Patrick Gordon Walker facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
The Lord Gordon-Walker
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Gordon Walker in 1969
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| Secretary of State for Education and Science | |
| In office 29 August 1967 – 6 April 1968 |
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| Prime Minister | Harold Wilson |
| Preceded by | Anthony Crosland |
| Succeeded by | Edward Short |
| Minister without Portfolio | |
| In office 6 April 1966 – 29 August 1967 |
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| Prime Minister | Harold Wilson |
| Preceded by | Peter Carington |
| Succeeded by | George Thomson |
| Secretary of state for Foreign Affairs | |
| In office 16 October 1964 – 22 January 1965 |
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| Prime Minister | Harold Wilson |
| Preceded by | Rab Butler |
| Succeeded by | Michael Stewart |
| Shadow Foreign Secretary | |
| In office 14 February 1963 – 16 October 1964 |
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| Leader | Harold Wilson |
| Preceded by | Harold Wilson |
| Succeeded by | Rab Butler |
| Shadow Home Secretary | |
| In office 13 May 1957 – 12 March 1962 |
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| Leader | Hugh Gaitskell |
| Preceded by | Kenneth Younger |
| Succeeded by | George Brown |
| Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations | |
| In office 28 February 1950 – 26 October 1951 |
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| Prime Minister | Clement Attlee |
| Preceded by | Philip Noel-Baker |
| Succeeded by | The Lord Ismay |
| Under-Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations | |
| In office 7 October 1947 – 28 February 1950 |
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| Prime Minister | Clement Attlee |
| Preceded by | Arthur Bottomley |
| Succeeded by | Angus Holden |
| Member of Parliament for Leyton |
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| In office 31 March 1966 – 8 February 1974 |
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| Preceded by | Ronald Buxton |
| Succeeded by | Bryan Magee |
| Member of Parliament for Smethwick |
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| In office 1 October 1945 – 25 September 1964 |
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| Preceded by | Alfred Dobbs |
| Succeeded by | Peter Griffiths |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Patrick Chrestien Gordon Walker
7 April 1907 Worthing, Sussex, England |
| Died | 2 December 1980 (aged 73) London, England |
| Political party | Labour |
| Spouse |
Audrey Muriel Rudolf
(m. 1934) |
| Children | 5 |
| Alma mater | Christ Church, Oxford |
Patrick Chrestien Gordon Walker, also known as Baron Gordon-Walker, was an important British politician. He was born on April 7, 1907, and passed away on December 2, 1980. He was a member of the Labour Party.
Gordon Walker served as a Member of Parliament (MP) for almost 30 years. He also held important jobs as a cabinet minister twice. He lost his parliamentary seat in Smethwick during the 1964 general election. This happened after local factories closed down, which caused some difficult feelings in the area.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Patrick Gordon Walker was born in Worthing, a town in Sussex, England. His father, Alan Lachlan Gordon Walker, was a Scottish judge. He worked in the Indian Civil Service.
Gordon Walker went to Wellington College for school. Later, he studied history at Christ Church, Oxford, a famous university. He became a fellow (a kind of teacher or researcher) in history at Christ Church from 1931 to 1941.
Working for the BBC
During World War II, from 1940 to 1944, Gordon Walker worked for the BBC. He helped create daily radio broadcasts for Germany. In 1945, he worked with the BBC's German Service from Radio Luxembourg. He traveled with the British forces.
He reported on the liberation of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. This was a very sad and important event. He later wrote a book about it called The Lid Lifts. After the war, he was also chairman of the British Film Institute for a few years.
Political Journey
Gordon Walker first tried to become an MP in 1935. He ran in the Oxford constituency but did not win. In 1938, he was chosen to run again in a special election in Oxford. He decided to step aside to support another candidate who was against the Conservatives.
Becoming an MP
He became an MP for Smethwick in 1945. This happened in a special election after the previous Labour MP passed away. Once he was in parliament, he quickly moved up in the Clement Attlee's Labour government.
- In 1946, he became a parliamentary private secretary to Herbert Morrison.
- From 1947 to 1950, he was an under-secretary of state for Commonwealth Relations.
- In 1950, he joined the cabinet as Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations. He held this job until Labour lost the election in 1951.
The Seretse Khama Case
As Commonwealth Secretary in 1950, Gordon Walker was involved in a difficult decision. He convinced the government to stop Seretse Khama from becoming king of Bechuanaland (now Botswana). Khama had married a white English woman, Ruth Williams. This marriage caused problems with apartheid South Africa, a neighboring country.
Khama was brought to Britain. Then, he was prevented from returning home for five years. This ban was later made permanent, though it was eventually lifted by a different government. Khama felt the news of his exile was given to him in a very cold way.
Foreign Secretary and Election Challenges
After the 1964 general election, Gordon Walker became Foreign Secretary. This was a very important role. However, he lost his own election in Smethwick. The election in Smethwick was very difficult. There were concerns about immigration and local factory closures.
Even though he wasn't an MP, Harold Wilson, the Prime Minister, still appointed him Foreign Secretary. To fix this, Gordon Walker ran in another special election in Leyton in 1965. He lost that election too, and had to resign as Foreign Secretary.
After some time doing research, he finally won the Leyton seat in the 1966 general election. He then served in the cabinet again from 1967 to 1968. He was first a Minister without Portfolio. Then he became Secretary of State for Education and Science. When he retired from the cabinet in 1968, he received a special honor called Companion of Honour.
Later Years in Politics
Gordon Walker retired from the House of Commons in 1974. Later that year, he was made a life peer. This meant he became Baron Gordon-Walker and could sit in the House of Lords. He was also briefly a member of the European parliament.
Personal Life
In 1934, Patrick Gordon Walker married Audrey Muriel Rudolf. They had five children together: twin sons and three daughters. Lord Gordon-Walker passed away in London in 1980 at the age of 73.
Sources
- For more details on his parliamentary career, see the Rayment-hc archives.
- You can also find information about him in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
