Reginald Maudling
Rt. Hon. Reginald George Maudling (March 7,1917 - February 14, 1979) was a British politician who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer at the end of the Conservative Governments of the 1960s and was defeated for the party leadership by Edward Heath. His position as Home Secretary under Edward Heath made him the frequent subject of Monty Python's barbs, and his later career was overshadowed by financial scandal.
Early political career
Maudling attended the Merchant Taylors School and Merton College, Oxford where he read law. He was called to the Bar (Middle Temple) in 1940, but did not practice as a Barrister due to World War II. He served in the Royal Air Force where he rose to the rank of Flight Lieutenant before switching to a desk job as Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Air, Sir Archibald Sinclair. Maudling had already become active in the Conservative Party, and as the war came to an end was adopted as candidate for Heston and Isleworth, which was a newly created constituency in west London. In the Labour landslide election of 1945, Maudling was one of those who lost seats thought to have been safe.
During the Conservative Party's extensive rethink of its position in the late 1940s, Maudling played an important role as Head of Economics at the Conservative Research Department and as personal adviser to Winston Churchill on economic issues. He persuaded the party to accept most of the Labour government's nationalisation programme while pledging to cut government spending. Maudling was also adopted as candidate for Barnet in 1946, another seat unexpectedly won by Labour but thought unlikely to stay with the party. In the 1950 election he was comfortably elected with a majority of 10,534.
Ministerial office in the 1950s
Maudling's experience of preparing economic policy led to his appointment as Economic Secretary to the Treasury shortly after the Conservatives regained office in 1951. When Anthony Eden took over as Prime Minister, he was promoted to head a department as Minister of Supply, and Harold Macmillan made him Paymaster General in 1957, which eventually took him into the Cabinet (September 17, 1957). He entered the frontline of politics after the 1959 election when appointed President of the Board of Trade.
Cabinet minister
He was responsible introducing the government's proposals to help areas of high unemployment by paying grants to companies to build new plants in such areas and by the government taking over unused land for development. He also succeeded in negotiating a free trade agreement between the countries outside the Common Market, which became the European Free Trade Association; Maudling was opposed to any proposal to join the Common Market, remarking "I can think of no more retrograde step economically or politically". Maudling was briefly responsible for the process of decolonisation as Secretary of State for the Colonies in 1961, before being appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer in Macmillan's "Night of the Long Knives" attempt to rejuvenate his Cabinet in July 1962.
Chancellor of the Exchequer
Maudling's 1963 budget aimed at "expansion without inflation" after a period of economic difficulty, with a growth target of 4%. Maudling removed income tax from owner occupiers' residential premises. Maudling was considered as a possible successor to Macmillan when the latter announced his sudden resignation through illness, but he was ultimately considered too junior. He retained his post under Alec Douglas-Home and in the 1964 election Maudling had a prominent role at the helm of the party's daily press conferences while Douglas-Home toured the country. He was praised for conveying a calm and relaxed image but was unable to prevent the party's narrow defeat.
Leadership bid
Unlike other potential leadership contenders, Maudling publicly maintained his loyalty to Douglas-Home as criticisms of his leadership gathered in 1965. When Douglas-Home resigned, after putting in place a system in which the leadership was directly elected, Maudling fought against Edward Heath for the job as the candidate of the party centre-right. Unfortunately for Maudling, Enoch Powell also stood as a candidate supporting monetarist and proto-Thatcherite economics; Maudling won 133 votes against 150 for Heath, with Powell obtaining 15 - most of whom would have voted for Maudling. Maudling's defeat was a surprise although feeling in the country and in most newspapers was in Heath's favour.
Deputy Leader and Home Secretary
Under Heath's leadership, Maudling served as Deputy Leader of the party and a prominent member of the Shadow Cabinet. However, he was neither close to Edward Heath personally or politically, and his influence declined. He accepted several business directorships in order to boost his income. When the Conservatives returned to power in 1970 he was appointed Home Secretary; the most immediate pressing problem was the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Maudling did not enjoy this responsibility and was widely reported, after boarding the aeroplane at the end of his first visit to the province, to have remarked "For God's sake bring me a large Scotch. What a bloody awful country."
Maudling's tendency to reassuring calmness was unhelpful when he referred to reducing IRA violence to "an acceptable level", a remark widely regarded as a gaffe. He also tended to gloss over differences between the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland governments, an approach which backfired when Prime Minister of Northern Ireland James Chichester-Clark resigned over a split in March 1971. That August, Maudling reluctantly authorised the Northern Ireland government to introduce internment without trial for terror suspects, which caused dismay among the Catholic population and was widely blamed for increasing the level of violence. Maudling's statement in the House of Commons after Bloody Sunday agreed with the Army's claim that they had only fired in self-defence, and so inflamed the nationalist MP Bernadette Devlin that she punched him.
Scandal
Meanwhile, Maudling was in trouble because of his business activities. One of the directorships he obtained in 1966 was with John Poulson, an architect for whom Maudling helped obtained some lucrative contracts. Poulson routinely did business through bribery and in 1972 was made bankrupt. The bankruptcy hearings disclosed his bribe payments and Maudling's connection; Maudling decided that as he was responsible for the Metropolitan Police whose fraud squad may be investigating him, he was unable to remain in office. He resigned on July 18.
When the Conservative Party moved into opposition in 1974, Edward Heath was replaced as leader by Margaret Thatcher. She surprised many by appointing Maudling to the post of Shadow Foreign Secretary. However, Maudling failed to make an impact in his new role and he was dismissed on November 19, 1976. Further revelations about Poulson led to a Parliamentary inquiry into the conduct of Maudling and two other MPs, which published its report on July 14, 1977. The report said that Maudling had indulged in "conduct inconsistent with the standards which the House is entitled to expect from its members". The Conservative Party organised its MPs to attend the debate to 'Save Reggie' and an attempt by backbench Labour MPs to expel him from the House was defeated by 331 votes to 11.
Death
Maudling had intended to continue his political career, but chronic alcoholism damaged his health and he lacked the motivation to overcome it. In early 1979 his health collapsed and he died on Valentines' day.
Biography
- Baston, L. (2004) "Reggie: The Life of Reginald Maudling". Sutton Publishing. ISBN 0750929243
| Preceded by: Sir Walter Monckton |
Paymaster-General 1957–1959 |
Followed by: The Lord Mills |
| Preceded by: Sir David Eccles |
President of the Board of Trade 1959–1961 |
Followed by: Fred Erroll |
| Preceded by: Iain Macleod |
Secretary of State for the Colonies 1961–1962 |
Followed by: Duncan Sandys |
| Preceded by: Selwyn Lloyd |
Chancellor of the Exchequer 1962–1964 |
Followed by: James Callaghan |
| Preceded by: James Callaghan |
Home Secretary 1970–1972 |
Followed by: Leonard Robert Carr |