Tribute To Lord Holme
Address by Menzies Campbell at the Memorial Service for Richard Holme - St Margaret’s Church, Westminster, Wednesday 15th October 2008
Many of the tributes paid to Richard Holme on his untimely death asserted that had he been a member of either the Labour or Conservative parties he would have held high office.
This is undoubtedly true but it ignores one compelling fact – that he was in heart, soul and mind unquenchably a liberal.
But allied to his visceral liberalism and his loyalty to party were both professionalism and optimism. These were qualities which were to stand him in good stead as President of the Liberal Party, as a Parliamentary candidate on five occasions and principal (but unpaid!) adviser to David Steel and Paddy Ashdown. He was regarded with suspicion by some sections of his party which disdained professionalism and were short on optimism. In his lighter moments and there were many – he was always a good companion – he wore that suspicion as a badge of honour. Like Grimond and many of his own generation in the party he was persuaded of the need for centre left non doctrinaire realignment. This made him an eager cheerleader for the emergence of the S.D.P., and an enthusiastic supporter of first the alliance and then the merger of the two parties. As an adviser he had a fine assessment of risk, encouraging Steel to take some, and restraining Ashdown from taking too many. As a strategist he was outstanding. If he had pursued a career in the military after his National Service with the 10th Gurkhas he would have been an obvious candidate for the General Staff. Both before and after the General Election of 1997 and while Paddy Ashdown and Tony Blair were engaged in dialogue Richard Holme’s advice to the Leader of his party and his clarity of vision were crucial. In the election of 1997 his direction of the Party’s campaign was masterful. When the Joint Cabinet Committee was created he was an immediate choice for membership of it – it was after all an opportunity to show some of his stealth and cunning. And to see him and Peter Mandelson at work together was a revelation. Loyalist though he was Richard Holme was no tribalist. He sought out those of like mind in other parties and understood the value of cross party co-operation. He had a quicksilver mind with which went occasional impatience. He would have loved to have been an M.P. He came closest in 1987 in Cheltenham. For a few minutes prior to the announcement of the result television commentators thought he had won but the set of his shoulders showed those who knew him that this was not so. He would have been instantly at home in the Commons but I suspect he would have been frustrated by its inertia and aggravated by the grind of constituency business. Throughout his efforts to win a Parliamentary seat Richard Holme maintained an active business life, not in the law for which he had a degree but in marketing and publishing. The skills of business he used to great effect in his political life – the setting of clear objectives and the need for team building if these were to be achieved. That he was able to pursue his business interests in parallel with his political ambitions and to continue to do so when he entered the House of Lords in 1990 was due not only to his gifts but to his self discipline, a self discipline which took him to bed at a Presbyterian hour and allowed him to rise and be swimming about the time the Today programme came on air. The last endeared him to Paddy Ashdown but not to David Steel. Kay his wife has calculated that the latter amounted to about a hundred and fifty. A full list of both is unnecessary here but let me mention his time at RTZ to whom he exposed his passion for the environment and sustainable development, and his earlier innovative association with part work publishing. He took particular pleasure in his chairmanship of the Hansard Society, now in the hands of his friend of many years Peter Riddell of the Times, and the Chancellorship of Greenwich University whose multi-coloured finery he wore with pride and just a little embarrassment. The Hansard Society was an effective vehicle for his cross party sympathies and Greenwich an opportunity to demonstrate to the benefit of the University his wisdom and strategic understanding. Richard Holme wore his years lightly, aided by a military bearing, an abundance of charm and a slightly raffish appearance. But it was his restless energy that was his most compelling quality coupled with a belief that there was no obstacle which could not be overcome. He was a firm adherent of the public relations principle that in every crisis there is an opportunity. Richard Holme was precise of mind and precise of action. But there was one area where his life lacked precision and that was behind the wheel of a car. Being driven by him was rarely dull and often an adventure. Any car he owned was immediately identifiable as his by its external appearance. When he succeeded to an up market executive model at RTZ the chauffeurs regarded his efforts to park in the company car park with a mixture of amusement and resignation. As well as his peerage he was awarded the C.B.E. in 1983 and became a Privy Counsellor in 2000. Like all who engage in political life in this country he particularly valued the latter. The diagnosis of his terminal illness seemed to do little to slow him up. He remained active in the House of Lords which he found an agreeable forum for the exploration and promotion of constitutional change which became his passion. On 1st May 2007 he persuaded the Lords to accept the conclusion of the report of its committee on the Constitution, of which he was the chairman, that prior parliamentary approval should be required before the declaration of war. It was a cause of particular satisfaction to him that in due course Gordon Brown accepted the thrust of his committee’s recommendations. His other interests business, educational, public and political he continued to promote and advocate while undergoing strength sapping treatment. His companionship was as stimulating and generous as ever. He continued to provide advice to the leader of his party, all the while being supported and cherished and loved by his family Nicola and Penny, Richard and John and most particularly by Kay whom he married in 1958 after they met at Oxford. She showed remarkable strength and fortitude during this period. He continued also to take enormous pride and interest in his eight grandchildren, five of whom are here today. Richard’s friends were never short of information about the details of their achievements! I learned only recently that his childrens’ pet name for him was “The Pirate King”, a description at once perceptive and descriptive. Because there was about Richard Holme more than a hint of the Buccaneer, but a buccaneer with a liberal heart, clear vision and sound judgement. He needed no encouragement to seize the day. He lived a full and fulfilling life and for that his family and friends today give grateful thanks. I can do no better than to conclude with the words of his brother John who in his eloquent address at his funeral said this, We have lost a comrade, a companion, a conversationalist, a counsellor and a confidant. He was a truly exceptional man.
He is credited with the authorship of the Königswinter Compact in 1981 which led to these two developments.
He was impatient of the purists in his own party who thought that process was more important than progress.
He talked rarely of his military service although he is alleged to have said to Paddy Ashdown - the trouble with you Marines is that you run up the beach throwing grenades at everything – we Gurkhas operate by stealth and cunning.
And even as he endured his terminal illness he continued his early morning swimming at the RAC Club.
Richard Holme’s business achievements and the many other interests which he pursued in his public life were extensively catalogued in the obituaries which followed his death.
There was about him a bit of a swagger.
He could have been a matinee idol.
Roy Jenkins once memorably described him as being like a cavalry Captain from Vanity Fair.
