Michael Stewart, Baron Stewart of Fulham

Robert Michael Maitland Stewart[1], Baron Stewart of Fulham, CH, PC (6 November 1906 – 10 March 1990)[2] was a British Labour politician and Fabian Socialist who served twice as Foreign Secretary in the first cabinet of Harold Wilson.

The Right Honourable The Lord Stewart of Fulham CH PC
Stewart in 1965
Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Foreign Affairs (1965-1968)
In office 16 March 1968 – 19 June 1970
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Prime Minister	Harold Wilson
Preceded by	George Brown
Succeeded by	Sir Alec Douglas-Home
In office 22 January 1965 – 11 August 1966
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Prime Minister	Harold Wilson
Preceded by	Patrick Gordon Walker
Succeeded by	George Brown
First Secretary of State
In office 11 August 1966 – 6 April 1968
Prime Minister	Harold Wilson
Preceded by	George Brown
Succeeded by	Barbara Castle
Secretary of State for Economic Affairs
In office 11 August 1966 – 29 August 1967
Prime Minister	Harold Wilson
Preceded by	George Brown
Succeeded by	Peter Shore
Secretary of State for Education and Science
In office 16 October 1964 – 22 January 1965
Prime Minister	Harold Wilson
Preceded by	Quintin Hogg
Succeeded by	Anthony Crosland
Member of Parliament for Fulham Fulham East (1945–1955)
In office 26 May 1955 – 3 May 1979
Preceded by	William Astor
Succeeded by	Martin Stevens
Personal details
Born	(1906-11-06)6 November 1906 Bromley, Kent, England
Died	10 March 1990(1990-03-10) (aged 83)
Political party	Labour
Spouse(s)	Mary Stewart
Alma mater	St. John's College, Oxford
Profession	Member of Parliament

Early life

The son of Robert Wallace Stewart, author and lecturer, and Eva Stewart née Blaxley, Stewart was born in Bromley and educated at Brownhill Road Elementary School, Catford, Christ's Hospital and St. John's College, Oxford, where he graduated with a first class BA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics in 1929.[3][4]

While at university, Stewart was President of the Oxford Union, and of St John's Labour Club (1929). He began his career as an official in the Royal Household during 1931. He worked for a short period with the Secretariat of the League of Nations, before becoming a schoolmaster, first at the Merchant Taylors' School in London, then at Coopers' Company's School, Mile End, and then at Frome, Somerset. During World War II, Stewart served in the Middle East, joining the Intelligence Corps in 1942, before transferring to the Army Educational Corps in 1943. He was promoted to captain in 1944.

On 26 July 1941 he married Mary Birkinshaw, later Baroness Stewart of Alvechurch; they had no children.[5] They were one of the few couples who both held titles in their own right.

Political career

Stewart had contested the Lewisham West constituency in 1931 and 1935, and Fulham East in 1936; after the war he became MP for Fulham East 1945–55, then for Fulham 1955–74, and Hammersmith, Fulham 1974–79. Soon after his initial election, he was made one of the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury (more commonly known as a junior whip),[1] then a junior minister, as Under-Secretary of State for War (1947–51) and later as Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Supply (May–October 1951). Following Labour's defeat in the 1951 election, Stewart was a rising figure on the shadow front bench, serving as Shadow Minister of Education (1955–59) and then as Shadow Minister of Housing and Local Government (1959–64).

Stewart was Fabian Summer School Director in 1952 and Lecturer in 1954. He was Fabian New Year School lecturer in 1954–55 and Publicist in 1956. Stewart is listed as a member of the Fabian Society International Bureau Committee during 1957–58 and was mentioned in Fabian News Nov–Dec 1964 as a former member of the Fabian Executive Committee.

