{{Short description|British Conservative politician (1900–1986)}} {{for|the British banker|Robert Tuite Boothby}} {{Use British English|date=August 2013}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2025}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = [[The Right Honourable]] | name = The Lord Boothby | honorific_suffix = {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|KBE}} | image = Robertbootby.jpg | caption = Boothby in 1924 | office = [[Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food]] | monarch = [[George VI]] | prime_minister = [[Winston Churchill]] | predecessor = [[Alan Lennox-Boyd, 1st Viscount Boyd of Merton|Alan Lennox-Boyd]] | successor = [[Gwilym Lloyd George]] | term_start = 15 May 1940 | term_end = 22 October 1940 | office1 = Member of the [[House of Lords]] <br /> [[Lords Temporal|Lord Temporal]] | term_start1 = 18 August 1958 | term_end1 = 16 July 1986<br />[[Life peerage]] | office3 = [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] | constituency3 = {{ubli|[[Aberdeen and Kincardine East (UK Parliament constituency)|Aberdeen and Kincardine East]] (1924–1950)|[[East Aberdeenshire (UK Parliament constituency)|East Aberdeenshire]] (1950–1958)}} | predecessor3 = [[Frederick Martin (politician)|Frederick Martin]] | successor3 = [[Patrick Wolrige-Gordon]] | term_start3 = 29 October 1924 | term_end3 = 18 August 1958 | party = [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] | birth_date = {{birth date|1900|2|12|df=y}} | birth_place = [[Edinburgh]], Scotland | death_date = {{death date and age|1986|7|16|1900|2|12|df=y}} | death_place = London, England | parents = {{ubli|[[Robert Tuite Boothby]]|Mabel Lancaster}} | alma_mater = {{ubli|[[Eton College]]|[[Magdalen College, Oxford]]}} | spouse = {{plainlist| * {{marriage|Diana Cavendish|1935|1937|reason=divorced}} * {{marriage|Wanda Sanna|1967}} }} | other_party = [[Popular Front (UK)|Popular Front]] }} '''Robert John Graham Boothby, Baron Boothby''', {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|KBE}} (12 February 1900 – 16 July 1986) was a British [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] politician.
==Early life== The only son of [[Sir]] [[Robert Tuite Boothby]], KBE, of [[Edinburgh]] and a cousin of Rosalind Grant, mother of the [[Television presenter|broadcaster]] [[Ludovic Kennedy|Sir Ludovic Kennedy]], Boothby was educated at [[St Aubyns School]], [[Eton College]], and [[Magdalen College, Oxford]]. Before going up to Oxford, near the end of the [[First World War]], he trained as an officer and was commissioned into the [[Brigade of Guards]], but was too young to see active service.<ref name=odnb>{{cite book |title=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Volume 6 |year=2004 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |page=639 |isbn=0-19-861356-3}}Article by John Grigg.</ref> Boothby read History at the [[University of Oxford]]; the shortened war course was not classed, being marked either 'Pass' or 'Fail'. He attended a few lectures and did some general reading, but, as he cheerfully observed, "there were far too many other things to do".<ref>[[Robert Rhodes James]], ''Robert Boothby: A Portrait of Churchill's Ally'', Harmondsworth: Viking Penguin, 1991, pp. 38–39</ref> He achieved a pass without distinction in 1921.<ref>''Oxford University Calendar 1925'', Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1925, p. 229</ref> After Oxford, he became a partner in a firm of [[stockbroker]]s.
==Politics== [[File:Lord Boothby Allan Warren.jpg|thumbnail|Photographic portrait by [[Allan Warren]] (1974)]] Boothby was an unsuccessful parliamentary candidate for [[Orkney and Shetland (UK Parliament constituency)|Orkney and Shetland]] in 1923 and was elected as [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] (MP) for [[Aberdeen and Kincardine East (UK Parliament constituency)|Aberdeen and Kincardine East]] in 1924. He held the seat until its abolition in 1950, when he was elected for its successor constituency of [[East Aberdeenshire (UK Parliament constituency)|East Aberdeenshire]]. Re-elected a final time in 1955, he gave up the seat in 1958 when he was raised to the peerage, triggering [[1958 East Aberdeenshire by-election|a by-election]].
