Peter David Shore, Baron Shore of Stepney PC (20 May 1924 – 24
September 2001) was a British
Labour politician and former
Cabinet Minister, noted in part for his
opposition to the United Kingdom's entry into the
European Economic Community. He was described
in a obituary by the Conservative journalist
Patrick Cosgrave as "Between
Harold Wilson and
Tony
Blair, the only possible Labour Party leader of whom a
Conservative leader had cause to walk in fear."
Early life
Shore was the son of a
Merchant
Navy captain and was brought up in a middle-class environment.
He
attended the Quarry Bank Grammar School
in Liverpool
, England after passing his eleven plus, and went from there to King's College,
Cambridge
, to study history, where he was a member of the
Cambridge Apostles, a secret
society with an elite membership. During the later stages of
World War II he served in the
Royal Air Force, spending most time in
India.
Member of Parliament
He had specialised in political economy during part of his degree
and joined the
Labour Party in
1948. He spent the 1950s working for the party and after two
unsuccessful Parliamentary contests, he was appointed as Head of
the Labour Party's Research Department in 1959 and took charge of
the renewal of party policy following its third successive defeat.
Shore was not a supporter of
Hugh
Gaitskell but worked well with
Harold
Wilson once he had been elected as Leader, and was the main
author of the Labour Party manifesto for the
1964 general election.
At the last minute he was selected to fight the safe seat of
Stepney in the
election, and kept it easily.
After only a short time on the backbenches, Wilson chose Shore to
be his
Parliamentary
Private Secretary, responsible for liaising between the Prime
Minister and Labour MPs, though
Denis
Healey termed him "Harold's lapdog". Shore was responsible for
drafting the
1966 and
1970 election
manifestos. Shore's job as Wilson's PPS kept them in close contact
and he was impressed enough to give Shore rapid promotion. In
August 1967, aged 43 and after less than three years as an MP,
Shore became a member of the Cabinet as
Secretary of State for
Economic Affairs.
In government
This Department had been created by Wilson to undertake long-term
planning of the economy. Shore declared immediately his belief in
state-controlled economic planning, together with regulation of
prices and wages. This view was unpopular with the trade unions,
who had great influence. Early in 1968 the responsibility for
prices and incomes was transferred to another department.
The
Treasury
had never
approved of the creation of the Department for Economic Affairs and
began reasserting its influence, depriving it of any significant
power. The Department was wound up in October 1969. At the
same time, Shore sided with those in
cabinet who were
opposed to
Barbara Castle's
White Paper In Place of Strife. In a
conversation with
Richard Crossman
at the time, Wilson was frustrated with Shore: "I over-promoted
him. He's no good."
Shore was retained in the Cabinet as a
Minister without Portfolio and
Deputy
Leader of the
House of Commons. He played a key part, behind the scenes, in
planning the Labour Party's unsuccessful 1970 general election
campaign. In opposition, Shore was appointed as spokesman on
Europe, taking the lead in opposing the
Heath government's application to join the
European Economic Community. Shore
had already become convinced that membership of the EEC would be a
disaster because it would forbid a British government from taking
necessary economic action. However, due to organisation by pro-EEC
Labour backbenchers, Heath was able to steer his policy
successfully through Parliament.
EEC
When Wilson returned to government in 1974, Shore was appointed as
Secretary of
State for Trade. His term in office was dominated by the
renegotiation of the terms of British membership of the EEC, a
pledge contained in the Labour manifesto as a preparation for a
national
referendum on membership; this
compromise had reunited the Labour Party on the issue. Shore
participated in the discussions without believing that any new
terms would be acceptable, and during the referendum he joined with
other anti-EEC 'dissenting ministers' in opposing membership.
The results of the
1975
Referendum, giving a two-to-one majority in favour of remaining
members, damaged Shore along with the other dissenting ministers.
His inclination to support an
autarkic
economy ruled him out of consideration as a new
Chancellor of the Exchequer, but
Shore was moved to
Secretary of State for
the Environment by new Prime Minister
James Callaghan in 1976. This move was a
promotion but involved him in considerable political controversy.
He called on local authorities to cut spending and waste, and
criticised the trade unions representing local authority staff for
failure to support modernisation. Shore also launched a campaign to
revitalise the inner cities of Britain.
Labour leadership candidate
When the Labour Party went into opposition in 1979, Shore was made
Shadow
Foreign Secretary, having
recanted on his previous support for
CND. He was
persuaded to stand as a candidate in the election of a new party
Leader in November 1980 by
Michael Foot
who thought he was the best-placed soft-left candidate to defeat
Denis Healey. However, Shore came
bottom of the poll with 32 votes when Foot was himself persuaded to
stand. Foot then made him Shadow Chancellor where his support for
interventionist measures met with Foot's approval; party policy
also became opposed to EEC membership, which suited Shore
well.
Shadow Cabinet, Backbenches and retirement
He fought for the leadership again after Foot resigned, but
obtained a dismal vote of 3%, being supported by no Constituency
Labour Parties at all. Shore served as Shadow Leader of the House
of Commons for four years under
Neil
Kinnock but his influence with the leadership was negligible
and he was not re-elected to the
Shadow
Cabinet in 1985. He stood down from the front bench in 1987 and
thereafter served on the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, devoting
himself to European Union questions.
Tony
Blair selected him as a senior Labour statesman as his nominee
for the
Committee
on Standards in Public Life when it was set up in 1994.
After
several attempts in his constituency to deselect him, he finally
stood down from Parliament at the 1997 general election,
taking a life peerage as Baron Shore of Stepney,
of Stepney in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets
in the dissolution honours' list. His book
Separate Ways (2001) advocated a multi-speed Europe, with
some countries as merely associate members, so as to allow the
centre to forge a political union at its own pace.
In popular culture
Shore was portrayed by
Ron Meadows in
the 2002
BBC production of
Ian Curteis's controversial
The Falklands Play.
References
- Patrick Cosgrave "Lord Shore of Stepney", The
Independent, 26 September 2001. Retrieved on 20 May 2009.
- Tam Dalyell "Lord Shore of Stepney", The
Independent, 26 September 2001. Retrieved on 20 May 2009.
- Edward Pearce "Lord Shore of Stepney", The Guardian,
26 September 2001. Retrieved on 20 May 2009.
- "Time for Decision", - Text of the 1966 Labour
Party manifesto, Keele University website.
- "Now Britain's Strong - Let's Make It Great to Live
In", - Text of the 1970 Labour Party manifesto, Keele
University website.
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