Richard Holme, Baron Holme of Cheltenham

Richard Gordon Holme, Baron Holme of Cheltenham PC (27 May 1936 – 4 May 2008) was a British Liberal Democrat politician.

Educated at University of Oxford (BA Jurisprudence; St John's College) and Harvard Business School, Holme joined the Liberal Party in 1959, and was elected as the party's President in 1980 and 1981. He stood unsuccessfully as the Liberal candidate in East Grinstead, West Sussex, in 1964, and in a 1965 by-election. He then stood in Braintree, Essex, in October 1974. He later sought election at the more promising Cheltenham at the 1983 general election and at the 1987 general election. After the Liberal Party's merger with SDP in 1988, he joined the newly-formed Liberal Democrats

Holme was a close advisor to David Steel when he was leader of the Liberal Party, and to his successor, the first Liberal Democrat leader Paddy Ashdown. He was made a life peer in May 1990, as Baron Holme of Cheltenham, of Cheltenham in the County of Gloucestershire. In 2000, he was appointed as a Privy Counsellor. His 1999 appointment as chairman of the Broadcasting Standards Commission was cut short when he was forced to resign after "News of the World" allegations of multiple adultery and 'bizarre sex games' ["By day he decides what YOU watch on TV. By night he indulges his fantasies - NOW investigation" by Neville Thurlbeck & Ray Levine. 'News of the World' article dated October 22, 2000. ]

He was a fellow of the British-American Project.

Holme died from cancer on 4 May 2008. [ [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article3875960.ece Lord Holme of Cheltenham | Times Online Obituary ] ] [cite web | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7384196.stm | title = BBC News Report | accessdate = 2008-05-05]

References

External links

* [http://www.libdems.org.uk/party/people/lord-lord-holme-of-cheltenham.html Lord Holme] on the Liberal Democrats website
* [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article3875960.ece Obituary: "Times"]
* [http://www.libdems.org.uk/news/story.html?id=14294&navPage=news.html] Paddy Ashdown tribute

*Rayment