Boothby was [[Parliamentary Private Secretary]] to [[Chancellor of the Exchequer]] [[Winston Churchill]] from 1926 to 1929. He helped launch the [[Popular Front (UK)|Popular Front]] in December 1936.<ref>The Liberal Party and the Popular Front, English Historical Review (2006)</ref> He held junior ministerial office as [[Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food]] in 1940. He was forced to resign his post and go to the back benches for not declaring an interest when asking a parliamentary question. During the [[Second World War]] he joined the [[Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve]] and served as a junior staff officer with [[Bomber Command]], and later as a liaison officer with the [[Free French Forces]], retiring with the rank of [[Flight Lieutenant]]. In 1950 he received the [[Legion of Honour]] for his latter services.<ref name=odnb2>{{cite book |title=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Volume 6 |page=640}}</ref>
In 1954 (echoing words he had said in 1934), Boothby complained that for 30 years he had been advocating "a constructive policy on broad lines" but that this had not been taken up: "The doctrine of infallibility has always applied to the [[HM Treasury|Treasury]] and the [[Bank of England]]". Boothby opposed [[free trade]] in food stuffs, and claimed that such a policy would invalidate the [[Agriculture Act 1947]] and ruin British farmers. This [[economic liberalism]] of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, [[Rab Butler]], led to Boothby complaining that "The Tory Party have in fact become the [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal Party]]" and cited what the leader of the Liberal Party ([[Clement Davies]]) had said to him about Butler: "Sir [[Robert Peel]] has come again."<ref name="api.parliament.uk">{{Cite web|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1954/feb/04/commonwealth-economic-conference|title=COMMONWEALTH ECONOMIC CONFERENCE (Hansard, 4 February 1954)|website=api.parliament.uk}}</ref> In response, Davies claimed that Boothby "has been sitting on the wrong side of the House for many years. Undoubtedly he said tonight that he is the planner of planners. I do not believe in that kind of planning. The hon. Member seems to know better than the ordinary person what is good for the ordinary person, what he ought to buy, where he ought to buy it, where he ought to manufacture and everything else of that kind. There is the true Socialist".<ref name="api.parliament.uk"/>
Boothby was a British delegate to the Consultative Assembly of the [[Council of Europe]] from 1949 until 1957 and advocated the [[United Kingdom]]'s entry into the [[European Economic Community]] (a predecessor of the [[European Union]]). He was a prominent commentator on public affairs on radio and television, often taking part in the long-running [[BBC]] radio programme ''[[Any Questions]]''. He also advocated the virtues of [[herring]] as a food.<ref>Referred to in passing during ''[[Face to Face (British TV series)|Face to Face]]'', BBC Television, 27 May 1959.</ref>
He was Vice-Chairman of the Committee on Economic Affairs, 1952–1956; Honorary President of the Scottish Chamber of Agriculture, 1934; [[Rector of the University of St Andrews]], 1958–1961; Chairman of the [[Royal Philharmonic Orchestra]], 1961–1963; and President, Anglo-[[Israel]] Association, 1962–1975. He was awarded an Honorary LLD by St Andrews in 1959, and was made an Honorary [[Burgess (word)|Burgess]] of the Burghs of [[Peterhead]], [[Fraserburgh]], [[Turriff]] and [[Rosehearty]]. He was appointed an Officer of the [[Legion of Honour]] in 1950 and a [[Order of the British Empire|KBE]] in 1953.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=39863 |date=1 June 1953 |page=2953 |supp=y}}</ref>
Boothby was raised to the peerage as a [[life peer]] with the title '''Baron Boothby''', of [[Buchan]] and [[Rattray Head]] in the [[Aberdeenshire|County of Aberdeen]], on 22 August 1958.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=41479 |date=22 August 1958 |page=5211}}</ref>
There is a [[blue plaque]] on his house in [[Eaton Square]], London.
