Judith Hart

The Right Honourable
The Baroness Hart of South Lanark
DBE PC
The Right Honourable The Baroness Hart of South Lanark DBE PC
Chair of the National Executive Committee
	In office; 24 November 1981 – 24 November 1982
Leader	Michael Foot
Preceded by	Alec Kitson
Succeeded by	Sam McCluskie
Minister for Overseas Development
	In office; 21 February 1977 – 4 May 1979
Prime Minister	James Callaghan
Preceded by	Frank Judd
Succeeded by	Neil Marten
	In office; 7 April 1974 – 10 June 1975
Prime Minister	Harold Wilson
Preceded by	Richard Wood
Succeeded by	Reg Prentice
	In office; 6 October 1969 – 19 June 1970
Prime Minister	Harold Wilson
Preceded by	Reg Prentice
Succeeded by	Richard Wood
Shadow Minister for Overseas Development
	In office; 4 May 1979 – 8 December 1980
Leader	James Callaghan
Preceded by	Richard Luce
Succeeded by	Frank McElhone
	In office; 19 June 1970 – 7 April 1974
Leader	Harold Wilson
Ministerial Offices 1964–69
Leader	Harold Wilson
Preceded by	Bernard Braine
Succeeded by	Richard Wood
Paymaster General
	In office; 1 November 1968 – 6 October 1969
Prime Minister	Harold Wilson
Preceded by	The Lord Shackleton
Succeeded by	Harold Lever
Minister of Social Security
	In office; 26 July 1967 – 1 November 1968
Prime Minister	Harold Wilson
Preceded by	Peggy Herbison
Succeeded by	Richard Crossman (as Secretary of State for Social Services)
Minister of State for Commonwealth Affairs
	In office; 6 April 1966 – 26 July 1967
Prime Minister	Harold Wilson
Preceded by	Cledwyn Hughes
Succeeded by	George Thomas
Under-Secretary of State for Scotland
	In office; 20 October 1964 – 6 April 1966
Prime Minister	Harold Wilson
Preceded by	Anthony Stodart
Succeeded by	Bruce Millan
Member of Parliament ; for Clydesdale; Lanark (1959–1983)
	In office; 8 October 1959 – 18 May 1987
Preceded by	Patrick Francis Maitland
Succeeded by	Jimmy Hood
Personal details
Born	Constance Mary Ridehalgh; 18 September 1924; Burnley, Lancashire, England
Died	7 December 1991 (aged 67); London, England
Political party	Labour
Spouse	Anthony Bernard Hart (m. 1946)
Children	2
Alma mater	London School of Economics; University of London
Occupation	Politician

Constance Mary Hart, Baroness Hart of South Lanark, DBE, PC (née Ridehalgh; 18 September 1924 – 7 December 1991), also known as Dame Judith Hart, was a British Labour Party politician. She served as a Member of Parliament for 28 years, from 1959 to 1987. She served as a government minister during the 1960s and 1970s before entering the House of Lords in 1988.

Early life and education

Hart was born on 18 September 1924 in Burnley, Lancashire, England.^[1] Her mother died when she was eleven years old; a year later, she adopted the name Judith on a train to London. She was educated at Clitheroe Royal Grammar School, the London School of Economics and the University of London.^[2] At school, she was head girl until she "took a day off school to visit the Tate Gallery in London and refused to apologise for doing so".^[3]

Political career

After joining the Labour Party aged 18, Hart was unsuccessful Labour candidate for Bournemouth West in 1951. She stood again in Aberdeen South in 1955 in "The Battle of the Housewives" but lost to Lady Tweedsmuir. She was elected as member for Lanark in 1959, winning by 700 votes after she arranged postal votes for displaced miners. She held the seat until 1983. Thereafter she sat for Clydesdale until 1987.^[2]

She held ministerial office as joint Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland from 1964 to 1966, Minister of State, Commonwealth Office (1966–1967), Minister of Social Security (1967–68), Paymaster General (with a seat in the Cabinet, and the first female holder) from 1968 to 1969, and as Minister of Overseas Development from 1969 to 1970, 1974 to 1975 (when she resigned; see below) and 1977 to 1979. In so doing, she became the fifth woman to have been included in a government cabinet in the history of Britain. She was also the first female Paymaster-General in Britain.^[2]

In opposition, Hart was frontbench spokesman on overseas aid from 1970 to 1974 and 1979 to 1980. Her views were often controversial and in 1972 she was mailed a bomb over her controversial work with the Labour Party's Southern African Liberation Fund. In 1974, when Labour returned to power, Hart was nearly passed over for a ministerial post due to her and her husband's connections to communism. Prime Minister Harold Wilson eventually decided to appoint her as Minister of Overseas Development, but she was never again appointed to Cabinet due to security concerns.^[2]

