David Waddington, Baron Waddington

David Charles Waddington, Baron Waddington, (2 August 1929 – 23 February 2017) was a British politician and barrister.

A member of the Conservative Party, he served as a Member of Parliament (MP) in the House of Commons from 1968 to 1974 and 1979 to 1990, and was then made a life peer in the House of Lords. During his parliamentary career, Waddington worked in government as Chief Whip, then as Home Secretary and finally as Leader of the House of Lords. He then served as the Governor of Bermuda between 1992 and 1997.

Early life Waddington was born in Burnley, Lancashire, the youngest of five. His father and grandfather were both solicitors in Burnley. He was educated at Cressbrook School and Sedbergh School, both independent schools.

He then attended Hertford College, Oxford, where he became President of the Oxford University Conservative Association. He was called to the Bar at Gray's Inn in 1951.

Waddington failed to adequately defend Stefan Kiszko, a civil servant accused of the murder of Lesley Molseed, at Leeds Crown Court in July 1976 in what would become one of the most notorious miscarriages of justice in British legal history. Waddington did not review or question any of the 6000+ statements that the prosecution presented at the last minute. He also failed to ask about semen evidence that could have proved Kiszko's innocence since the sample Kiszko provided did not match semen retained from Molseed's body. Kiszko served 16 years in prison, receiving frequent violent attacks for being a "child killer", after wrongly being found guilty. He died of a massive heart attack 20 months after he was fully released. The real murderer was eventually convicted in 2007. Waddington was a strong supporter of capital punishment.

Political career Waddington stood for election several times before being successful. He was the Conservative candidate at Farnworth in the 1955 general election, at Nelson and Colne in 1964, and at Heywood and Royton in 1966.

He was first elected to Parliament at the 1968 Nelson and Colne by-election, caused by the death of Labour MP Sydney Silverman. He was re-elected there in 1970 and in February 1974, but lost his seat at the October 1974 general election by a margin of 669 votes to Labour's Doug Hoyle.

Life peer On 4 December 1990, he was created a life peer as Baron Waddington, of Read in the County of Lancashire. He served as Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the House of Lords until 1992. He then served as Governor of Bermuda from 1992 until 1997.

Lord Waddington was appointed a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (GCVO) in 1994. In 2008, his amendment to the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill, known as the Waddington Amendment, inserted a freedom of speech clause into new anti-homophobic hate crime legislation.

In November 2009, the Government failed to repeal the Waddington Amendment in the Coroners and Justice Bill. On 26 March 2015, Lord Waddington retired from the House of Lords pursuant to Section 1 of the House of Lords Reform Act 2014.

Personal life Waddington married Gillian Rosemary Green (born 1939), the daughter of Alan Green, on 20 December 1958. The couple had three sons and two daughters.