Benjamin Whitaker

Benjamin Charles George Whitaker CBE (15 September 1934 – 8 June 2014) was a British barrister and Labour Party politician.

Early life He was the third son of Major-General Sir John Albert Charles Whitaker, 2nd Baronet of Babworth Hall, Retford, Nottinghamshire.

Career He practised as a barrister from 1959, and as an extramural lecturer in law for the University of London from 1963. Later in the year Greenwood was appointed to the post of Minister of Housing and Local Government, and Whitaker continued to serve as PPS in the new department. In 1969 Whitaker was advanced to the rank of parliamentary secretary, or junior minister, in the Department of Overseas Development.

He was active in a number of charities and foundations, particularly relating to global poverty. It was announced in August 2016 that Westminster city council had granted planning permission and that the project would go ahead, funded by £110,000 in private donations. The statue, by sculptor Martin Jennings, was unveiled in November 2017.

Personal life In 1964, he married Janet Alison Stewart, who was created a life peer in 1999 as Baroness Whitaker, of Beeston in the County of Nottinghamshire. The couple settled in Swiss Cottage in the Metropolitan Borough of Hampstead, London, and had three children, Daniel, Quincy, and Ras. He died on 8 June 2014 at the age of 79.