Diana Elles, Baroness Elles

Diana Louie Elles, Baroness Elles ( Newcombe; 19 July 1921 – 17 October 2009) was a British barrister and politician. She was a delegate to the European Parliament from 1979 to 1989 and a delegate to the United Nations General Assembly. Politician James Elles is her son.

Early years Born Diana Newcombe in Bedford, she was the daughter of Colonel Stewart Francis Newcombe and his wife Elisabeth Chaki, who he had met in his war captivity. After education at private schools in London, Paris and Florence, she went to the University of London, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in French and Italian in 1941.

Career in England Elles was called to the bar by Lincoln's Inn in 1956 and worked in the voluntary care committee in Kennington. When Labour took office in 1974, she sat on the Opposition benches in the House of Lords and acted as Spokesperson for foreign and European affairs.

In 1977 Elles became a council member of the Royal Institute of International Affairs until 1986 and subsequently was governor of the University of Reading until 1996. After her retirement from politician, she spent her time supporting the British Institute of Florence.

Foreign career In 1972, Elles joined the British delegation to the United Nations General Assembly and after a year was added to the UN Sub-Commission for Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities.

Edward Heath sent her to the European Parliament in 1973, where she headed the international office until 1978, when Elles had to make room for a Labour delegate. Together with her son James, she was returned in 1984 for another five years.

Personal life In 1945, she married Neil Patrick Moncrieff Elles; they had two children, Elizabeth Rosamund (born 1947) and James Edmund Moncrieff (born 1949). Her husband having predeceased her, Elles died on 17 October 2009, aged 88.

Works The Housewife and The Common Market (1971) Procedural Aspects of Competition Law (1975) UN Human Rights of Non-Citizens (1984) Legal Issues of the Maastricht Treaty (1995) European and World Trade Law (1996)