{{Short description|British politician and farmer (1925–2022)}} {{Use British English|date=February 2015}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = The Right Honourable | name = The Lord Plumb | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|DL}} | image = Plumb EC President Portrait.jpg | caption = Official portrait, 1987 | office = Member of the House of Lords | status = Lord Temporal | term_label = Life peerage | term_start = 6 April 1987 | term_end = 3 November 2017 | office1 = President of the European Parliament | order1 = 16th | term_start1 = 20 January 1987 | term_end1 = 25 July 1989 | vice_president1 = | predecessor1 = Pierre Pflimlin | successor1 = Enrique Barón | office2 = Leader of the Conservatives in the European Parliament | term_start2 = 9 February 1982 | term_end2 = 7 July 1987 | predecessor2 = James Scott-Hopkins | successor2 = Christopher Prout | parliament3 = European | constituency_MP3 = Cotswolds | majority3 = | term_start3 = 7 June 1979 | term_end3 = 10 June 1999 | predecessor3 = ''Constituency created'' | successor3 = ''Constituency abolished'' | office4 = President of National Farmers' Union of England and Wales | term_start4 = 4 February 1970 | term_end4 = 1 February 1979 | deputy4 = Richard C. Butler | predecessor4 = Gwilym Williams | successor4 = Richard C. Butler | birth_name = Charles Henry Plumb | birth_date = {{Birth date|1925|3|27|df=y}} | birth_place = Warwickshire, England | death_date = {{Death date and age|2022|4|15|1925|3|27|df=y}} | death_place = | party = Conservative Party | other_party = European Democrats | spouse = {{marriage|Marjorie Dunn|1947|2019|end = died}} | children = 3 | occupation = {{hlist|Farmer|politician}} | signature = }}
'''Charles Henry Plumb, Baron Plumb''', {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|DL}} (27 March 1925 – 15 April 2022) was a British politician and farmer who went into politics as a leader of the National Farmers' Union. He later became active in the Conservative Party and was elected as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP). He served as an MEP from 1979 to 1999, and was President of the European Parliament from 1987 to 1989, the only Briton to hold the post.
==Personal life== Plumb's family was from Cheshire and had been in farming for several generations. His father farmed at Coleshill in Warwickshire, where his son joined him in 1940. He took over running the farm after his father died in 1952. The farm ran to {{convert|300|acre|km2}} and consisted primarily of a dairy herd (200 pedigree Ayrshire cattle) with 70 breeding sows and {{convert|100|acre|km2}} of grain.<ref name="Background">Leonard Amey, "A fighter to lead the farmers", ''The Times'', 30 January 1970, p. 10.</ref>
Plumb was married to Marjorie ({{nee|Dunn}}) from 1947 until her death in 2019; they had three children. He died on 15 April 2022, at the age of 97, after suffering a stroke.<ref name = Telegraph>{{cite news|url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2022/04/15/lord-plumb-president-national-farmers-union-1970s-later-led/|title = Lord Plumb, president of the National Farmers' Union through the 1970s who later led the European Parliament – obituary|work = The Daily Telegraph|date = 15 April 2022|accessdate = 17 April 2022|url-access = subscription}}</ref><ref name=Kaur>{{cite news |last1=Kaur |first1=Jaspreet |title=Former Coventry University Chancellor Lord Henry Plumb dies aged 97 |url=https://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/former-coventry-university-chancellor-lord-23708294 |access-date=17 April 2022 |work=CoventryLive |date=16 April 2022 |language=en}}</ref>
==National Farmers' Union== After rising through the county branch, in 1965, Plumb was elected vice-president of the National Farmers' Union. Although only 40 years old he was considered for the presidency,<ref name="Possible NFU">"Probables And Possibles For N.F.U. Presidency", ''The Times'', 29 December 1965, p. 4.</ref> but had to settle for promotion to deputy president in 1966.<ref name="Deputy">"N.F.U. Choose New President", ''The Times'', 9 April 1966, p. 6.</ref> In the late 1960s, Plumb was a member of the Northumberland Committee inquiring into the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, being the only working farmer on the committee. Towards the end of the committee's deliberations, a report from political correspondent J. W. Murray in ''Farmer and Stockbreeder'' said Plumb had single-handedly persuaded the committee to recommend prohibiting the import of carcass meat from countries where foot-and-mouth was endemic.<ref name="Northumberland leak">"MP's motion on alleged farm report leak", ''The Times'', 8 February 1969, p. 3.</ref>
In January 1970, the incumbent president of the NFU Gwilym Williams failed to get the 80% support necessary to be re-elected, and Plumb was elected president of the NFU in his place.<ref name="President">Leonard Amey, "President of NFU is ousted", ''The Times'', 30 January 1970, p. 2.</ref> Plumb's term of office included British accession to the European Economic Community and its Common Agricultural Policy and Plumb negotiated for greater support for British agriculture; he stressed that Britain no longer had the economic power to bring cheap food prices.<ref name="Cheap food">Leonard Amey, "Britain can no longer attract cheap food, NFU chief says", ''The Times'', 23 January 1973, p. 11.</ref> Plumb was, however, a strong supporter of British membership of the European Economic Community; he was considered as a possible director for the pro-market campaign in the 1975 referendum campaign<ref name="Yes campaign">David Butler and Uwe Kitzinger, "The 1975 Referendum", Macmillan, 1975, p. 73.</ref> and was described as one of its most indefatigable spokesmen.<ref name="spokesman">Butler & Kitzinger p. 171.</ref> Plumb was awarded a knighthood in the 1973 Birthday Honours.<ref name="K">"Birthday Honours", ''The Times'', 2 June 1973, p. 4.</ref><ref>{{London Gazette |issue=45984 |date=2 June 1973 |page=6473 |supp=y}}</ref><ref>{{London Gazette |issue=46127 |date=13 November 1973 |page=13485}}</ref>
