As I am in Oxford this weekend at the annual meeting of the Study of Parliament Group, and may not have access to a PC, I am posting this week’s quiz earlier than usual. I will not be back until Sunday, so this gives readers plenty of time to research and provide the answers. As I mentioned in the last quiz, this week’s questions are about Labour peers. As usual, the first two readers to supply the correct answers will be the winners. Please do feel free to have a go at answering. Even if you are not one of the first two to respond, there is always the kudos of being seen to have supplied the correct answers.
All the questions relate to current members of the House.
1. Which former Labour Chief Whip in the Lords served in the Royal Marines during the Second World War and was seriously injured by ‘friendly fire’?
2. Which Labour peer, who served in the Commons from 1973 to 2001 and was in the Shadow Cabinet from 1983 to 1987, has been described as ‘one of the most influential post-war Labour politicians never to hold ministerial office’?
3. Which Labour peer, born in Grimsby and obtaining his PhD from the University of Hull, has been described as ‘a major thinker of international renown in the area of modern political and social philosophy whose ideas have had an immense intellectual influence on the evolution of Labour thinking’?
4. Which Labour peer, who graduated from the University of Hull with a First in Sociology and Psychology, is largely credited with being the intellectual architect of New Labour?
1. Lord Graham of Edmonton
2. Lord Radice
3. Lord Plant of Highfield
4. Lord Giddens
1. Lord Graham of Edmonton
2. Lord Radice
3. Lord Plant of Highfield
4. Lord Giddens
Question 1: Baron Graham of Edmonton
Question 2: Baron Radice
Question 3: Baron Plant of Highfield
Question 4: Baron Giddens
3. Lord Plant of Highfield
4. Lord Giddens
1. Lord Graham of Edmonton
2. Lord Radice
3. Lord Plant of Highfield
4. Lord Giddens of Southgate
Congratulations to all those who responded. There was not an incorrect answer among you.
The answers are indeed:
1. Lord Graham of Edmonton (Ted Graham). I believe that he still has some of the shrapnel in his body.
2. Lord Radice (Giles Radice). He was seen as developing ideas that later took the form of Blairism. He is the author of various books, including biographies of Anthony Crosland, Roy Jenkins and Denis Healey.
3. Lord Plant of Highfield (Raymond Plant), now Professor of Jurisprudence and Political Philosophy at King’s College, London. He was for many years professor of politics at the University of Southampton, before becoming Master of St Catherine’s College, Oxford.
4. Lord Giddens (Anthony Giddens), the academic responsible for developing the concept of the Third Way. He was professor at Cambridge before becoming Principal of the London School of Economics. His many publications include 34 books.
Congratulations to Jonathan and Michael, who were the first two readers to supply the correct answers. They are this week’s prize winners.