Bernard Weatherill: Difference between revisions

| honorific-prefix = [[The Right Honourable]]

| name =The Lord Weatherill

| honorific-suffix = {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|KStJ|PC|DL}}

| image = Bernard Weatherill.jpg

| alt =

| caption = Weatherill in 1989

| office = [[Speaker of the House of Commons (United Kingdom)|Speaker of the House of Commons <br> of the United Kingdom]]

| term_start = 15 June 1983

| term_end = 9 April 1992

| monarch = [[Elizabeth II]]

| predecessor = [[George Thomas, 1st Viscount Tonypandy|George Thomas]]

| successor = [[Betty Boothroyd]]

| primeminister = {{Plainlist|

| office1 = [[Chairman of Ways and Means|Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons<br>Chairman of Ways and Means]]

| term_start1 = 10 May 1979

| term_end1 = 11 June 1983

| 1blankname1 = Speaker

| 1namedata1 = [[George Thomas, 1st Viscount Tonypandy|George Thomas]]

| preceded1 = [[Oscar Murton, Baron Murton of Lindisfarne|Oscar Murton]]

| succeeded1 = [[Harold Walker, Baron Walker of Doncaster|Harold Walker]]

| office2 = [[Treasurer of the Household]]

| primeminister2 = [[Edward Heath]]

| term_start2 = 2 December 1973

| term_end2 = 4 March 1974

| preceded2 = [[Humphrey Atkins]]

| succeeded2 = [[Walter Harrison (politician)|Walter Harrison]]

| office3 = [[Comptroller of the Household]]

| primeminister3 = [[Edward Heath]]

| term_start3 = 7 April 1972

| term_end3 = 2 December 1973

| preceded3 = [[Reginald Eyre]]

| succeeded3 = [[Walter Clegg]]

| office4 = [[Vice-Chamberlain of the Household]]

| primeminister4 = [[Edward Heath]]

| term_start4 = 17 October 1971

| term_end4 = 7 April 1972

| preceded4 = [[Jasper More]]

| succeeded4 = [[Walter Clegg]]

| office5 = [[Members of the House of Lords|Member of the House of Lords]]<br/>[[Lords Temporal|Lord Temporal]]

| term_start5 = 15 July 1992

| term_end5 = 6 May 2007<br>[[Life peer]]age

| office6 = [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]]<br>for [[Croydon North East (UK Parliament constituency)|Croydon North East]]

| term_start6 = 15 October 1964  

| term_end6 = 16 March 1992

| predecessor6 = [[John Hughes-Hallett]]

| successor6 = [[David Congdon]]

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1920|11|25|df=y}}

| birth_place = London, England

| death_date = {{death date and age|2007|05|06|1920|10|08|df=y}}

| death_place = [[Caterham]], [[Surrey]], England

| party = [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] (until 1983)

| otherparty = {{ubl|[[Crossbencher]] (1992–2007)|[[Speaker of the House of Commons (United Kingdom)#Non-partisanship|None]] (1983–1992)}}

| spouse = {{marriage|Lyn Eatwell|1949}}

| relations = [[Alan Lovell]] (son-in-law)

| children = 3

| education = [[Malvern College]]

| signature =

| nickname       =  

| allegiance     = {{flagu|United Kingdom}}

| branch         = {{army|UK}}

| serviceyears   = 1939&ndash;1946

| rank           = [[Captain (British Army and Royal Marines)|Captain]]

| unit           = [[4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards]]

| commands       =  

| battles         =  

| mawards         = <!-- for military awards - appears as "Awards" if |awards= is not set -->

'''Bruce Bernard Weatherill, Baron Weatherill''', {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|sep=,|KStJ|PC|DL}} (25 November 1920 – 6 May 2007) was a British [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] politician. He served as [[Speaker of the House of Commons (United Kingdom)|Speaker of the House of Commons]] between 1983 and 1992.

