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John Roper, Baron Roper

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The Right Honourable
The Lord Roper
Member of Parliament
for Farnworth
In office
1970–1983
Preceded byErnest Thornton
Succeeded byConstituency abolished
Chief Whip, Social Democrat Party
In office
1981–1983
Director, Institute for Security Studies of Western European Union
In office
April 1990 – September 1995
Chief Whip, Liberal Democrats
In office
2001 – May 2005
Personal details
Born (1935-10-09) 9 October 1935 (age 89)
Political partyLabour Party (1970-81); Social Democratic Party (1981-88); Liberal Democrats (1988-)
Alma materMagdalen College, Oxford; University of Chicago

John Francis Hodgess Roper, Baron Roper (born 10 September 1935) is a British politician.

John Roper was educated at William Hulme's Grammar School (Manchester), Reading School, Magdalen College, Oxford (studying PPE) and the University of Chicago.

Roper started his career as an economics lecturer at the University of Manchester. He then went into politics and was elected Member of Parliament for Farnworth. 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 at the 1983 general election, finishing third in a three-way marginal.

Since 2000 he has been 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 has controversially been accused by Anthony Glees of being a Stasi "agent of some influence" during his time at Chatham House.[1][2] Lord Roper rejects the charge indignantly. He says 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." [3]

References

  1. ^ "History on the rack", The Guardian, July 5, 2003
  2. ^ "The Stasi spy (cont)" by Anthony Glees, The Guardian, June 14, 2003
  3. ^ "The history men fall out over tales of spying, betrayal and buffoonery" by David Leigh, The Guardian, June 11, 2003
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Farnworth
1970–1983 		Constituency abolished

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