Jack Diamond, Baron Diamond

John Diamond, Baron Diamond, PC (30 April 1907 – 3 April 2004), known as Jack Diamond, was a British Labour Party politician.

The Right Honourable
The Lord Diamond
PC
Chief Secretary to the Treasury
In office
20 October 1964 – 19 June 1970
MonarchElizabeth II
Prime MinisterHarold Wilson
ChancellorJames Callaghan
Roy Jenkins
Preceded byJohn Boyd-Carpenter
Succeeded byMaurice Macmillan
Member of Parliament
for Gloucester
In office
12 September 1957 – 29 May 1970
Preceded byMoss Turner-Samuels
Succeeded bySally Oppenheim
Member of Parliament
for Manchester Blackley
In office
5 July 1945 – 4 October 1951
Preceded byJohn Lees-Jones
Succeeded byEric Johnson
Personal details
Born
John Diamond

(1907-04-30)30 April 1907
Leeds, West Yorkshire, England
Died3 April 2004(2004-04-03) (aged 96)
Chalfont St Giles, Buckinghamshire, England
Political partyLabour (until 1981; 1995–2004)
SDP (1981–88)
'Continuing' SDP (1988–90)
Non-affiliated (1990–95)

Diamond was educated at Leeds Grammar School and became an accountant. He was elected Member of Parliament in 1945 for the Blackley division of Manchester, but lost it in 1951. In 1946 and 1947, he was parliamentary private secretary to the Ministry of Works. He returned to the House of Commons in a 1957 by-election for Gloucester, caused by the death of its Labour MP, Moss Turner-Samuels.

He served as Chief Secretary to the Treasury from 1964, a cabinet position from 1968, and Privy Councillor from 1965. He represented Gloucester until his surprise defeat in 1970 by the Conservative candidate, Sally Oppenheim-Barnes.

Diamond was appointed to the Privy Council in the 1965 Birthday Honours,[1] and was created a life peer as Baron Diamond of the City of Gloucester on 25 September 1970.[2] In 1981 he left the Labour Party for the new Social Democratic Party (SDP). He led the SDP in the House of Lords from 1982 to 1988 but opposed its merger with the Liberals, associating instead with the Owenite 'continuing' SDP before rejoining Labour in 1995.[3]

Family

Diamond was first married in 1932 and had two sons and a daughter. He had a daughter, Joan, by his second wife, Julie Goodman, whom he married in 1948. They separated in 1966 and divorced 10 years later. Upon his death at 96, he was survived by his children and by his third wife, Barbara Kagan, whom he had married in 1976.

References
  1. "No. 43667". The London Gazette (Supplement). 4 June 1965. p. 5471.
  2. "No. 45207". The London Gazette. 6 October 1970. p. 10875.
  3. Sheila Gunn, 'Diamond refuses to yield ground.' The Times, 15 March 1988, p. 4.
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