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British politician and writer (born 1941) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
William John Lawrence Wallace, Baron Wallace of Saltaire, PC (born 12 March 1941 in Leicester), is a British academic, writer, and Liberal Democrat politician, who was a Lord in Waiting from 2010 to 2015.[1]
The Lord Wallace of Saltaire | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2024 | |
| Lord-in-waiting Government Whip | |
| In office 13 October 2010 – 7 May 2015 | |
| Prime Minister | David Cameron |
| Preceded by | The Lord Faulkner of Worcester |
| Succeeded by | The Viscount Younger of Leckie |
| Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal | |
| Assumed office 20 December 1995 Life Peerage | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 12 March 1941 |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Liberal Democrats |
| Alma mater | King's College, Cambridge Cornell University |
Wallace was educated at Westminster Abbey Choir School, where as a chorister he sang at the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953, and St Edward's School, Oxford. He went to King's College, Cambridge, in 1959, reading History (BA). As an undergraduate at Cambridge, Wallace joined all three political clubs (Conservative, Labour, and Liberal). He decided that the Liberal Party was the most attractive and, in 1961, he was elected vice-president of the Cambridge University Liberal Club, later becoming its president.
After graduating from Cambridge Wallace travelled to the United States, where he spent three years working towards his PhD at Cornell University, finishing his thesis on the Liberal Revival of 1955–66 while in residence at Nuffield College, Oxford. During this time at Oxford, he met his future wife, Helen Sarah Rushworth, who was president of the Oxford University Liberal Club. They were married on 25 August 1968 and have two children, Harriet (born 1977) and Edward (born 1981), both of whom were, like their father, educated at Cambridge.[2]
Wallace began his academic career as a lecturer in the Department of Government at the University of Manchester where he taught between 1966 and 1977.
Wallace served as director of Studies of the Royal Institute of International Affairs 1978–1990.
From 1990 to 1995 Wallace was the Walter Hallstein Senior Research Fellow at St Antony's College, Oxford. He also served on the editorial board of Soviet Studies.[3]
Between 1993 and 1996 he was a visiting professor at the Central European University where he was involved in setting up the International Relations Department.
In 1995 he moved to the London School of Economics and Political Science where he took up a position as reader in international relations in 1999, becoming a professor of international relations. He became an emeritus professor in 2005. He is chair of the advisory board of LSE IDEAS, a centre for the study of international affairs, diplomacy and grand strategy.[4]
One of his many doctoral students was Olli Rehn.[5]
He has also been a visiting fellow/professor at institutions in the US, Germany, France, Italy, Greece and Belgium.
He joined the Liberal Party whilst studying at Cambridge and served as vice-president and then president of the Cambridge University Liberal Club.
In the 1966 United Kingdom general election, Wallace served as the Liberal Party's Assistant Press Officer, responsible for Jo Grimond's press activities.
Remaining active in Liberal politics, Wallace unsuccessfully contested five parliamentary elections. He stood in Huddersfield West in 1970, Manchester Moss Side in both February 1974 and October 1974, and Shipley in 1983 and 1987.
He also served as a speechwriter for David Steel and as vice-chairman of the Standing Committee 1977–1987. He was co-author of the 1979 Liberal and 1997 Liberal Democrat election manifestos. During the Liberal-SDP Alliance, 1982–1987, he was a member of the joint party steering committee. In 2004 he became the president of the Yorkshire regional Liberal Democrat Party. In 2005 he returned to the Federal Policy Committee as the Lords representative, serving on several party policy groups.
He has also served as chair of the advisory board of the liberal think tank, CentreForum.[6]
Lord Wallace is president of the Liberal Democrat History Group. He took over this position after the death of Conrad Russell in 2004.
In 1995 he was awarded the French Chevalier, Ordre du Mérite. In 2005 he was awarded the Légion d'Honneur in recognition of his long-standing efforts to promote the European Union.
In the summer of 2004, he travelled to Georgia, South Ossetia and Abkhazia in the company of Anna Politkovskaya.[7]
In April 2010, he courted controversy when he partially defended[8] Jenny Tonge, another Liberal Democrat peer following an interview she gave to the Jewish Chronicle in which she called for an investigation into claims of Israeli organ harvesting in Haiti.[9]
Wallace was created a life peer on 19 December 1995, taking the title Baron Wallace of Saltaire, of Shipley in the County of West Yorkshire.[10] He made his maiden speech on 17 January 1996 during a debate on education.[11] He retains a house in Saltaire. From 1999 to 2005, parliamentarians from three chambers, Chris Leslie MP in the House of Commons, Lord Wallace of Saltaire in the House of Lords and Richard Corbett MEP in the European Parliament, all lived in Saltaire.
In 1997 Wallace became a member of the Select Committee on the European Communities and chairman of the Sub-Committee on Justice and Home Affairs 1997–2000. In 2001 he became the Liberal Democrats' main frontbench spokesperson in the House of Lords on foreign affairs and in November 2004 was elected joint Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrat Peers.
Following the setting up of the Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition after the 2010 general election Wallace was appointed a Government Whip acting as government spokesperson in the House of Lords on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Department for Work and Pensions and the Department for Education.[12]
Wallace is a trustee of the National Children's Choir; a member of Atlantic Community Advisory Board; chair of the Board of Voces Cantabiles (professional choir, not-for-profit musical and educational work); is vice president of the Upper Wharfedale Agricultural Society; and is a member and shareholder of the Wensleydale Railway Association.
In the past Wallace has served as a council member of the Royal Institute of International Affairs; a board member of Genius of the Violin; a chairman of the Academic Advisory Committee and a trustee of Goodenough College, London;[13] chair of the advisory board of the Cold War Studies Centre, London School of Economics; co-chair of the British-Dutch bilateral 'Appeldoorn' Conference; was patron of the Saltaire Festival; and was patron of the Shipley Glen Tramway.[14]
He lists swimming, singing, confusing students, walking (and pub lunches) in the Yorkshire Dales, and gardening as his hobbies and interests. He is a member and plot holder of the Saltaire Canalside Allotment Society. He is also a member of the Saltaire Tennis Club.
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