{{Short description|British politician and life peer (1936–2020)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2016}} {{Use British English|date=December 2016}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = [[The Right Honourable]] | name = The Lord Maclennan of Rogart | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|PC}} | image = Official portrait of Lord Maclennan of Rogart crop 2.jpg | caption = Official portrait, 2018 | office = [[President of the Liberal Democrats]] | leader = [[Paddy Ashdown]] | term_start = 1 January 1995 | term_end = 31 December 1998 | predecessor = [[Charles Kennedy]] | successor = [[Diana Maddock, Baroness Maddock|Diana Maddock]] | office1 = Acting [[Leader of the Liberal Democrats]] | term_start1 = 3 March 1988 | term_end1 = 16 July 1988 | alongside1 = [[David Steel]] | predecessor1 = ''Position established'' | successor1 = Paddy Ashdown | office2 = Leader of the [[Social Democratic Party (UK)|Social Democratic Party]] | term_start2 = 28 August 1987 | term_end2 = 16 July 1988 | predecessor2 = [[David Owen]] | successor2 = ''Position abolished'' | office3 = [[Department of Prices and Consumer Protection|Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Prices and Consumer Protection]] | prime_minister3 = {{ubl|[[Harold Wilson]]|[[James Callaghan]]}} | term_start3 = 4 March 1974 | term_end3 = 4 May 1979 | predecessor3 = ''Position established'' | successor3 = ''Position abolished'' | parliament5 = United Kingdom | constituency_MP5 = [[Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (UK Parliament constituency)|Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross]]<br />{{no bold|[[Caithness and Sutherland]] (1966–1997)}} | term_start5 = 31 March 1966 | term_end5 = 14 May 2001 | predecessor5 = [[George Mackie, Baron Mackie of Benshie|George Mackie]] | successor5 = [[John Thurso]] | office4 = Member of the [[House of Lords]] | status4 = [[Lord Temporal]] | term_label4 = [[Life peer]]age | term_start4 = 19 July 2001 | term_end4 = 18 January 2020 | birth_name = Robert Adam Ross Maclennan | birth_date = {{birth date|1936|6|26|df=y}} | birth_place = [[Glasgow]], Scotland | death_date = {{death date and age|2020|1|18|1936|6|26|df=yes}} | death_place = London, England | spouse = {{marriage|Helen Cutter Noyes|1968}} | children = 2 | party = {{Plainlist|class=nowrap| * [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]] (before 1981) * [[Social Democratic Party (UK)|SDP]] (1981–1988) * [[Liberal Democrats (UK)|Liberal Democrats]] (1988–2020)}} | alma_mater = {{Plainlist| * [[Balliol College, Oxford]] * [[Trinity College, Cambridge]] * [[Columbia University]]}} }}
'''Robert Adam Ross "Bob" Maclennan, Baron Maclennan of Rogart''', {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|PC}} (26 June 1936 – 18 January 2020) was a British [[Liberal Democrats (UK)|Liberal Democrat]] politician and [[life peer]].
He was the last leader of the [[Social Democratic Party (UK)|Social Democratic Party]] (SDP), serving during the negotiations that led to its merger with the [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal Party]] in 1988. He then became joint interim leader of the new party, known as the Social and Liberal Democrats (SLD) and later as the Liberal Democrats. He served as a [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] (MP) from 1966 to 2001, when he was elevated to the House of Lords.
==Early life== MacLennan was born in [[Glasgow]] in 1936.<ref name = ODNB>{{cite ODNB|title = Maclennan, Robert Adam Ross [Bob], Baron Maclennan of Rogart (1936–2020), politician|last = Torrance|first = David|doi = 10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.90000381668|date = 2024}}</ref> His father, [[Hector MacLennan|Sir Hector MacLennan]], was a renowned gynaecologist and obstetrician.<ref name = ODNB/> His mother, Isabel Margaret (née Adam), was a physician and public health activist.<ref name = ODNB/> He was the brother of actor and director [[David MacLennan (theatre practitioner)|David MacLennan]], actress and writer [[Elizabeth MacLennan]], and [[Kenneth MacLennan]].<ref name = ODNB/>
He was educated at [[Glasgow Academy]]; [[Balliol College, Oxford]]; [[Trinity College, Cambridge]]; and [[Columbia University]], New York City.<ref name = ODNB/> He was called to the bar in 1962 at [[Gray's Inn]] and before entering parliament practised as an international lawyer based in London.<ref name = Kavanagh>{{cite news|url = https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/jan/19/lord-maclennan-of-rogart-obituary|title = Lord Maclennan of Rogart obituary|work = [[The Guardian]]|date = 19 January 2020|accessdate = 12 December 2021|last = Kavanagh|first = Dennis}}</ref> From 1963 to 1964, he worked at [[Sullivan & Cromwell]] in New York.<ref name = ODNB/>
==In Parliament== [[File:RobertMacLennan1987.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Maclennan (then SDP leader) addressing the [[Liberal Assembly]] in 1987]] He became [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] (MP) for the constituency of [[Caithness and Sutherland]] in 1966, and serving until 1997; and for [[Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (UK Parliament constituency)|Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross]] after boundary changes, from 1997 to 2001.<ref name = ODNB/>
He was first elected as a member of the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]], where he was described as a "gentle [[Roy Jenkins|Jenkinsite]]" and served as a junior minister in the [[Labour government, 1974–1979]].<ref name = ODNB/> In 1981 defected to become a founder member of the SDP, co-founded by Jenkins.<ref name = ODNB/> Maclennan helped write the party's constitution.<ref name = ODNB/> He was one of the few SDP MPs to keep their seats in the [[1983 United Kingdom general election|1983 general election]]. Following his stint as SDP Leader in 1988, he served as a [[front bench]] spokesman for the [[Liberal Democrats (UK)|Liberal Democrats]], and as their president from 1994 until 1998.<ref name = ODNB/>
He was appointed to the [[Privy Council (United Kingdom)|Privy Council]] in 1997.<ref>{{cite web |publisher=Privy Council Office |title=Privy Counsellors |url=https://privycouncil.independent.gov.uk/privy-council/privy-council-members/privy-counsellors/ |access-date=21 September 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160913232018/https://privycouncil.independent.gov.uk/privy-council/privy-council-members/privy-counsellors/ |archive-date=13 September 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
Following his retirement at the [[2001 United Kingdom general election|2001 general election]], he was raised to the House of Lords, created a life peer as '''Baron Maclennan of Rogart''', ''of Rogart in [[Sutherland]]''.<ref name="London Gazette 56825">{{London Gazette |issue=56285 |date=25 July 2001 |page=8777}}</ref><ref>{{London Gazette |issue=25054 |date=24 July 2001 |page=1673 |city=Edinburgh}}</ref> He was the party's [[Cabinet Office]] and [[Scotland]] spokesman in the [[House of Lords]] until 2015.