Government 1964–70

When Harold Wilson became Prime Minister in 1964, Stewart was appointed Secretary of State for Education and Science. He was promoted to Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs in January 1965. He was described by the press as relatively unknown to the public but was extremely well known within Fabian Socialist circles. He became Secretary of State for Economic Affairs in 1966. From 1966 to 1968, he was First Secretary of State. He returned to the Foreign Office from 1968 to 1970. As foreign secretary, he was instrumental in supplying arms to support the Nigerian government's crushing of the secessionist movement in Biafra (when up to one million people died), later saying "It would have been quite easy for me to say: This is going to be difficult – let's cut off all connexion with the Nigerian Government. If I'd done that I should have known that I was encouraging in Africa the principle of tribal secession – with all the misery that could bring to Africa in the future."[6]

Post-Government

A committed pro-European, Stewart was Leader of the Labour Delegation to the Council of Europe in June 1970, and joint president of the Labour Committee for Europe with George Brown and Roy Jenkins. He served as a member of the European Parliament from 1975 to 1976.

Stewart was made a member of the Privy Council in 1964. He was appointed a Companion of Honour (CH) in the 1969 New Year Honours.[7] He retired from the House of Commons in 1979. Stewart was elevated to the House of Lords, being created a life peer with the title Baron Stewart of Fulham, of Fulham in Greater London on 5 July 1979.[8]

He died in 1990, aged 83.

References

1. "East Fulham M.P. in Government Too - Junior Treasury Post For Captain Michael Stewart". Fulham Chronicle (2993). 17 August 1945. p. 3. Retrieved 10 July 2019 – via British Newspaper Archive.
2. "Stewart of Fulham, Baron, (Robert Michael Maitland Stewart) (6 Nov. 1906–10 March 1990)". WHO'S WHO & WHO WAS WHO. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u169475. Retrieved 21 May 2020.
3. Oxford University Calendar 1932, Oxford : Oxford University Press, 1932, p. 282.
4. Lane, A.T. (1995). Biographical dictionary of European labor leaders (Volume 2 ed.). Greenwood Press. p. 931. ISBN 0313299005.
5. Duncan Sutherland, ‘Stewart , Mary Elizabeth Henderson, Baroness Stewart of Alvechurch (1903–1984)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, May 2005 accessed 1 April 2017
6. "By Nigeria correspondent Barnaby Philips". BBC News. 13 January 2000. Archived from the original on 15 December 2013. Retrieved 16 May 2008.
7. "No. 44740". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 January 1969. p. 24.
8. "No. 47900". The London Gazette. 10 July 1979. p. 8714.

Bibliography

• The Forty Hour Week (Fabian Society), (1936)
• Bias and Education for Democracy (1937)
• The British Approach to Politics (1938)
• Policy and weapons in the nuclear age (1955)
• Modern Forms of Government (1959)
• An incomes policy for Labour (1963)
• Fabian Freeway Rose L. Martin (1966)
• Labour and the economy : a socialist strategy (1972)
• Life and Labour (1980) – his autobiography
• European Security: the case against unilateral nuclear disarmament (1981)

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Michael Stewart

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by William Astor	Member of Parliament for Fulham East 1945–1955	Constituency abolished
New constituency	Member of Parliament for Fulham 1955–1979	Succeeded by Martin Stevens
Political offices
Preceded by Arthur Pearson	Comptroller of the Household (government whip) 1945–1946	Succeeded by Frank Collindridge
Preceded by Quintin Hogg	Secretary of State for Education and Science 1964–1965	Succeeded by Anthony Crosland
Preceded by Patrick Gordon Walker	Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs 1965–1966	Succeeded by George Brown
Preceded by George Brown	First Secretary of State 1966–1968	Succeeded by Barbara Castle
	Secretary of State for Economic Affairs 1966–1967	Succeeded by Peter Shore
Preceded by George Brown	Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs 1968	Succeeded by Himself as Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
Preceded by Himself as Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs	Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs 1968–1970	Succeeded by Sir Alec Douglas-Home
Preceded by George Thomson as Secretary of State for Commonwealth Affairs
Party political offices
Preceded by New position	Leader of the European Parliamentary Labour Party 1975–1976	Succeeded by John Prescott