Dick Taverne: Against the Tide

In 1973, Labour MP Dick Taverne caused a national sensation when he stood against his own party as an independent to win a historic by-election in Lincoln. Demonstrating the power of the individual against party politics, his bold move was a forerunner for the formation of the SDP some eight years later and cemented his own place in political history. Peppered with entertaining anecdotes, Against the Tide sets Taverne's political battles in the context of a rich and varied life. After studying at Oxford University, Taverne juggled a legal career while taking his first steps in politics, before serving in Harold Wilson's government during the 1960s. His later achievements included the launch of the Institute for Fiscal Studies and the founding of the charity Sense About Science, whose objective of advancing public understanding of science continues to inform public debate today. Still an active member of the House of Lords, Dick Taverne presents a thoughtful and compelling memoir, as well as a measured account of fraught and turbulent times.

Auteur

Born in Sumatra in 1928 of Dutch parents, Dick Taverne arrived in England in 1939, just before the outbreak of war. At Balliol College, Oxford he won First Class Honours in Philosophy and Ancient History, but then turned to the law and was called to the Bar in 1954. In 1965 he was appointed a QC and specialised in cases from the Commonwealth. After election to Parliament in 1962, he served in Harold Wilson's government from 1966 to 1970, as a Home Office minister and then in the Treasury, both under Roy Jenkins. He was appointed to the House of Lords in 1996. He was voted Parliamentary Science Communicator of the Year by the Association of British Science Writers in 2006 and is the author of The Future of the Left: Lincoln and After and The March of Unreason: Science, Democracy, and the New Fundamentalism.