After attending [[Malvern College]], he was apprenticed at age 17 as a [[tailor]] to the family firm Bernard Weatherill Ltd, Sporting Tailors, later of 5 [[Savile Row]]. He became Director (1948), Managing Director (1958), and Chairman (1967) of the business. After it merged with Kilgour French & Stanbury Ltd., Tailors in 1969, he became Chairman of the combined firm. He resumed his role with the company after his retirement from the House of Commons in 1992, as president until the firm was acquired by others in 2003. Some of the clothes he designed are in the [[Victoria and Albert Museum]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O84119/suit/|title=Suit &ndash; Bernard Weatherill |website=Collections.vam.ac.uk|access-date=17 January 2018}}</ref> and other museum collections.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://vads.ahds.ac.uk/large.php?pic=IWS0335&cmd=search&page=1&mode=boolean&words=weatherill&idSearch=boolean&vadscoll=London+College+of+Fashion:+The+Woolmark+Company|title=London College of Fashion collection|access-date=17 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131101092803/http://vads.ahds.ac.uk/large.php?pic=IWS0335&cmd=search&page=1&mode=boolean&words=weatherill&idSearch=boolean&vadscoll=London+College+of+Fashion:+The+Woolmark+Company|archive-date=1 November 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Following his mother's advice, he always carried his tailoring [[thimble]] in his pocket as a reminder of his trade origins and the need for humility, no matter how high one rises. He said that he desired his [[epitaph]] to be "He always kept his word."

Weatherill enlisted as a private in the [[Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry]] of the [[British Army]] a few days after the start of [[World War II]]. He was commissioned into the [[4th/7th Dragoon Guards]] in May 1941<ref>{{London Gazette | issue=35186 |page=3314 |supp=y | date=6 June 1941}}</ref> and reached the rank of [[Captain (British Army and Royal Marines)|captain]] three years after that. He was attached to [[19th Lancers|19th King George V's Own Lancers]], [[British Indian Army|Indian Army]], after being posted to [[British rule in Burma|Burma]].{{citation needed|date=March 2019}}

From October 1971 to April 1973, Weatherill was [[Vice-Chamberlain of the Household|Vice-Chamberlain of Her Majesty's Household]], an office usually held by a Government whip, as Weatherill then was. He wrote a letter (hand-carried by messenger, or sent by telegram) to the Queen at the end of each day the House of Commons met, describing the debates, reactions, and political gossip. His letters<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kent.ac.uk/library/specialcollections/other/weatherill/|title=Bernard Weatherill Papers|publisher=[[University of Kent]] |access-date=17 January 2018}}</ref> are believed to have been more entertaining than the debates themselves.

In 1979, Weatherill played a critical role in the defeat of the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]] government in [[1979 vote of no confidence in the Callaghan ministry|a vote of confidence]]. As the vote loomed, Labour's deputy Chief Whip, [[Walter Harrison (politician)|Walter Harrison]], approached Weatherill to enforce the convention and [[gentleman's agreement]] (otherwise known as [[Pair (parliamentary convention)|pairing]]) that if a sick MP from the Government could not vote, an MP from the Opposition would abstain to compensate. Labour MP [[Alfred Broughton]] was on his deathbed and could not vote, meaning the Government would probably lose by one vote. Weatherill said that the convention had never been intended for such a critical vote that meant the life or death of the Government and it would be impossible to find a Conservative MP who would agree to abstain. However, after a moment's reflection, he offered that he would abstain, because he felt it would be dishonourable to break his word to Harrison. Harrison was so impressed by Weatherill's offer (which would have effectively ended his political career) that he released Weatherill from his obligation, and the Government fell by one vote.<ref>{{cite film |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/bbc_parliament/3565551.stm |title=The Night the Government Fell |medium=BBC archive on the 1979 vote of confidence, audio interview of Weatherill and Harrison |publisher=[[BBC Parliament]] |date=25 March 2004 |access-date=26 November 2019 |via=BBC News}}</ref>