He was the subject of ''[[This Is Your Life (British TV series)|This Is Your Life]]'' in October 1963, when he was surprised by [[Eamonn Andrews]] at [[BBC Television Centre]].
===Homosexual law reform=== During the 1950s, Boothby was a prominent advocate of decriminalising homosexual acts between men. In his memoirs, he wrote that he was determined to "do something practical to remove the fear and misery in which many of our most gifted citizens were then compelled to live".<ref>{{cite book |title=Boothby: Recollections of a Rebel |last=Boothby |first=Robert |publisher=Hutchinson of London |year=1978 |isbn=978-0091348304 |location=London |page=[https://archive.org/details/boothbyrecollect0000boot/page/25 25] |url=https://archive.org/details/boothbyrecollect0000boot/page/25}}</ref>
In December 1953, he sent a memorandum to [[David Maxwell Fyfe, 1st Earl of Kilmuir|David Maxwell Fyfe]], then the [[Home Secretary]], calling for the establishment of a departmental inquiry into homosexuality. He argued that:<blockquote>By attaching so fearful a stigma to homosexuality as such, you put a very large number of otherwise law-abiding and useful citizens on the other side of the fence which divides the good citizen from the bad. By making them feel that, instead of unfortunates they are social pariahs, you drive them into squalor – perhaps into crime; and produce that very "underground" which it is so clearly in the public interest to eradicate.<ref name=":0">{{cite archive |collection=The Papers of Lord Hailsham |institution=University of Cambridge |item=Robert Boothby memorandum to David Maxwell Fyfe, copied to Viscount Hailsham |box=25, 1952–1954 |first=Robert |last=Boothby |series=2, Political correspondence |type=Textual record |date=7 December 1953 |file=7, Correspondence with Members of Parliament |repository=Churchill Archives Centre |location=Cambridge}}</ref></blockquote>Boothby premised his argument for law reform on the idea that it was the role of the state "not to <u>punish</u> psychological disorders – rather to try and cure them".<ref name=":0" /> He argued in the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]] that the law as it was did not "achieve the objective of all of us, which is to limit the incidence of homosexuality and to mitigate its evil effects."<ref>[https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1954/apr/28/homosexuality-treatment#column_1750 HANSARD 1803–2005]; HC Deb 28 April 1954, vol. 526, c1750.</ref>
After the Departmental Committee on Homosexual Offences and Prostitution recommended decriminalization in the [[Wolfenden report|Wolfenden Report]] of 1957, Boothby claimed that, through his correspondence with Fyfe, he had been "primarily responsible" for the committee's establishment.<ref>{{cite news |title=Lord Boothby's Column |last=Boothby |first=Robert |date=30 November 1958 |work=Sunday Dispatch }}</ref>
==Personal life== Boothby had a colourful, if reasonably discreet, private life, mainly because the press refused to print what they knew of him, or were prevented from doing so. [[Woodrow Wyatt]], whose reliability has been questioned,<ref>David Sexton, "Don't believe all those diary droolings", ''[[Evening Standard]]'' (12 October 1998), A 11: "Robert Rhodes James, the editor of [[Chips Channon]]'s entertaining diaries, advised caution in believing them. 'Even if the diarist is not attempting to give a deliberately false version, a talented writer can easily over-dramatise...' There is plenty of internal evidence that Wyatt should be approached with a similar caution."</ref><ref>Stephen Lomax, Valentine Low, "Did he drool? What a horrible thought", ''Evening Standard'' (19 October 1998), p. 15.</ref><ref>[[Petronella Wyatt]], "All of a tremble", ''[[The Spectator]]'' (31 October 1998), p. 71.</ref> claimed after the death of [[Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother]] that she had confided to him in an interview in 1991 that "The press knew all about it", referring to Boothby's affairs, and that she had described Boothby as "a bounder but not a cad".<ref name=Cullen>Cullen, Pamela V., ''A Stranger in Blood: The Case Files on Dr John Bodkin Adams'', London, Elliott & Thompson, 2006, {{ISBN|1-904027-19-9}} pp. 617–18</ref>
