Eric Lubbock, 4th Baron Avebury
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Eric Reginald Lubbock, 4th Baron Avebury (born 29 September, 1928) is a Liberal Democrat member of the House of Lords. He studied Engineering Science at Balliol College, Oxford.
Having joined the Liberal Party in 1960 and becoming a councillor the following year, Lubbock won a sensational by-election victory in Orpington on 15 March 1962 with a majority of 7,855. This was a swing of nearly 22% from the Conservatives and brought the number of Liberal MPs to seven.
Many commentators speculated that the Liberals would make a substantial breakthrough at the following general election and this by-election was taken as the start of a Liberal revival. Unfortunately, the party was hampered by organisational difficulties and progress was slow, with a loss of votes and seats under Harold Wilson’s Labour government.
Lubbock was the MP for Orpington and was appointed Chief Whip by Jo Grimond in 1963, a post he held until 1970.
When party leader Jo Grimond resigned in 1967 Eric Lubbock was one of the three Liberal MPs who stood for the position. Jeremy Thorpe, whoever, won with six votes to Emlyn Hooson’s and Lubbock’s three apiece.
In the Commons he was on the Speaker’s Commission on Electoral Law in 1964-6, and proposed STV in multi-member constituencies, only to be voted down by 18-1. He also proposed reducing the voting age to 18, on which two Labour Members supported him.
In 1970, Orpington reverted to its Tory origins. On losing the seat Lubbock said
- "In 1962 the wise, far-seeing people of Orpington elected me as their Member; in 1970 the fools threw me out".
Lubbock is a grandson of John Lubbock, 1st Baron Avebury and the following year upon the death of his cousin he succeeded to the peerage, becoming Lord Avebury. He sat on the Royal Commission on Standards of Conduct in Public Life and in 1976 founded the Parliamentary Human Rights Group, which he chaired for the next 21 years.
He is currently a member of the Liberal Democrat Foreign Affairs Team, speaking frequently on conflict resolution and human rights. He was elected to an Honorary Fellowship at Balliol College in 2004.
| Preceded by: John Lubbock | Baron Avebury | Succeeded by: Current Incumbent |