== Personal life and death == In 1968, Maclennan married Helen Noyes (née Cutter), daughter of Justice Richard Ammi Cutter of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.<ref>For Justice Cutter's stature as an American judge, see a transcript of the court memorial session on the state of Massachusetts's government website accessed March 17, 2024. https://www.mass.gov/person/richard-ammi-cutter</ref> As Maclennan's spouse she was Lady Maclennan of Rogart. She had one son from a previous marriage, and a son and a daughter with Maclennan.<ref name = Kavanagh/>
Maclennan died at his home in the [[City of Westminster]] on 18 January 2020, at age 83.<ref name = ODNB/><ref name = Kavanagh/>
== References == {{reflist}}
== External links == * {{Hansard-contribs | mr-robert-maclennan | Robert Maclennan }} * [http://www.libdems.org.uk/peers_detail.aspx?name=Lord_Maclennan_of_Rogart&pPK=20dcfa8c-7200-4db2-b3aa-f15cdd3153c2 Lord Maclennan of Rogart] profile at the site of Liberal Democrats
{{s-start}} {{s-par|uk}} {{s-bef|before=[[George Mackie, Baron Mackie of Benshie|George Mackie]]}} {{s-ttl|title=Member of Parliament<br />for [[Caithness and Sutherland]]|years=[[1966 United Kingdom general election|1966]]–[[1997 United Kingdom general election|1997]]}} {{s-non|reason=Constituency abolished}} |- {{s-new|constituency}} {{s-ttl|title=Member of Parliament<br />for [[Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (UK Parliament constituency)|Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross]]|years=[[1997 United Kingdom general election|1997]]–[[2001 United Kingdom general election|2001]]}} {{s-aft|after=[[John Thurso]]}} |- {{s-ppo}} {{s-bef|before=[[David Owen]]}} {{s-ttl|title=Leader of the [[Social Democratic Party (UK)|Social Democratic Party]]|years=1987–1988}} {{s-non|reason=Position abolished}} |- {{s-new|office}} {{s-ttl|title=[[Leader of the Liberal Democrats]]<br />{{small|Acting}}|years=1988|alongside=[[David Steel]]}} {{s-aft|after=[[Paddy Ashdown]]}} |- {{s-bef|before=[[Charles Kennedy]]}} {{s-ttl|title=President of the [[Liberal Democrats (UK)|Liberal Democrats]]|years=1994–1998}} {{s-aft|after=[[Diana Maddock, Baroness Maddock|Diana Maddock]]}} {{s-end}}
{{UK Liberal Democrats}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maclennan, Bob, Baron}} [[Category:1936 births]] [[Category:2020 deaths]] [[Category:20th-century Scottish lawyers]] [[Category:Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford]] [[Category:Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge]] [[Category:British expatriates in the United States]] [[Category:Leaders of the Liberal Democrats (UK)]] [[Category:Liberal Democrats (UK) life peers]] [[Category:Life peers created by Elizabeth II]] [[Category:Members of the Fabian Society]] [[Category:Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Highland constituencies]] [[Category:Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom]] [[Category:Nobility from Glasgow]] [[Category:People educated at the Glasgow Academy]] [[Category:Politicians from Glasgow]] [[Category:Presidents of the Liberal Democrats (UK)]] [[Category:Scottish Labour MPs]] [[Category:Scottish Liberal Democrat MPs]] [[Category:Scottish barristers]] [[Category:Social Democratic Party (UK) MPs for Scottish constituencies]] [[Category:UK MPs 1966–1970]] [[Category:UK MPs 1970–1974]] [[Category:UK MPs 1974]] [[Category:UK MPs 1974–1979]] [[Category:UK MPs 1979–1983]] [[Category:UK MPs 1983–1987]] [[Category:UK MPs 1987–1992]] [[Category:UK MPs 1992–1997]] [[Category:UK MPs 1997–2001]]