Giles Radice, Baron Radice

Giles Heneage Radice, Baron Radice, (4 October 1936 – 25 August 2022) was a British Labour Party politician and author. He served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1973 to 2001, representing part of County Durham, and then as a life peer in the House of Lords from 2001 until shortly before his death in 2022. Early life Radice was born in London on 4 October 1936, the son of a civil servant in the Indian Government, Lawrence Radice. His mother, Patricia, was the daughter of Conservative politician Arthur Heneage. Radice was educated at Winchester College and Magdalen College, Oxford. His national service was with the Coldstream Guards. He then worked as a research officer for the General and Municipal Workers' Union and was chair of the Young Fabians from 1967 to 1968. Parliamentary career Radice first stood for Parliament at Chippenham in 1964 and 1966, but came third each time. He was elected Labour Member of Parliament for Chester-le-Street from a 1973 by-election to 1983 and then North Durham until his retirement in 2001. Radice served as Education spokesman in the Labour Shadow Cabinet under Neil Kinnock in the 1980s. As chairman of the Treasury Select Committee, Radice helped make the monetary policy committee of the Bank of England accountable to both Parliament and the people for its decisions over interest rates. He was a member of the House of Lords European Union Sub-Committee on external affairs until March 2015.