From 1930, Boothby had a long affair with [[Lady Dorothy Macmillan]], wife of the Conservative politician [[Harold Macmillan]] (prime minister from 1957 to 1963). He was rumoured to be the father of the youngest Macmillan daughter, Sarah, although the 2010 biography of Harold Macmillan by [[D. R. Thorpe]] discounts Boothby's paternity.<ref name=Cullen/><ref>D. R. Thorpe, ''Supermac: The Life of Harold Macmillan'' (London: Pimlico, paperback edition, 2011, p. 100. London: Chatto & Windus, Kindle ed., 2010, locs. 2467, 2477).</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.lrb.co.uk/v33/n17/ferdinand-mount/too-obviously-cleverer?hq_e=el&hq_m=1086883&hq_l=11&hq_v=c7d03673df |title=Too Obviously Cleverer |work=London Review of Books |date=8 September 2011}}</ref> This connection to Macmillan, via his wife, has been seen as one of the reasons why the police did not investigate the death of [[Edward Cavendish, 10th Duke of Devonshire]], who died in the presence of suspected [[serial killer]] [[John Bodkin Adams]].<ref name=Cullen/> The duke was Lady Dorothy's brother, and it is thought the police were wary of drawing press attention to her while she was being unfaithful.<ref name=Cullen/>
Boothby was married twice. His first wife (married 1935) was Diana Cavendish, daughter of [[Lord Richard Cavendish (1871–1946)|Lord Richard Cavendish]], and Lady Dorothy's first cousin; Boothby married her after concluding his relationship with the married Lady Dorothy to be "on the wane". He swiftly realised the marriage had been a mistake (it went on to be a source of long-lasting guilt feelings for him) and it was dissolved in 1937.<ref>{{cite web |author=Angela Lambert |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/the-prime-minister-his-wife-and-her-lover-dorothy-macmillan-had-an-affair-that-lasted-30-years-1395917.html |title=The Prime Minister, his wife and her lover: Dorothy Macmillan had an affair that lasted 30 years. Everyone knew but nobody talked. How times have changed, says Angela Lambert |work=The Independent |date=23 February 1994 |access-date=13 October 2019}}</ref> In 1967, Boothby married Wanda Sanna, a Sardinian woman 33 years his junior. His second cousin, writer and broadcaster Sir [[Ludovic Kennedy]], asserted that Boothby fathered at least three children by the wives of other men ("two by one woman, one by another").<ref>[[Matthew Parris]] and [[Kevin Maguire (journalist)|Kevin Maguire]], [https://books.google.com/books?id=8u7obxZ7MawC&dq=%22fathered+at+least+three+children+by+the+wives+of+other+men%22&pg=PA116 ''Great Parliamentary Scandals: Five Centuries of Calumny, Smear and Innuendo''], Robson Books, 2004, p116</ref>
===Sexuality and the Kray twins=== [[File:Blue plaque Robert Boothby.jpg|right|thumb|upright=.75|Blue plaque in [[Eaton Square]], London]] Partly because of his support for homosexual law reform, Boothby was subject to public rumours about his sexuality, although he insisted publicly in 1954 that he was "not a homosexual".<ref>{{cite news |title=The Subject of Rumours |date=1 August 1964 |work=[[The Times]] }}</ref> He did, however, comment that "sub-conscious bi-sexuality is a component part of all of us [and] the majority of males pass through a homosexual period".<ref>Robert Rhodes James, ''Bob Boothby: A Portrait'' (London: [[Hodder & Stoughton]], 1991), p. 40.</ref> While an undergraduate at [[Magdalen College, Oxford]], Boothby earned the nickname '[[London Palladium|the Palladium]]', because "he was twice nightly".<ref name="Secret History">"Lords of the Underworld", ''Secret History'', [[Channel 4]] (23 June 1997).