| Honorific-Prefix: | The Right Honourable |
| The Lord Waddington | |
| Office: | Governor of Bermuda |
| Term Start: | 11 April 1992 |
| Term End: | 2 May 1997 |
| Predecessor: | Desmond Langley |
| Successor: | Thorold Masefield |
| Primeminister2: | John Major |
| Term Start2: | 28 November 1990 |
| Term End2: | 11 April 1992 |
| Predecessor2: | The Lord Belstead |
| Successor2: | The Lord Wakeham |
| Office3: | Home Secretary |
| Primeminister3: | Margaret Thatcher |
| Term Start3: | 26 October 1989 |
| Term End3: | 28 November 1990 |
| Predecessor3: | Douglas Hurd |
| Successor3: | Kenneth Baker |
| Primeminister4: | Margaret Thatcher |
| Term Start4: | 13 June 1987 |
| Term End4: | 24 July 1989 |
| Predecessor4: | John Wakeham |
| Successor4: | Tim Renton |
| Office5: | Minister of State for Immigration |
| Primeminister5: | Margaret Thatcher |
| Term Start5: | 6 January 1983 |
| Term End5: | 13 June 1987 |
| Predecessor5: | Timothy Raison |
| Successor5: | Tim Renton |
| Office6: | Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Employment |
| Primeminister6: | Margaret Thatcher |
| Term Start6: | 5 January 1981 |
| Term End6: | 6 January 1983 |
| Predecessor6: | Patrick Mayhew |
| Successor6: | John Gummer |
| Office7: | Lord Commissioner of the Treasury |
| Primeminister7: | Margaret Thatcher |
| Term Start7: | 16 May 1979 |
| Term End7: | 5 January 1981 |
| Predecessor7: | Alfred Bates |
| Successor7: | John Wakeham |
| Parliament9: | United Kingdom |
| Constituency Mp9: | Ribble Valley |
| Prior Term9: | Clitheroe (1979–1983) |
| Term Start9: | 1 March 1979 |
| Term End9: | 29 November 1990 |
| Predecessor9: | David Walder |
| Successor9: | Michael Carr |
| Constituency Mp10: | Nelson and Colne |
| Term Start10: | 27 June 1968 |
| Term End10: | 20 September 1974 |
| Predecessor10: | Sydney Silverman |
| Successor10: | Doug Hoyle |
| Office8: | Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal |
| Term Start8: | 4 December 1990 |
| Term End8: | 26 March 2015 Life peerage |
| Birth Name: | David Charles Waddington |
| Birth Date: | 2 August 1929 |
| Birth Place: | Burnley, Lancashire, England |
| Death Place: | South Cheriton, Somerset, England |
| Party: | Conservative |
| Children: | 5 |
David Charles Waddington, Baron Waddington, (2 August 1929 – 23 February 2017) was a British politician and barrister.
A member of the Conservative Party, he served as a Member of Parliament (MP) in the House of Commons from 1968 to 1974 and 1979 to 1990, and was then made a life peer in the House of Lords. During his parliamentary career, Waddington worked in government as Chief Whip, then as Home Secretary and finally as Leader of the House of Lords. He then served as the Governor of Bermuda between 1992 and 1997.
Waddington was born in Burnley, Lancashire, the youngest of five. His father and grandfather were both solicitors in Burnley. He was educated at Cressbrook School and Sedbergh School, both independent schools.[1]
He then attended Hertford College, Oxford, where he became President of the Oxford University Conservative Association. He was called to the Bar at Gray's Inn in 1951.[2]
Waddington failed to adequately defend Stefan Kiszko, a civil servant accused of the murder of Lesley Molseed, at Leeds Crown Court in July 1976 in what would become one of the most notorious miscarriages of justice in British legal history. Waddington did not review or question any of the 6000+ statements that the prosecution presented at the last minute. He also failed to ask about semen evidence that could have proved Kiszko's innocence since the sample Kiszko provided did not match semen retained from Molseed's body. Kiszko served 16 years in prison, receiving frequent violent attacks for being a "child killer", after wrongly being found guilty. He died of a massive heart attack 20 months after he was fully released. The real murderer was eventually convicted in 2007. Waddington was a strong supporter of Capital Punishment.
Waddington stood for election several times before being successful. He was the Conservative candidate at Farnworth in the 1955 general election, at Nelson and Colne in 1964, and at Heywood and Royton in 1966.[3]
He was first elected to Parliament at the 1968 Nelson and Colne by-election, caused by the death of Labour MP Sydney Silverman. He was re-elected there in 1970 and in February 1974, but lost his seat at the October 1974 general election by a margin of 669 votes to Labour's Doug Hoyle.[2]
Waddington was returned to Parliament for Clitheroe at a by-election in March 1979, and was subsequently elected for the broadly similar Ribble Valley constituency in 1983.[1]
A junior minister under Margaret Thatcher, Waddington was a Lord Commissioner of the Treasury and Government Whip (1979–81), Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the Department of Employment (1981–83), Minister of State at the Home Office (1983–87), and Chief Whip from 1987 until his elevation to Cabinet level in 1989, when he became Home Secretary.[3] On Monday 5 November 1990, he was the guest-of-honour at the annual dinner of the Conservative Monday Club[4]
On 4 December 1990, he was created a life peer as Baron Waddington, of Read in the County of Lancashire. He served as Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the House of Lords until 1992. He then served as Governor of Bermuda from 1992 until 1997.[5] [6]
Lord Waddington was appointed a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (GCVO) in 1994. In 2008, his amendment to the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill, known as the Waddington Amendment, inserted a freedom of speech clause into new anti-homophobic hate crime legislation.[7]
In November 2009, the Government failed to repeal the Waddington Amendment in the Coroners and Justice Bill.[8] [9] On 26 March 2015, Lord Waddington retired from the House of Lords pursuant to Section 1 of the House of Lords Reform Act 2014.[10]
Waddington married Gillian Rosemary Green (born 1939), the daughter of Alan Green, on 20 December 1958. The couple had three sons and two daughters.
Lord Waddington died of pneumonia on 23 February 2017, at his home in South Cheriton, Somerset, aged 87.[2]
| Crest: | An Arm embowed vested Azure, issuing from the Sleeve of a Silk Gown Sable, the Hand proper, holding a Wreath of four Roses Gules, barbed and seeded proper, enfiled by a Sword point upwards Argent, Hilt Pommel and Quillons Or. |
| Coronet: | A Coronet of a Baron |
| Escutcheon: | Ermine, on a Cross Azure, between four Roses Gules, barbed and seeded proper, a Lion's Head guardant Or, langued Gules. |
| Supporters: | Dexter: A Lion in trian aspect; Sinister: a Griffin, both Or, armed and langued Gules, gorged with a Bar dancetty Ermine, edged Azure, each statant erect amid Reeds growing from a Grassy Mount proper. |
| Motto: | Deus Noster Refugium Et Virtus (God is our refuge and courage) |