Duncan Sandys
Duncan Edwin Sandys, Baron Duncan-Sandys, CH PC 1 (
January 24,
1908-
November 26,
1987) was a British
politician and a minister in successive
Conservative governments. He was the son-in-law of Sir
Winston Churchill.
Sandys was the son of a Conservative MP and was educated at
Eton College and
Magdalen College, Oxford. He entered the diplomatic service in
1930, serving at the Foreign Office in London as well as at the embassy in
Berlin.
He became
Conservative Party (UK) MP for
Lambeth, Norwood in south
London in
1935. In the same year, he married
Diana Churchill, daughter of the future prime minister (after being opposed at Norwood by a candidate put up by
Randolph Churchill).
In May 1935 he was in effect saying that Germany should have a predominant place in central Europe, so as to avoid clashing with Britain as an Imperial Power (
Hansard, 2 May 1935, cols.595-598).
In
1938 Sandys asked questions in the
House of Commons on matters of
national security. He was subsequently approached by two unidentified men, presumably representing the
secret services, and threatened with
prosecution under the
Official Secrets Act. Sandys reported the matter to the
Committee of Privileges who held that the disclosures of Parliament were not subject to the legislation though an MP could be disciplined by the House
2.
During
World War II he fought with the British Expeditionary Force in
Norway and was wounded in action in
1941, giving him a permanent limp. From this time he had a desk job as the Finance Member of the Army Council. His father-in-law gave him his first ministerial post during the wartime Coalition Government. While a Minister he was also Chairman of a War Cabinet Committee for defence against German flying bombs and rockets. However, he lost his seat in the
1945 general election.
Sandys was responsible for establishing the
European Movement in Britain in
1947 and served as a member of the European Consultative Assembly in
1950 to
1951. He was elected to Parliament once again in
1950 for
Streatham and, when the Conservatives regained power, he was appointed as
Minister of Supply in
1951. For most of his time as Minister of Supply, his Private Secretary was
Jack Charles. As Minister of Housing from
1954, he introduced the
Clean Air Act and in
1955 introduced
green belts. He was appointed
Minister of Defence in
1957 and quickly produced the
1957 Defence White Paper that proposed a radical shift in the
Royal Air Force by ending the use of fighter aircraft in favour of
missile technology. Though later Ministers reversed the policy, the lost orders and cuts in research were responsible for several aircraft manufacturers going out of business. As Minister of Defence he saw the rationalization (ie merger) of much of the British military aircraft and engine industry - which led ultimately to a single airframe manufacturer
British Aerospace, and a single engine manufacturer
Rolls-Royce.
He divorced his first wife in
1960 and married Marie-Claire (
née Schmitt, previously married to Viscount Hudson) in
1962, the marriage lasting until his death. It has long been speculated that he may have been the 'headless man' whose identity was concealed during the scandalous divorce trial of
Margaret, Duchess of Argyll in
1963.
Sandys continued as a minister at the Commonwealth Relations Office, later combining it with the Colonies Office, until the Conservative government fell from power in
1964. In this role he was responsible for granting several colonies their independence.
He remained in the Shadow Cabinet until
1966 when he was sacked by
Edward Heath. He had strongly supported
Ian Smith in the dispute over
Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence. He was not offered a post when the Conservatives won the 1970 general election, but instead served as Leader of the United Kingdom delegation to the
Council of Europe and
Western European Union until
1972 when he announced his retirement. The next year he was made a
Companion of Honour.
In
1974 he retired from Parliament and was awarded a life peerage. He followed the example of
George Brown and incorporated his first name in the title (Baron Duncan-Sandys). He was an active early member of the
Conservative Monday Club.
He has a daughter
Laura Sandys.
Among his other interests were historic architecture. He formed the Civic Trust in
1956 and was its President; the Royal Institution of British Architects made him an honorary Fellow in
1968, and the Royal Town Planning Institute made him an honorary member. He was also a trustee of the
World Security Trust.
His business activities included a Directorship of the
Ashanti Goldfields Corporation, which was later part of Lonrho of which he became Chairman. He was therefore caught up in the scandal in which
Lonrho was revealed to have bribed several African countries and broken international sanctions against
Rhodesia.
*
1 The name
Sandys is pronounced
sands (like the plural of
sand).
*
2 House of Commons Paper 101 (1938-1939)
*Cowling, Maurice,
The Impact of Hitler - British Policies and Policy 1933-1940,
Cambridge University Press, 1975, p.415, ISBN 0-521-20582-4
*
men' in sex scandal finally named -
The Guardian, Thursday August 10, 2000.
* Coalition Government
**
July 20,
1941 -
February 7,
1943 Financial Secretary to the War Office
**
February 7,
1943 -
November 21,
1944 Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Supply
**
November 21,
1944 -
May 25,
1945 Minister of Works
* Caretaker Government
**
May 25,
1945 -
July 26,
1945 Minister of Works
* Conservative Government
**
October 31,
1951 -
October 18,
1954 Minister of Supply
**
October 18,
1954 -
January 13,
1957 Minister of Housing and Local Government
**
January 13,
1957 -
October 14,
1959 Minister of Defence
**
October 14,
1959 -
July 27,
1960 Minister of Aviation
**
July 27,
1960 -
July 13,
1962 Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations
**
July 13,
1962 -
October 16,
1964 Secretary of State for the Colonies and Commonwealth Relations
