Peter Archer, Baron Archer of Sandwell
Encyclopedia
Peter Kingsley Archer, Baron Archer of Sandwell, PC
Privy Council of the United Kingdom
Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, usually known simply as the Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the Sovereign in the United Kingdom...

 (born 20 November 1926), is a Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...

 member of the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....

.

He was previously the Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 for Rowley Regis and Tipton
Rowley Regis and Tipton (UK Parliament constituency)
Rowley Regis and Tipton was a parliamentary constituency centred on the towns of Rowley Regis and Tipton in Staffordshire . The Rowley Regis section of the constituency was in Worcestershire from 1966 until 1974....

 and for Warley West
Warley West (UK Parliament constituency)
Warley West was a parliamentary constituency in the borough of Sandwell in the West Midlands of England.It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom...

, having first been elected in the 1966 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1966
The 1966 United Kingdom general election on 31 March 1966 was called by sitting Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson. Wilson's decision to call an election turned on the fact that his government, elected a mere 17 months previously in 1964 had an unworkably small majority of only 4 MPs...

 until his leaving the House of Commons at the 1992 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1992
The United Kingdom general election of 1992 was held on 9 April 1992, and was the fourth consecutive victory for the Conservative Party. This election result was one of the biggest surprises in 20th Century politics, as polling leading up to the day of the election showed Labour under leader Neil...

. After that he received a life peerage as Baron Archer of Sandwell, of Sandwell in the County of West Midlands
West Midlands (county)
The West Midlands is a metropolitan county in western central England with a 2009 estimated population of 2,638,700. It came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972, formed from parts of Staffordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire. The...

. In 1998 he successfully proposed an amendment to the Crime and Disorder Bill
Crime and Disorder Act 1998
The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Act was published on 2 December 1997 and received Royal Assent in July 1998...

 which abolished the death penalty
Capital punishment in the United Kingdom
Capital punishment in the United Kingdom was used from the creation of the state in 1707 until the practice was abolished in the 20th century. The last executions in the United Kingdom, by hanging, took place in 1964, prior to capital punishment being abolished for murder...

 for treason
High treason in the United Kingdom
Under the law of the United Kingdom, high treason is the crime of disloyalty to the Crown. Offences constituting high treason include plotting the murder of the sovereign; having sexual intercourse with the sovereign's consort, with his eldest unmarried daughter, or with the wife of the heir to the...

 and piracy with violence.

He held the post of Solicitor General
Solicitor General for England and Wales
Her Majesty's Solicitor General for England and Wales, often known as the Solicitor General, is one of the Law Officers of the Crown, and the deputy of the Attorney General, whose duty is to advise the Crown and Cabinet on the law...

 from 7 March 1974 to 4 May 1979 and Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
The Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland is a member of the UK Shadow Cabinet responsible for the scrutiny of the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and his department, the Northern Ireland Office. The post is currently held by Shaun Woodward...

 from 1983 to 1987

He is the Vice-Chair of the All-Party Group for World Governance, http://www.oneworldtrust.org/?display=pgwg and is President of the One World Trust
One World Trust
The One World Trust promotes education and research into changes required in global governance to achieve the eradication of poverty, injustice, environmental degradation and war. It develops recommendations on practical ways to make powerful organisations more accountable to the people they affect...

, of the World Disarmament Campaign, and of the Fabian Society
Fabian Society
The Fabian Society is a British socialist movement, whose purpose is to advance the principles of democratic socialism via gradualist and reformist, rather than revolutionary, means. It is best known for its initial ground-breaking work beginning late in the 19th century and continuing up to World...

. http://www.oneworldtrust.org/?display=trustees

Lord Archer also chaired the Enemy Property Claims Assessment panel which, at time of writing ( 29 December 2007 ) has paid out more than £21m - 10 times its budget - to individuals claiming back funds which had been frozen by the British government during the Second World War. The panel revealed that, in all, 400 claims had been successful, indicating that the average payout had been in the region of £50,000.

He has been married since 1954, has a son born in 1962, and has one grandson.

External links

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