Robert Carr

British politician

For other people named Robert Carr, see Robert Carr (disambiguation).

The Right Honourable

The Lord Carr of Hadley

Formal portrait, 1951

Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer
In office
4 March 1974 – 11 February 1975
Leader| Edward Heath
Preceded by| Denis Healey
Succeeded by| Geoffrey Howe

Ministerial offices

Home Secretary
In office
18 July 1972 – 4 March 1974
Prime Minister| Edward Heath
Preceded by| Reginald Maudling
Succeeded by| Roy Jenkins

* Lord President of the Council
* Leader of the House of Commons

In office
7 April 1972 – 5 November 1972
Prime Minister| Edward Heath
Preceded by| William Whitelaw
Succeeded by| Jim Prior
Secretary of State for Employment
In office
20 June 1970 – 7 April 1972
Prime Minister| Edward Heath
Preceded by| Barbara Castle
Succeeded by| Maurice Macmillan

Parliamentary representation

Member of Parliament
for Carshalton
In office
28 February 1974 – 15 January 1976
Preceded by| Walter Elliot
Succeeded by| Nigel Forman
Member of Parliament
for Mitcham
In office
23 February 1950 – 8 February 1974
Preceded by| Tom Braddock
Succeeded by| Constituency abolished
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
In office
15 January 1976 – 17 February 2012
Life peerage
Personal details
Born|

Leonard Robert Carr

(1916-11-11)11 November 1916
North Finchley, Middlesex, England
Died| 17 February 2012(2012-02-17) (aged 95)
Alderley Edge, Cheshire, England
Political party| Conservative
Spouse|

Joan Twining

(m. 1943)​

Children| 3
Education| Westminster School
Alma mater| Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge

Leonard Robert Carr, Baron Carr of Hadley, PC (11 November 1916 – 17 February 2012) was a British Conservative Party politician who served as Home Secretary from 1972 to 1974. He served as a Member of Parliament (MP) for 26 years, and later served in the House of Lords as a life peer.

## Background[edit]

Leonard Robert Carr was born in North Finchley on 11 November 1916.[1] He was educated at Westminster School[2] and Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where he read Natural Sciences, graduating in 1938. After graduation he applied his knowledge of metallurgy at John Dale & Co, the family metal engineering firm.[2] A collapsed lung kept him from war service but his firm specialised in the construction of airframes for Lancaster bombers.[3]

In 1943, Carr married Joan Twining, and they had a son and two daughters. Their son, David, died in a traffic accident in 1965.[1]

## Political career[edit]

Carr first sought the Conservative nomination in Barnet  ahead of the 1950 election, but lost to Reginald Maudling.[1] He was instead elected Member of Parliament for Mitcham in 1950 and served there until 1974, when the seat was merged and he moved to Carshalton.[1] He was a parliamentary private secretary to Anthony Eden from to 1951 to 1955, and a parliamentary secretary to the labour ministry after Eden became prime minister.[1]

Carr was a supporter of the European Economic Community, and was amiable to Edward Heath's election as Conservative Party leader in 1965, even though he had supported Maudling.[1] When Heath became prime minister in 1970, he served as Secretary of State for Employment and was responsible for the modernising Industrial Relations Act 1971, which balanced the introduction of compensation for unfair dismissal with curbs on the freedom to strike and the virtual abolition of closed shop agreements. The Industrial Relations Act 1971 was deeply disliked by, trade unions, whose industrial action lead to the three-day week and ultimately to the defeat of the government.[1] The victorious Labour Party promptly repealed the Industrial Relations Act and replaced it with the Trade Union and Labour Relations Act 1974, which scrapped the "offensive" provisions but effectively re-enacted the remainder of Carr's 1971 Act.

In 1971, Carr escaped injury when The Angry Brigade anarchist group exploded two bombs outside his house.[4] More than thirty years later, a member of the group issued a public apology to Carr and sent him a Christmas card.[5]

In 1972, Carr served a brief period as Lord President of the Council and then was appointed Home Secretary following Reginald Maudling's resignation. Following Heath's defeat in the first ballot of the 1975 Conservative leadership contest, he asked Carr to "take over the functions of leader" until a new leader was elected.[6] The day after her election the new leader, Margaret Thatcher met with Carr, according to her at his request, before she formed shadow cabinet. According to her memoirs, Carr had been close to Heath and so she would have understood "if he did not relish the prospect of serving under" her. She stated that Carr made it clear that the only post that he would accept would be that of Shadow Foreign Secretary. She told him that she could not promise that and confided in her memoirs that at that stage, she was still considering appointments and was "not convinced" that she would offer Carr any role in the shadow cabinet. She proceeded to appoint Maudling as Shadow Foreign Secretary and saw Carr again later to inform him of her decision. In her memoirs, she speculated that Carr might have been "persuaded to stay in another capacity" but did not offer him the chance and noted, "I was not keen to have another strong opponent in any position on the team".[7]

In 1975, Carr co-founded the Tory Reform Group.[1]

## Later life[edit]

Carr was created a life peer as Baron Carr of Hadley, of Monken Hadley in Greater London, in 1976.[8] He served on the board for a number of companies, including Cadbury Schweppes, Prudential Assurance (which he chaired from 1980 to 1985), and Securicor.[1] From 1985 to 1986, he was president of the Surrey County Cricket Club.[1]

Carr died from bronchopneumonia at a nursing home in Alderley Edge, Cheshire, 17 February 2012, at the age of 95.[1] His body was buried in the graveyard of St. Peter's Church, in the Gloucestershire village of Farmington. He was survived by his wife, Joan, and two daughters.[9]

## References[edit]

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Garnett, Mark (2016). "Carr, (Leonard) Robert, Baron Carr of Hadley (1916–2012), politician and businessman". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/104651. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
2. ^ a b Goodman, Geoffrey (20 February 2012). "Lord Carr of Hadley obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 February 2012.
3. ^ "Lord Carr of Hadley obituary". the Guardian. 20 February 2012. Retrieved 29 July 2021.
4. ^ "1971: British minister's home bombed". On This Day 1950-2005. BBC News. 6 December 1972. Retrieved 22 August 2011.
5. ^ Bright, Martin (3 February 2002). "Angry Brigade's bomb plot apology". The Observer. London. Retrieved 22 August 2011.
6. ^ The Times. No. 59312\. London. 5 February 1975. col A, p. 1. `{{cite news}}`: Missing or empty `|title=` (help)
7. ^ Thatcher, Margaret (2013). Margaret Thatcher the Autobiography. London: Harper Press. pp. 176–179. ISBN 978-0-00-742528-0.
8. ^ "No. 46803". The London Gazette. 20 January 1976. p. 919.
9. ^ "Lord Carr of Hadley". The Daily Telegraph. 19 February 2012. Archived from the original on 19 April 2012. Retrieved 12 August 2013.

## Bibliography[edit]

* Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs

## External links[edit]

* Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Robert Carr
* Portraits of Robert Carr at the National Portrait Gallery, London

Parliament of the United Kingdom

Preceded by

Tom Braddock

|  Member of Parliament for Mitcham
1950–1974  | Constituency abolished
Preceded by

Walter Elliot

|  Member of Parliament for Carshalton
1974–1976  | Succeeded by

Nigel Forman

Political offices
Preceded by

Barbara Castle

as Secretary of State for
Employment and Productivity |  Secretary of State for Employment
1970–1972  | Succeeded by

Maurice Macmillan

Preceded by

William Whitelaw

|  Lord President of the Council
1972  | Succeeded by

Jim Prior

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1972
Preceded by

Reginald Maudling

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