David Widdicombe (barrister)

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David Graham Widdicombe (January 1924 – 27 November 2019) was a British Queen's Counsel and political activist.

Born in St Albans, Widdicombe attended St Albans School and then Queens' College, Cambridge. After one year at university, he was called up to serve in the British Army for the remainder of World War II.[1]

At the 1945 UK general election, Widdicombe stood for the Labour Party in Hythe, aged just 21, taking 35.2% of the vote and second place. In 1946, he was demobbed and returned to Queens', where in 1947 he was a founder of the Varsity newspaper, becoming editor the following year. He also served as president of the Cambridge University Labour Club.[1][2]

Widdicombe stood in Totnes at the 1950 UK general election, taking 29.6% of the vote. One of his supporters during the campaign was Lee Kuan Yew, a friend from Cambridge, for whom it was his first political campaign.[1][3]

After graduation, Widdicombe qualified as a barrister with the Inner Temple, specialising in government administration. He became a Queen's Counsel, a recorder and a deputy High Court judge. He represented the London Borough of Bromley in the Fares Fair case, and chaired the enquiry which followed the Homes for votes scandal.[1][4]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d "D. G. Widdicombe". Queen's College Record: 81. 2020. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
  2. ^ Craig, F. W. S. (30 December 2015). British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-49. p. 150. ISBN 978-1349814671.
  3. ^ Yew, Lee Kuan (2015). The Singapore Story. Marshall Cavendish. ISBN 9789814721363.
  4. ^ Livingstone, Ken (1987). If voting changed anything, they'd abolish it. Collins. ISBN 9780002177702.
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