Frank Soskice

Frank Soskice, Baron Stow Hill (23 July 1902 - 1 January 1979) was a British lawyer and Labour Party politician.

Soskice's father was exiled Russian revolutionary journalist David Soskice ; his mother was the grand-daughter of artist Ford Madox Brown and sister of Ford Madox Ford, niece of Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Soskice was educated at St Paul's School, London, and Balliol College, Oxford. He studied law and was called to the bar at the Inner Temple in 1926.

He served in the army during World War II. Following the war, he was elected to parliament as a Labour MP for East Birkenhead in the 1945 general election, and became Solicitor General in the government of Clement Attlee, serving in that office throughout Attlee's government. He was also, briefly, UK delegate to the United Nations General Assembly. As Solicitor General, Soskice was seen as an important advocate for the government in the House of Commons. He lost his seat in the 1950 election but was quickly returned in a by-election in Sheffield Neepsend . In April 1951, he became Attorney General.

In 1952, Soskice joined the shadow cabinet, and his fortunes rose in 1955 with the election of his close ally Hugh Gaitskell as party leader, although he continued his legal practice as well.

When Labour finally again came to power in 1964 under Harold Wilson, Soskice became Home Secretary. In this office he did not impress Wilson - he was in poor health, and he botched the response to an electoral boundary change dispute in Northamptonshire and accepting weakening amendments to the Race Relations Act of 1965.

In December 1965, Soskice was relieved of his Home Office responsibilities and made Lord Privy Seal. The next year he retired, and was created a life peer as Baron Stow Hill of Newport in the County of Monmouth.

Last updated: 09-01-2005 23:00:02

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