Brief Biography:

William Whitelaw was born at Nairn, in north-east Scotland and educated at Winchester and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he read history and law. During the Second World War he served in the Scots Guards but resigned his commission in 1947 in order to manage the family estates in Lanarkshire. Initially reluctant to enter politics Whitelaw finally did so in the early 1950s standing as a Westminster candidate for the Conservative Party and after a number of failed attempts, was finally elected in 1955 as the new Conservative MP for the constituency of Penrith and the Borders (1955-83). His first ministerial experience came when he held a number of junior positions (1955-64) and after his party lost power in 1964, he acted as Opposition Chief Whip (1964-70).

When the Conservatives returned to government after the 1970 general election, Whitelaw was appointed by Edward Heath, then British Prime Minister, as President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (1970-72). In March 1972 he made history when he became the first Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1972-73). The task facing Whitelaw from the outset was immense. The imposition of direct rule from Westminster alongside the suspension of the Stormont parliament in March 1972 had provoked a great deal of anger and resentment amongst all shades of unionist and loyalist opinion in Northern Ireland. In addition the paramilitary campaign of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) was escalating in its intensity and in turn leading to a growing response from loyalist paramilitaries. Anxious to tackle these problems Whitelaw's approach was to involve a mixture of risks alongside more predictable steps. For instance in July 1972 he sought to build on a brief IRA ceasefire of June 1972 by agreeing to hold talks with its leadership in London. These however failed to achieve any progress and with violence continuing in the region his response came in late July 1972 when he authorised 'Operation Motorman'. In essence this involved the British Army moving into the 'no-go' areas, mainly in Derry and Belfast, which had been established in the wake of the widespread civil unrest during the summer of 1969.

At the same time however Whitelaw was also determined to press ahead with plans to revive the political process that had been effectively stalled since the introduction of direct rule in March 1972. These efforts got underway in September 1972 when Northern Ireland political parties were invited to attend a conference but with a number choosing not to attend, little progress was achieved. In spite of this setback, he pressed ahead and in October 1972 presented a discussion paper setting out certain ideas as to how the British government envisaged how the political stalemate could be ended. To the dismay of unionists and the delight of nationalists, amongst the contents was a recommendation that any future settlement in Northern Ireland would have to involve an input from the authorities in London and Dublin. In March 1973 Whitelaw took the initiative further when he published a government White Paper outlining plans for the restoration of devolved powers back to local politicians. This set out proposals to establish a power-sharing executive to govern Northern Ireland alongside the need to create some sort of body to formalise its relationship with the Irish government. After an intensive round of negotiations during October and November 1973 between Whitelaw and a number of the political parties in Northern Ireland an agreement of sorts was made. This allowed for plans to be drawn up for the setting up of a power-sharing executive whilst further discussions would be held in order to decide the extent of the 'Irish dimension'.

When the discussions began in December 1973 they took place without the presence of Whitelaw who had by then taken up a new appointment as Secretary of Sate at the Department of Employment (1973-74). In 1975 he challenged for the leadership of the Conservative Party but lost out to Margaret Thatcher. Over the next decade or so he served her in a variety of roles such as Deputy Party Leader (1975-87), Deputy Prime Minister (1979-87), Home Secretary (1979-83); and Leader of the House of Lords (1983-87). Having announced his intention to stand down as an MP prior to the 1983 general election, he received a life peerage in 1983 and took his seat in the House of Lords as Lord Whitelaw of Penrith. In addition he continued to sit in the cabinet until his retirement from active politics due to increasing ill-health late in 1987.

Book References:

Arthur, Paul. (2000), Special Relationships: Britain, Ireland and the Northern Ireland Problem. Belfast: Blackstaff.
Blake, Robert. (1985), The Conservative Party from Peel to Thatcher. London: Fontana.
Elliott, Sydney. and Flackes, W.D. (1999), Northern Ireland: A Political Directory 1968-1999. Belfast: Blackstaff Press.
Hennessey, Thomas. (1997), A History of Northern Ireland 1920-1996. Dublin: Gill & Macmillan.
Ramsden, John (ed.) (2002), The Oxford Companion to Twentieth-Century British Politics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Web Sources:

[Entry written by B.Lynn - 19 January 2003]