John Roper, Baron Roper

The Right Honourable The Lord Roper PC
House of Lords Chief Whip, Liberal Democrats
In office 7 June 2001 – 5 May 2005
Leader	Charles Kennedy
Preceded by	John Harris, Baron Harris of Greenwich
Succeeded by	David Shutt, Baron Shutt of Greetland
Director, Institute for Security Studies of Western European Union
In office April 1990 – September 1995
Chief Whip, Social Democrat Party
In office 26 March 1981 – 9 June 1983
Leader	Roy Jenkins
Preceded by	Office Created
Succeeded by	John Cartwright
Member of Parliament for Farnworth
In office 18 June 1970 – 9 June 1983
Preceded by	Ernest Thornton
Succeeded by	Constituency abolished
Personal details
Born	John Francis Hodgess Roper (1935-09-10)10 September 1935
Died	29 January 2016(2016-01-29) (aged 80)
Political party	Liberal Democrats
Other political affiliations	Labour Co-operative (1970-81) Social Democratic Party (1981-88)
Alma mater	Magdalen College, Oxford; University of Chicago

John Francis Hodgess Roper, Baron Roper PC (10 September 1935 – 29 January 2016), was a British Liberal Democrat politician.

Early life

Roper was educated at William Hulme's Grammar School (Manchester), Reading School, Magdalen College, Oxford (studying Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) and the University of Chicago. He began his career as an economics lecturer at the University of Manchester.

Political career

Roper first stood for Parliament for High Peak as a Labour candidate at the 1964 general election, but the Conservative David Walder retained the marginal seat. He was elected Member of Parliament for Farnworth at the 1970 general election.

He sat as a Labour Co-operative MP (1970–81) and for the Social Democratic Party (SDP) from 1981 to 1983, when he was also the party's Chief Whip. His Farnworth seat was subsequently abolished, and he contested Worsley in the 1983 general election, finishing third in a three-way marginal.

House of Lords

On 12 May 2000, he was created a Life peer as Baron Roper, of Thorney Island in the City of Westminster. He was the Liberal Democrat Chief Whip in the House of Lords until 2005. He was subsequently appointed to the Privy Council of the United Kingdom. In 2008, he was elected Principal Deputy Chairman of Committees. He retired from the House of Lords on 23 May 2015.

Stasi allegations

Roper was accused by author Anthony Glees of having been a Stasi "agent of some influence" during his time at Chatham House.

Roper rejected the charges and related that he was engaged in building bridges with East Germany in the 1980s as part of a Foreign Office-approved policy of thawing relations. "He was deceived, he says, about the background of an undercover Stasi officer he employed as a research fellow when he was director of studies at Chatham House".

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by John Roper
• Lord Roper profile, libdems.org.uk
• Who's Who 2002 entry