quarry Bank, PC (born 28 October 1928) is a British politician and life peer. As a Labour Party member of Parliament, he served as Secretary of State for Transport from 1976 to 1979, and was one of the "Gang of Four" of senior Labour politicians who defected to form the Social Democratic Party (SDP). He subsequently helped to lead the SDP into the merger that formed the Liberal Democrats in 1988, and later served as the party's leader in the House of Lords between 1997 and 2001.

Early life

Rodgers was born in Liverpool, Lancashire, and educated at Quarry Bank High School in Liverpool. After national service in the King's Regiment (Liverpool), he studied Modern History at Magdalen College, Oxford on an Open Exhibition. He was general secretary of the Fabian Society from 1953 to 1960 and a councillor on St Marylebone Borough Council from 1958 to 1962. He was instrumental in lobbying the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party to reverse its vote in favour of unilateral nuclear disarmament in 1961. He also unsuccessfully fought a by-election at Bristol West in 1957.

Political career

Rodgers first entered the House of Commons at a by-election in 1962, representing Stockton-on-Tees, and served in Labour governments under Harold Wilson and James Callaghan, becoming Secretary of State for Transport in Callaghan's cabinet in 1976. Within the Labour Party, he was known for being a highly effective organiser around centrist causes such as multilateral nuclear disarmament and Britain's membership of the European Economic Community. He held the post until Labour's defeat in the 1979 general election. From 1979 to 1981 he was Shadow Defence Secretary. With Labour drifting to the left, Rodgers joined Shirley Williams, Roy Jenkins and David Owen in forming the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in 1981. In September 1982, Rodgers stood to become the president of the SDP, but took only 19.4 per cent of the vote, finishing in a distant second place behind Williams.

At the 1983 general election the SDP–Liberal Alliance won many votes but few seats, and Rodgers lost his seat of Stockton North (known as Stockton-on-Tees before the boundary changes of 1983). He remained outside Parliament, unsuccessfully contesting Milton Keynes for the SDP in the 1987 general election, until he was created a life peer as Baron Rodgers of Quarry Bank, of Kentish Town in the London Borough of Camden, on 12 February 1992. During that interval he was Director-General of the Royal Institute of British Architects and also became Chairman of the Advertising Standards Authority.

In 1987, Rodgers was chairman of the successful "Yes to Unity" campaign within the SDP in favour of merger with the Liberal Party. He became the Liberal Democrats' Lords spokesman on home affairs in 1994 and was the party's leader in the Lords between 1997 and 2001. Rodgers's autobiography was titled Fourth Among Equals, reflecting his position as the least prominent of the SDP's founders. He was interviewed in 2012 as part of The History of Parliament's oral history project.

Rodgers retired from the House of Lords on 12 December 2023.

Personal life

In 1955, Rodgers married Silvia Szulman (1928–2006), a Berlin-born artist and writer, who became a political hostess. The couple had three daughters: Rachel, Lucy, and Juliet.

On 8 May 2001, Rodgers suffered a stroke at his home and was treated at the Royal Free Hospital and attended speech therapy sessions at North Middlesex Hospital for two and a half years. He said he was "very, very lucky not to have suffered any physical damage" as a result. He has since been a keen advocate for better treatment and care for stroke victims.

In popular culture

Rodgers was a main character in Steve Waters's 2017 play Limehouse, which premiered at the Donmar Warehouse; he was portrayed by Paul Chahidi.

Bibliography

• John Campbell (2014). Roy Jenkins, a Well-Rounded Life. Jonathan Cape. ISBN 978-0-224-08750-6.

External links

• Lord Rodgers of Quarry Bank profile at the site of Liberal Democrats
• Recent Speeches in the Lords
• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by William Rodgers
• The Papers of Lord Rodgers of Quarry Bank held at Churchill Archives Centre