Reg Prentice, Baron Prentice

The Right Honourable The Lord Prentice PC
Minister of State for Overseas Development
In office 10 June 1975 – 21 December 1976
Prime Minister	Harold Wilson James Callaghan
Preceded by	Judith Hart
Succeeded by	Frank Judd
In office 29 August 1967 – 6 October 1969
Prime Minister	Harold Wilson
Preceded by	Arthur Bottomley
Succeeded by	Judith Hart
Secretary of State for Education and Science
In office 5 March 1974 – 10 June 1975
Prime Minister	Harold Wilson
Preceded by	Margaret Thatcher
Succeeded by	Fred Mulley
Minister of State for Public Buildings and Works
In office 6 April 1966 – 29 August 1967
Prime Minister	Harold Wilson
Preceded by	Charles Pannell
Succeeded by	Bob Mellish
Member of Parliament for Daventry
In office 3 May 1979 – 11 June 1987
Preceded by	Arthur Jones
Succeeded by	Tim Boswell
Member of Parliament for Newham North East
In office 28 February 1974 – 3 May 1979
Preceded by	Constituency Created
Succeeded by	Ron Leighton
Member of Parliament for East Ham North
In office 30 May 1957 – 28 February 1974
Preceded by	Percy Daines
Succeeded by	Constituency Abolished
Personal details
Born	Reginald Ernest Prentice 16 July 1923 Croydon
Died	18 January 2001 (aged 77) Mildenhall, Wiltshire
Political party	Conservative (1977–2001)
Other political affiliations	Labour (Before 1977)
Alma mater	London School of Economics

Reginald Ernest Prentice, Baron Prentice, PC (16 July 1923, Croydon – 18 January 2001, Mildenhall, Wiltshire^[1]) was a British politician who held ministerial office in both Labour and Conservative Party governments. He is the most senior Labour figure ever to defect to the Conservative party.

Education and war service

Reg Prentice was educated at Whitgift School in South Croydon, South London, then at the London School of Economics. He served in Austria and Italy during the Second World War.

Early politics

He joined the staff of the Transport and General Workers Union (TGWU) in 1950.

Prentice was a councillor for Whitehorse Manor in the then-County Borough of Croydon from 1949, having stood unsuccessfully in Thornton Heath ward in 1947. He served on the Housing, Libraries, Planning & Development, Water and Reconstruction Committees.

He first stood, unsuccessfully, for parliament in Croydon North in 1950 and 1951, then Streatham in 1955. As Labour Member of Parliament from 1957 for East Ham North, later Newham North East, he was a minister of state in Harold Wilson's first government at Education and Science (1964-1966), then as Minister of Public Buildings and Works (1966-1967), and finally was put in charge of the still-new Ministry of Overseas Development (1967-1969).

When Labour regained power, he was Secretary of State for Education and Science between 1974 and 1975, subsequently becoming Minister for Overseas Development with a seat in the cabinet until 1976.

In 1976, he was deselected by his Constituency Labour Party. He appealed unsuccessfully for the National Executive Committee to overturn their endorsement of his deselection from the rostrum of the Labour Party Conference.

Switch of party

In 1977, Prentice left the Labour Party after a series of battles with left-wing constituency activists such as Owen Ashworth^[2] and joined the Conservative Party.

He was elected as a Conservative Member of Parliament for Daventry in the 1979 general election and was a Minister of State at the Department of Health and Social Security in Margaret Thatcher's government between 1979 and 1981. He left the government owing to ill health^[2] He was knighted in 1987, the year he stepped down as an MP. In 1992, he was raised to the Peerage as Baron Prentice, of Daventry in the County of Northamptonshire.

In the last few years before his death at age 77, he was President of the Devizes Conservative Association. His daughter, Christine, followed her father as a London Borough of Croydon councillor for Coulsdon East ward from 1992-98.

Archives

• Catalogue of the Prentice papers at the Archives Division of the London School of Economics.

References

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Reg Prentice

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Percy Daines	Member of Parliament for East Ham North 1957–1974	Constituency abolished
New constituency	Member of Parliament for Newham North East 1974–1979	Succeeded by Ron Leighton
Preceded by Arthur Jones	Member of Parliament for Daventry 1979–1987	Succeeded by Tim Boswell
Political offices
Preceded by Charles Pannell	Minister of State for Public Buildings and Works 1966–1967	Succeeded by Robert Mellish
Preceded by Arthur Bottomley	Minister of State for Overseas Development 1967–1969	Succeeded by Judith Hart
Preceded by Margaret Thatcher	Secretary of State for Education and Science 1974–1975	Succeeded by Frederick Mulley
Preceded by Judith Hart	Minister of State for Overseas Development 1975–1976	Succeeded by Frank Judd