Desmond Plummer
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The Lord Plummer of St Marylebone TD DL FRSA |
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| Leader of the Greater London Council | |
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In office 1967–1973 |
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| Preceded by | Bill Fiske |
| Succeeded by | Reg Goodwin |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 25 May 1914 |
| Died | 2 October 2009 (aged 95) |
| Political party | Conservative |
Arthur Desmond Herne Plummer, Baron Plummer of St Marylebone, TD, DL, FRSA (25 May 1914 – 2 October 2009) was a British Conservative Party politician in London and the longest serving Leader of the Greater London Council.
Plummer went to Hurstpierpoint College and the College of Estate Management. He qualified as a Surveyor but his career was curtailed by World War II where he served with the Royal Engineers leaving with the rank of Major. In 1950 he was awarded the Territorial Decoration for long service in the Territorial Army, and he was a member of the Territorial Army Sports Board from 1953 until 1979.
Plummer was elected to St. Marylebone Borough Council in May 1952 and served as Mayor of the Borough in 1958. He was selected as a Conservative candidate for a byelection to the London County Council in St. Marylebone in 1960, and returned unopposed for the safe seat. He was elected to its successor, the Greater London Council, in 1964 for the City of Westminster.
By 1966 Plummer was chosen as Leader of the Opposition in succession to Sir Percy Rugg, just a year before the GLC elections. With Harold Wilson's Labour Government growing ever more unpopular he won a landslide victory in 1967. One of Plummer's first acts was the official opening of the Southbound Blackwall Tunnel, as witnessed by an inscription on its entrance . His GLC pioneered the sale of council housing, and negotiated from the Government the power to run the London Underground and the rest of London Transport in 1969. The Conservatives were re-elected under Plummer in 1970 a few weeks before the general election, although Labour regained control of the Inner London Education Authority. Plummer was the only Leader of the GLC to get a second term. He was Knighted in 1971.
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