Throughout the 1970s, Plumb had Richard C. Butler as his deputy at the NFU, and Butler succeeded him as president when he retired in 1979.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20180330012608/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/politics-obituaries/9055114/Sir-Richard-Butler.html "Sir Richard Butler"], in ''The Daily Telegraph'', 6 February 2012; [http://clementjones.com/ps30/ps30_287.html "Butler, Sir Richard"], clementjones.com, accessed 22 December 2022</ref>
==European Parliament== Having joined the Conservative Party, Plumb was elected Member of the European Parliament for the Cotswolds seat in 1979 and remained in the European Parliament until 1999, being President of the European Parliament from 1987 to 1989. He was the only British president of the European parliament.<ref name="GuardianObit">{{cite news |title=Lord Plumb, former European parliament president, dies aged 97 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/apr/16/lord-plumb-former-european-parliament-president-dies-aged-97 |access-date=17 April 2022 |work=The Guardian |date=16 April 2022 |language=en}}</ref> He was made a Life peer as '''Baron Plumb''', of Coleshill in the County of Warwickshire on 6 April 1987.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=50886 |date=9 April 1987 |page=4745}}</ref>
On 11 October 1988, Plumb received international attention. During the papal visit to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, Pope John Paul II was delivering a speech. Northern Ireland MEP Ian Paisley, a staunch Protestant and opponent of Catholicism, heckled throughout the delivery, brandishing posters accusing the Pope of being the Antichrist. Using his position as president, Plumb ordered Paisley to leave the chamber.<ref name = Telegraph/>
He retired from the House of Lords on 3 November 2017.<ref name="UKParliamentProfile">{{cite web |title=Lord Plumb |url=https://members.parliament.uk/member/3175/career |website=MPs and Lords |publisher=UK Parliament |access-date=17 April 2022}}</ref> He was also Chancellor of Coventry University between 1995 and 2007.<ref name=Kaur/>
===2012 allegations of conflict of interest=== In June 2012, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and ''The Independent'' newspaper revealed how senior members of the House of Lords failed to disclose their business interests in a public inquiry. As of July 2012, Plumb's entry in the register of interests listed his only remunerated employment/profession as 'farming',<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/standards-and-interests/register-of-lords-interests/?letter=P|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120724162222/http://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/standards-and-interests/register-of-lords-interests/?letter=P|archive-date=24 July 2012|title=Register of Lords' Interests|publisher=Parliament of the United Kingdom}}</ref> despite his involvement with the Brussels-based lobbying firm Alber & Geiger since 2007.<ref>{{cite web|work=Website|publisher=Bureau of Investigative Journalism|title=Chamber of secrets: House of Lords exposed|url=http://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/2012/06/20/chamber-of-secrets-house-of-lords-exposed/|access-date=24 June 2012|archive-date=24 June 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120624084409/http://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/2012/06/20/chamber-of-secrets-house-of-lords-exposed/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|work=Website |publisher=Alber & Geiger |title=Lord Charles Henry Plumb |url=http://www.albergeiger.com/_charles-henry-plumb.php |access-date=24 June 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130930215705/http://www.albergeiger.com/_charles-henry-plumb.php |archive-date=30 September 2013}}</ref> According to ''The Independent'', Plumb insisted he did not need to register his involvement because he had “never been in employment, paid or unpaid” by the firm.<ref>{{cite web|work=Website |publisher=Bureau of Investigative Journalism |title=Undeclared interests: Peers fail to register business roles |url=https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2012-06-21/undeclared-interests-peers-fail-to-register-business-roles |access-date=24 June 2012 }}</ref>
== Bibliography == * {{Cite book| publisher = Greycoat Press| last = Plumb| first = Henry |author-mask=0 |title = The Plumb Line: A Journey Through Agriculture and Politics | date = 2001 |isbn=978-1-899908-03-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8rwhAQAAIAAJ |language=en}} (Autobiography)
==References== {{reflist|30em}}
{{s-start}} {{s-parl|eu}} {{s-new|constituency}} {{s-ttl|title=Member of the European Parliament<br> for Cotswolds|years=1979–1999}} {{s-non|reason=Constituency abolished}} {{s-ppo}} {{s-bef|before=James Scott-Hopkins}} {{s-ttl|title=Leader of the Conservatives in the European Parliament|years=1982–1987}} {{s-aft|after=Christopher Prout}} {{s-off}} {{s-bef|before=Pierre Pflimlin}} {{s-ttl|title=President of the European Parliament|years=1987–1989}} {{s-aft|after=Enrique Barón}} {{s-end}}
{{EuroparlPres}} {{Coventry University}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Plumb, Charles Henry Plumb, Baron}} Category:1925 births Category:2022 deaths Category:Conservative Party (UK) life peers Category:Conservative Party (UK) MEPs Category:Deputy lieutenants of Warwickshire Category:20th-century British farmers Category:Knights Bachelor Category:Presidents of the European Parliament Category:Presidents of the National Farmers' Union of England and Wales Category:People associated with Coventry University Category:MEPs for England 1979–1984 Category:MEPs for England 1984–1989 Category:MEPs for England 1989–1994 Category:MEPs for England 1994–1999 Category:Life peers created by Elizabeth II Category:Peers retired under the House of Lords Reform Act 2014