A trained sociologist, Hart frequently spoke and wrote on international development. She wrote several books, including Aid and Liberation: A Socialist Study of Aid Politics, published in 1973. Nonetheless, her opposition to British membership of the European Economic Community (EEC), which she believed would have a negative impact on British aid to the third world, ensured that she would be a casualty of Wilson's purge of the "anti-marketeers" following the outcome of the referendum on EEC membership in 1975. Although Wilson tried to send her to the Department of Transport, she resigned from all ministerial responsibility in protest.^[4] Later, following her return as Minister of Overseas Development in 1977, Hart developed a plan to redistribute British aid to prioritise the poorest countries, but it conflicted with diplomatic and trade priorities and was thwarted by the Conservative victory at the 1979 general election.^[1]^[2]

She was co-chairman of the Women's National Commission (appointed by the government) from 1969 to 1970. Within the Labour Party she was a member of the National Executive Committee from 1969 to 1983, serving as vice-chairman in 1980–81, and as chairman in 1981–82.^[5] She was appointed a Privy Counsellor in 1967, and appointed a DBE in 1979.^[6]

On 8 February 1988, she was created a life peer, as Baroness Hart of South Lanark, of Lanark in the County of Lanark.^[7]

Personal life

She met her husband, Dr Anthony Bernard Hart (always known as Tony), at an Association of Scientific Workers meeting. They married in 1946 and had two sons. He was also politically active, but when they were both selected as candidates for the Labour party in 1959, he withdrew his candidacy to support her campaign.^[2]

The family relocated to London in 1961 to allow Hart more family time. When Hart was appointed Minister of State for Commonwealth Affairs in 1966, her mother-in-law moved in to help with the children.^[2]

According to her son, Hart was a functional alcoholic and smoked 60 cigarettes a day.^[2]

Death

She died of bone cancer at the Queen Mary's Hospital, Roehampton, London, in 1991, aged 67.^[8]

References

^ ^a ^b "Hart, Judith (1924—) | Encyclopedia.com". www.encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 26 January 2020.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Reeves, Rachel, 1979– (7 March 2019). Women of Westminster : the MPs who changed politics. London. ISBN 978-1-78831-677-4. OCLC 1084655208.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
^ Bartley, Paula (2019). Labour Women in Power: Cabinet Ministers in the Twentieth Century. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 190. ISBN 978-3-030-14287-2.
^ Sutherland, Duncan, "Hart (née Ridehalgh), Judith, Baroness Hart of South Lanark (1924–1991)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edition, September 2004. Retrieved 7 July 2023. (subscription required)
^ "Hart of South Lanark, Baroness, (Judith Constance Mary Hart) (18 Sept. 1924 – 8 Dec. 1991) | WHO'S WHO & WHO WAS WHO-". www.ukwhoswho.com. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u172992. ISBN 978-0-19-954089-1. Retrieved 22 January 2019.
^ "No. 47868". The London Gazette (Supplement). 14 June 1979. p. 7600.
^ "No. 51238". The London Gazette. 11 February 1988. p. 1593.
^ "Judith Hart, 67, Dies; Labor Cabinet Minister". The New York Times. 9 December 1991. Retrieved 27 February 2019.

Sources

Sutherland, Duncan (May 2008). "Hart, Judith, Baroness Hart of South Lanark (1924–1991)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/49767. Retrieved 6 September 2009. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)

External links

Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Judith Hart

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Patrick Maitland	Member of Parliament for Lanark 1959–1983	Constituency abolished
New constituency	Member of Parliament for Clydesdale 1983–1987	Succeeded by Jimmy Hood
Political offices
Preceded by Peggy Herbison	Minister of Social Security 1967–1968	Succeeded by Richard Crossman as Secretary of State for Social Services
Preceded by The Lord Shackleton	Paymaster General 1968–1969	Succeeded by Harold Lever
Preceded by Reg Prentice	Minister of Overseas Development 1969–1970	Succeeded by Richard Wood
Preceded by Richard Wood	Minister for Overseas Development 1974–1975	Succeeded by Reg Prentice
Preceded by Frank Judd	Minister for Overseas Development 1977–1979	Succeeded by Neil Marten
Party political offices
Preceded by Alec Kitson	Chair of the Labour Party 1981–1982	Succeeded by Sam McCluskie