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Lord Longford

The Right Honourable
The Earl of Longford
KG PC
Lord Longford 4 Allan Warren.jpg
Longford at Allan Warren's studio in London in 1974
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
In office
17 April 1947 – 31 May 1948
Prime Minister Clement Attlee
Preceded by John Hynd
Succeeded by Hugh Dalton
First Lord of the Admiralty
In office
24 May 1951 – 13 October 1951
Prime Minister Clement Attlee
Preceded by The Viscount Hall
Succeeded by James Thomas
Leader of the House of Lords
Lord Privy Seal
In office
18 October 1964 – 16 January 1968
Prime Minister Harold Wilson
Preceded by The Lord Carrington
Succeeded by The Lord Shackleton
Secretary of State for the Colonies
In office
23 December 1965 – 6 April 1966
Monarch Elizabeth II
Prime Minister Harold Wilson
Preceded by Anthony Greenwood
Succeeded by Frederick Lee
Personal details
Born 5 December 1905 (1905-12-05)
Died 3 August 2001(2001-08-03) (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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