</ref> He later spoke about the role of a speculated homosexual relationship in the drowning of his friend [[Michael Llewelyn Davies]] (one of the models for [[Peter Pan (character)|Peter Pan]]) and fellow Oxonian [[Rupert Buxton]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://neverpedia.com/pan/Rupert_Buxton |title=Rupert Buxton |website=Neverpedia: The Peter Pan resource |access-date=28 December 2017 |archive-date=19 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200819110627/http://neverpedia.com/pan/Rupert_Buxton |url-status=dead }}{{Better source needed|date=May 2025}}</ref> In a [[Channel 4]] documentary broadcast in 1997, it was claimed that he did not begin to have physical relationships with women until the age of 25.<ref name="Secret History" />
In 1963, Boothby began an affair with [[East End]] cat burglar Leslie Holt (d. 1979), who became his chauffeur, a younger man he met at a gambling club. Holt introduced him to the gangster Ronnie Kray, one of the [[Kray twins]], who allegedly supplied Boothby with young men, and arranged orgies in Cedra Court (the apartment block in [[Hackney, London|Hackney]] where the Kray twins lived), receiving favours from Boothby in return.<ref name="Secret History" /> When Boothby's underworld associations came to the attention of the ''[[Sunday Express]]'', the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]]-supporting newspaper opted not to publish the damaging story.<ref>David Barrett [https://web.archive.org/web/20090729171131/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/lawandorder/5907125/Letters-shed-new-light-on-Kray-twins-scandal.html "Letters shed new light on Kray twins scandal"], ''[[The Sunday Telegraph]]'', 26 July 2009</ref><ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/937275.stm "Reggie Kray: Notorious gangster"], BBC News, 1 October 2000</ref> The matter was eventually reported in 1964 in the Labour-supporting ''[[Sunday Mirror]]'' tabloid, and the parties were subsequently named by the German magazine ''[[Stern (magazine)|Stern]]''.<ref name="trutv">[http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/gangsters_outlaws/mob_bosses/kray/invincibles_9.html "The Kray Twins: Brothers in Arms"] on [[truTV]]</ref>
Boothby denied the story and threatened to sue the ''Mirror''. His close friend [[Tom Driberg]]—a senior [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]] MP, and also homosexual—also associated with the Krays; hence, neither of the major political parties had an interest in publicity, and the newspaper's owner [[Cecil Harmsworth King|Cecil King]] came under pressure from the Labour leadership to drop the matter.<ref name="Secret History"/> The ''Mirror'' backed down, sacked its editor, apologised and paid Boothby £40,000 in an out-of-court settlement ({{Inflation|UK|40000|1964|fmt=eq|cursign=£}}). Other newspapers became less willing to cover the Krays' criminal activities, which continued for three more years.<ref name="Secret History"/> The police investigation received no support from [[Scotland Yard]], while Boothby embarrassed his fellow peers by campaigning on behalf of the Krays in the [[House of Lords|Lords]], until their increasing violence made association impossible.<ref name="Secret History"/> It has been claimed{{By whom|date=May 2025}} that journalists who investigated Boothby were subjected to legal threats and break-ins, and that much of that suppression was directed by [[Arnold Goodman, Baron Goodman|Arnold Goodman]].{{Citation needed|date=May 2025}}
Documents released in 2015 show that MI5 used the Kray twins to gather intelligence on homosexual politicians and establishment figures.{{Citation needed|date=May 2021}}
The MI5 files focus on Lord Boothby, who was said to share Ronnie Kray's fondness for young men.<ref>{{citation | title=Ronnie Kray and Tory peer Lord Boothby 'attended homosexual parties' | date=23 October 2015 | publisher = BBC | url=http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-34612729 | language=en-GB | access-date=16 July 2024}}</ref>
