Patrick Gordon Walker

Patrick Gordon Walker was born in 1907 with a conservative background: his father was a Judge in India. He went to prep school (St Ronan's), public school (Wellington) and Christ Church, Oxford as an undergraduate and then as a don. In Oxford he cut his political teeth, suffering some of the pitfalls that dogged his later time in office. He spent a year in Germany in the thirties, becoming fluent in the language and saw the beginnings of totalitarian rule.

In the war he joined the BBC German service broadcasting to Germany. In 1945 he went with a radio car and recorded the first radio broadcasts from Belsen, published as The Lid Lifts. An extract from this book, long out of print, appears as an addendum. He became an MP in 1945, and was Commonwealth Relations Secretary from 1950-51, followed by thirteen years in opposition. He lost his seat at Smethwick in the 1964 general election, but still became Foreign Secretary until he was defeated in a by-election at Leyton in January 1965 and had to retire from his perfect job.

Patrick Gordon Walker was a significant political figure in the Labour party which he joined as a don at Oxford. He was denied the highest political office, except for brief spells in the Cabinet. He wrote six important books, including The Lid Lifts, The Commonwealth and The Cabinet. He was a dedicated family man and devoted to his wife Audrey and five children who only have the happiest memories of a witty and charismatic father.

'My father never wrote an autobiography, and we were never quite sure why this was. It seems right that his life should be recorded in a political and family biography by one of his children and the task has fallen to me. The book traces my father's life story, his political career and his role as a family man. It has political and family photographs and is hopefully a fitting tribute to him.' ALAN GORDON WALKER