He was the last Speaker to wear a wig while in the chair. He commented that the wig is a wonderful device that allows the Speaker to pretend not to hear some things. He enforced the rights of Parliament to be publicly told of government policies before they were announced to the press or elsewhere.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3321291.stm|title=Taking on Prime Minister Thatcher|date=24 December 2003|work=BBC News|access-date=17 January 2018}}</ref> A portrait of him by [[Robin-Lee Hall]] hangs in [[Portcullis House]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.parliament.uk/worksofart/artwork/robin-lee-hall/no-title--the-rt-hon-bernard-weatherill-mp-and-speaker-/3578|title=Artwork &ndash; Speaker Bernard Weatherill|publisher=UK Parliament|access-date=17 January 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://robinleehall.co.uk/portfolio/items/lord-weatherall/|title={{title case|LORD WEATHERALL}}|website=Robinleehall.co.uk|access-date=26 November 2019}}</ref>

In 1989, he succeeded [[Robert Blake, Baron Blake|Lord Blake]] as High Bailiff and Searcher of the Sanctuary of [[Westminster Abbey]]. He resigned both of those offices at the end of 1998 in protest at the manner in which the Dean and Chapter dealt with terminating the employment of the organist.<ref>{{cite news |last=Morgan |first=Christopher |url=http://wabbey-affairs.tripod.com/ST5.htm|title=Ex-Speaker to quit abbey over dean's conduct |newspaper=The Sunday Times |date=20 December 1998 |via=[[Tripod.com]] |access-date=17 January 2018}}</ref> He was succeeded by Sir [[Roy Strong]].

Weatherill was an advocate of [[vegetarianism]] and appeared at the first Vegetarian Rally in [[Hyde Park, London|Hyde Park]] in 1990, alongside [[Tony Benn]]. He once stated, "as a life long vegetarian I believe that since man cannot give life he has no moral right to take it away".<ref>{{cite newsletter |url=http://www.youngindianvegetarians.co.uk/Newsletter/Issue050/Page_08.htm |title=Young Indian Vegetarians |issue=50 |page=8 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120210161733/http://www.youngindianvegetarians.co.uk/Newsletter/Issue050/Page_08.htm |archive-date=10 February 2012 }}</ref>

In 2005, he announced he was suffering from prostate cancer. On 6 May 2007, he died at the age of 86 in the [[Marie Curie]] Community Hospice in [[Caterham]], [[Surrey]], after a short illness.<ref name="BBC News">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6632713.stm|title=Ex-Speaker Lord Weatherill dies|date=7 May 2007|work=BBC News|access-date=17 January 2018}}</ref>

[[Bernard Weatherill House]], council offices in Croydon, is named after him.<ref name="CCURV">{{cite web|url=https://www.epr.co.uk/projects/architects-offices/bernard-weatherill-house/|title=Bernard Weatherill House|publisher=[[EPR Architects]] |access-date=17 January 2018}}</ref>

* Bernard Richard Weatherill, QC (1951-2021)

* Virginia (b. 1955), who married the businessman [[Alan Lovell]] and lives at the Palace House, [[Bishops Waltham]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/business/2007/sep/07/energy|title=The Friday interview: Alan Lovell|first=Terry|last=Macalister|date=6 September 2007|work=The Guardian|access-date=17 January 2018}}</ref>

*{{cite web |url=http://library.kent.ac.uk/library/special/html/specoll/weaintro.htm |title=Weatherill Papers |website=Library.kent.ac.uk |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030821140739/http://library.kent.ac.uk/library/special/html/specoll/weaintro.htm |archive-date=21 August 2003}}

*{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1550854/Lord-Weatherill.html |title=Lord Weatherill |type=obituary |work=The Telegraph |date=8 May 2007 |access-date=26 November 2019}}

*{{C-SPAN|bernardweatherill}}

[[Category:Twin people from the United Kingdom]]