==Meeting with Hitler== Boothby was a frequent visitor to Weimar Germany, and in 1932, he was invited to meet [[Hitler]]. In his autobiography, he recalls that Hitler "sprang to his feet, lifted his right arm, and shouted 'Hitler!'; ... I responded by clicking my heels together, raising my right arm, and shouting back: 'Boothby!'" Unlike some who were impressed by Hitler, Boothby came away thinking he had seen "the unmistakable glint of madness in his eyes," and the meeting helped convince him to become one of Churchill's small group of parliamentary campaigners for faster rearmament.<ref>{{cite book |title=Boothby: Recollections of a Rebel |last=Boothby |first=Robert |publisher=Hutchinson |year=1978 |isbn=978-0091348304 |location=London |page=110}}</ref>
==Death== After his death from a [[heart attack]] in [[Westminster Hospital]], London, aged 86, Boothby's ashes were scattered at [[Rattray Head]] near [[Crimond]], [[Aberdeenshire]], off the coast of his former constituency.<ref name=odnb3>{{cite book |title=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Volume 6 |page=641}}</ref>
==Publications== *''Industry and the State. A Conservative View'', London: Macmillan, 1927 (co-authored with [[John Loder, 2nd Baron Wakehurst|John V. Loder]], [[Harold Macmillan]] and [[Oliver Stanley]]) *''The New Economy'', London: Secker & Warburg, 1943 *''I Fight to Live: Autobiography'', London: Victor Gollancz, 1947 *''My Yesterday, Your Tomorrow'', London: Hutchinson, 1962 *''Boothby: Recollections of a Rebel'', London: Hutchinson, 1978
==Arms== {{Infobox COA wide |image = [[File:Coronet of a British Baron.svg|centre|150px]] [[File:Boothby Escutcheon.png|centre|200px]] |escutcheon = Argent four beech-leaves vert alternately with as many saltires couped Azure, a dexter canton (occluding the saltire In dexter chief) Sable charged with a lion's gamb erased erect Or. |crest = A lion's gamb erased erect Or, armed Azure |supporters= Dexter, a farmer Proper habited in a fore and aft Buchan cap and tweed jacket, all Brunatre, knickerbockers of the same and gaiters Proper, supporting within his exterior arm the blade of a binder-harvester ; sinister, a fisherman habited in a sou'wester Proper and a Jersey Azure, blue serge trousers and gum-boots Proper, and over his sinister shoulder a fishing net also Proper. <ref>{{cite book|title=Burke's Peerage |date=1959}}</ref> }}
==References== {{reflist}}
==Further reading== * [[Robert Rhodes James]], ''Bob Boothby: A Portrait'' (John Curtis/Hodder & Stoughton, 1991) ** US edition: ''Robert Boothby: A Portrait of Churchill's Ally'' (Viking, 1991)
==External links== *{{Hansard-contribs | mr-robert-boothby | Robert Boothby }} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20071218230420/http://www.crimelibrary.com/gangsters_outlaws/mob_bosses/kray/invincibles_9.html The Picture we Dare not Print] * {{PM20|FID=pe/002168}}
{{S-start}} {{S-par|uk}} {{S-bef | before=[[Frederick Martin (politician)|Frederick Martin]] }} {{S-ttl | title=[[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] for [[Aberdeen and Kincardine East (UK Parliament constituency)|Aberdeen and Kincardine East]] | years=[[1924 United Kingdom general election|1924]]–[[1950 United Kingdom general election|1950]] }} {{S-non | reason = Constituency abolished }}
{{S-new | constituency }} {{S-ttl | title=[[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] for [[East Aberdeenshire (UK Parliament constituency)|Aberdeenshire Eastern]] | years=[[1950 United Kingdom general election|1950]]–[[1958 East Aberdeenshire by-election|1958]] }} {{S-aft | after=[[Patrick Wolrige-Gordon]] }} {{S-aca}} {{Succession box|title=[[Rector of the University of St Andrews]]|years=1958–1961|before=[[David Maxwell Fyfe, 1st Earl of Kilmuir|The Viscount Kilmuir]]|after=[[C. P. Snow]]}} {{S-end}} {{Rectors of the University of St Andrews}} {{Authority control}}
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