View source for Desmond Banks, Baron Banks

{{Short description|British Liberal Party politician}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|honorific-prefix = [[The Right Honourable]]
|name             = The Lord Banks
|honorific-suffix =
|image            =
|imagesize        =
|smallimage       =
|caption          =
|office1          = [[Liberal Party (UK)|Chairman of the Liberal Party]]
|leader1          = [[Jeremy Thorpe]]
|term_start1      = 1969
|term_end1        = 1970
|predecessor1     = [[Michael Francis Eden, 7th Baron Henley|Michael Eden]]
|successor1       = [[Richard Wainwright (politician)|Richard Wainwright]]
|office2          = [[President of the Liberal Party]]
|leader2          = Jeremy Thorpe
|term_start2      = 1968
|term_end2        = 1969
|predecessor2     = [[Donald Wade]]
|successor2       = [[Timothy Beaumont]]
|birthname        = Desmond Anderson Harvie Banks
|birth_date       = {{birth date|1918|10|23|df=yes}}
|birth_place      = [[Ascot, Berkshire]], England
|death_date       = {{death date and age|1997|6|15|1918|10|23|df=yes}}
|death_place      =
|party            = [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal]]
|occupation       = Politician
}}
'''Desmond Anderson Harvie Banks, Baron Banks''', [[Order of the British Empire|CBE]] (23 October 1918 – 15 June 1997) was a British [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal Party]] politician.
Banks was born in [[Ascot, Berkshire]]. He was educated at prep school in [[Harrow, London|Harrow]] and [[University College School]] in [[Hampstead]]. During the [[Second World War]] he served as an officer in the [[Royal Artillery]]. In 1948 he married Barbara Wells who in 1987 was awarded the OBE for services to the [[Women's Liberal Federation]]. They had two sons, Alistair Richard Harvie Banks (b. 1950) and Graham Thornton Harvie Banks (b. 1953). Banks was a life insurance broker and pensions consultant.
He was Chairman of the Liberal Party Executive from 1961 to 1963 and from 1969 to 1970, and [[President of the Liberal Party]] from 1968 to 1969. He was appointed a [[Commander of the Order of the British Empire]] (CBE) for political service in the [[1972 New Year Honours]].<ref>The Times, 1.1.72</ref><ref>{{London Gazette| issue=45554 | supp=y |page=8 | date=31 December 1971 }}</ref> He was created a [[life peer]] on 7 January 1975 as '''Baron Banks''', ''of [[Kenton, London|Kenton]] in [[Greater London]]''.<ref>{{London Gazette| issue=46459 |page=309 | date=9 January 1975 }}</ref> In the [[House of Lords]] he was Liberal Deputy Chief [[Whip (politics)|Whip]] from 1977 to 1983.
Banks had joined the Liberals while at school. He joined the staff at Liberal Party HQ in 1949 and was at one time editor of the party newspaper ''Liberal News''.  He first stood as a parliamentary candidate in the [[1950 United Kingdom general election|1950 election]] in [[Harrow East (UK Parliament constituency)|Harrow East]],<ref>The Times, 11.2.50</ref> then in [[St Ives (UK Parliament constituency)|St Ives]] in [[1955 United Kingdom general election|1955 election]]<ref>G Tregigda, ''The Liberal Party in South West Britain since 1918'', p.154</ref> and [[South West Hertfordshire (UK Parliament constituency)|Hertfordshire South West]] in the [[1959 United Kingdom general election|1959 election]].<ref>The Times, 7.10.59</ref> He was sometime speechwriter for [[Jo Grimond]] and a frequent contributor to ''Liberal News'' as well as author of many pamphlets and policy papers.<ref>''The Political Insight of Elliott Dodds'', author information</ref>
In 1952, together with [[Peter Grafton]] who had been Liberal parliamentary candidate in [[Bromley (UK Parliament constituency)|Bromley]] in 1950 in opposition to [[Harold Macmillan]], Banks co-founded the [[Radical Reform Group]], a [[social liberal]] pressure group within the Liberal Party to prevent what many saw as a rightward drift by the party, and its potential capture by the [[economic liberals]]. The Group campaigned under the slogan 'social reform without socialism'.
Banks was a strong pro-European, a founder member and one time chairman of the Liberal European Action Group and was President of the British Council of the [[European Movement]] from 1986 to 1994.
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==Bibliography==
*Vernon Bogdanor, ''Liberal Party Politics'', Oxford University Press, 1983
*Graham Lippiatt, entry on Banks in ''Dictionary of Liberal Biography'', Brack et al. (eds.): Politico's, 1998
*[[Garry Tregidga]], ''The Liberal Party in South West England since 1918'', University of Exeter Press, 2000
*Donald Wade & Desmond Banks, ''The Political Insight of Elliott Dodds'', Liberal Publications Dept., 1977
*Alan Watkins, ''The Liberal Dilemma'', MacGibbon & Key, 1966
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{{succession box|title=Chairman of the [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal Party]] Executive|years=1961–1963|before=[[Leonard Behrens]]|after=[[Basil Wigoder]]}}
{{succession box|title=[[President of the Liberal Party (UK)|President of the Liberal Party]]|years=1968–1969|before=[[Donald Wade]]|after=[[Timothy Beaumont]]}}
{{succession box|title=Chairman of the [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal Party]]|years=1969–1970|before=[[Michael Francis Eden, 7th Baron Henley|Michael Eden]] (Chairman of the Party)<br />[[John Arnold Baker]] (Chairman of the Executive)|after=[[Richard Wainwright (politician)|Richard Wainwright]]}}
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[[Category:1918 births]]
[[Category:1997 deaths]]
[[Category:Liberal Party (UK) life peers]]
[[Category:Chairs of the Liberal Party (UK)]]
[[Category:Presidents of the Liberal Party (UK)]]
[[Category:People educated at University College School]]
[[Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:Liberal Party (UK) parliamentary candidates]]
[[Category:British Army personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:Royal Artillery officers]]
[[Category:Life peers created by Elizabeth II]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Berkshire]]