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Biography
The only son of Sir Robert Tuite Boothby, KBE, of Edinburgh and a cousin of the broadcaster Sir Ludovic Kennedy, Boothby was educated at Eton College and at Magdalen College, Oxford. He became a partner in a firm of stockbrokers.
He was an unsuccessful parliamentary candidate for Orkney and Shetland in 1923 and was elected as Member of Parliament for East Aberdeenshire in 1924, holding the seat until 1958. He was Parliamentary Private Secretary to Winston Churchill as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1926 to 1929 and held junior ministerial office as Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food in 1940–41. During World War II, he joined the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, retiring with the rank of Flight Lieutenant.
Boothby advocated the UK's entry into the European Community (now the European Union) and was a British delegate to the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe from 1949 until 1957. He was a prominent commentator on public affairs on radio and television, often taking part in the long running BBC radio programme Any Questions. He also advocated the virtues of herring as a food.
He was Vice-Chairman of the Committee on Economic Affairs, 1952–56; Honorary President of the Scottish Chamber of Agriculture, 1934, Rector of St Andrew's University , 1958–61; Chairman of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, 1961–63, and President, Anglo-Israel Association, 1962–75. He was awarded an Honorary LLD by St Andrew's, 1959 and was made an Honorary Burgess of the Burghs of Peterhead, Fraserburgh, Turriff and Rosehearty. He was appointed an Officer of the Legion of Honour in 1950, a KBE in 1953.
Boothby was raised to the peerage as a life peer with the title Baron Boothby of Buchan and Rattray Head in the County of Aberdeen, on 22 August 1958.
There is a blue plaque on his house in Eaton Square, London.
Private life
Boothby had a colourful, if reasonably discreet private life, mainly because the press refused to print what they knew of him: Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother said in a 1991 interview with Woodrow Wyatt that "The press knew all about it" - referring to his affairs.[1] She also described him as "a bounder but not a cad".[1] He was twice married; in 1935 to Diana Cavendish (marriage dissolved in 1937) and in 1967 to Wanda Sanna. The writer and broadcaster Sir Ludovic Kennedy has said "... to my certain knowledge he [Boothby] fathered at least three children by the wives of other men (two by one woman, one by another)."citation needed Indeed, from 1930 he had a long affair with Dorothy Macmillan, wife of his fellow Conservative politician and Prime Minister Harold Macmillan.[1] Boothby is thought by many to have been the father of Sarah Macmillan, who was raised by the Macmillans as their own daughter.[1][1] This connection to Macmillan, via his wife, has been seen as one of the reasons why the police didn't investigate the death of Edward Cavendish, 10th Duke of Devonshire, who died in the presence of suspected serial killer Dr John Bodkin Adams.[1] He was Lady Dorothy's brother, and it is thought the police were wary of drawing the press' attention to her while she was being unfaithful.[1]
Boothby was in fact bisexual[1] and had a homosexual relationship with Ronald Kray, one of the notorious Kray brothers. When this was alluded to in 1964 in the tabloid Daily Mirror[1], Boothby threatened to sue; the newspaper backed down, sacked its editor, apologised, and paid Boothby £40,000 in an out-of-court settlement. As a result, other newspapers became less willing to cover the Krays' connections and misdeeds, and as Boothby was a Conservative politician, his party did not subsequently press for the Krays to be pursued by the police for fear of further publicity about the alleged relationship.citation needed
After his death Boothby's ashes were scattered at Rattray Head near Crimond, Aberdeenshire.
References
Cited references
Publications
- The New Economy, 1943;
- I Fight to Live, 1947;
- My Yesterday, Your Tomorrow, 1962;
- Boothby: recollections of a rebel, 1978.
External links
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Frederick Martin |
Member of Parliament for Aberdeen and Kincardine East 1924–1950 |
Succeeded by (constituency abolished) |
| Preceded by (constituency created) |
Member of Parliament for Aberdeenshire Eastern 1950–1958 |
Succeeded by Patrick Wolrige-Gordon |
| Academic offices | ||
| Preceded by The Earl of Kilmuir |
Rector of the University of St Andrews 1958–1961 |
Succeeded by C. P. Snow |
