Francis Aungier Pakenham, 7th Earl of Longford
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The Right Honourable The Earl of Longford KG PC |
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Longford at Allan Warren's studio in London in 1974
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| Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster | |
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In office 17 April 1947 – 31 May 1948 |
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| Prime Minister | Clement Attlee |
| Preceded by | John Hynd |
| Succeeded by | Hugh Dalton |
| First Lord of the Admiralty | |
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In office 24 May 1951 – 13 October 1951 |
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| Prime Minister | Clement Attlee |
| Preceded by | The Viscount Hall |
| Succeeded by | James Thomas |
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Leader of the House of Lords Lord Privy Seal |
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In office 18 October 1964 – 16 January 1968 |
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| Prime Minister | Harold Wilson |
| Preceded by | The Lord Carrington |
| Succeeded by | The Lord Shackleton |
| Secretary of State for the Colonies | |
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In office 23 December 1965 – 6 April 1966 |
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| Monarch | Elizabeth II |
| Prime Minister | Harold Wilson |
| Preceded by | Anthony Greenwood |
| Succeeded by | Frederick Lee |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 5 December 1905 |
| Died | 3 August 2001 (aged 95) |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Labour |
| Spouse(s) | Elizabeth Harman (m. 1931) |
| Alma mater | New College, Oxford |
Francis Aungier Pakenham, 7th Earl of Longford, 1st Baron Pakenham, KG, PC (5 December 1905 – 3 August 2001), known to his family as Frank Longford and styled Lord Pakenham from 1945 to 1961, was a British politician and social reformer. A member of the Labour Party, he was one of its longest serving politicians. He held cabinet positions on several occasions between 1947 and 1968. Longford was politically active up until his death in 2001. A member of an old, landed Anglo-Irish family, he was one of the few aristocratic hereditary peers to have ever served in senior capacity within a Labour government.
Lord Longford was famed for championing social outcasts and unpopular causes. He is especially notable for his lifelong advocacy of penal reform. Longford visited prisons on a regular basis for nearly 70 years until his death. He advocated for rehabilitation programmes and helped create the modern British parole system in the 1960s following the abolition of the death penalty. His ultimately unsuccessful campaign for the release of Moors murderer Myra Hindley attracted much media and public controversy.
For his tireless work, the Longford Prize is named after him. It is awarded annually during the Longford Lecture and recognises excellence in the world of prison and social reform.
As a devout Christian determined to translate faith into action, he was known for his bombastic style and his eccentricity. Although a shrewd and influential politician, he was also widely unpopular among Labour leaders, particularly for his lack of ministerial ability, and jumped from cabinet post to cabinet post, never serving more than two years at any one ministry. Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson famously stated that Longford had the mental capacity of a 12 year old.
In 1972 he was made a Knight of the Garter. In the same year he was appointed to head the group charged with investigating the effects of pornography on society, which published the controversial Pornography Report. He became known as a campaigner against pornography and held the view that it was degrading - to its users and to those who worked in the trade, especially women. Longford was also an outspoken critic of the British press and once said it was "trembling on the brink of obscenity."
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