Bob Maclennan, Baron Maclennan of Rogart

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The Right Honourable
The Lord Maclennan of Rogart
PC
RobertMacLennan1987.jpg
Leader of the Liberal Democrats
In office
3 March 1988 – 16 July 1988
Preceded by Party merged
Succeeded by Paddy Ashdown
Leader of Social Democratic Party
In office
28 August 1987 – 16 July 1988
Preceded by David Owen
Succeeded by Party disbanded
President of the Liberal Democrats
In office
1 January 1995 – 31 December 1998
Leader Paddy Ashdown
Preceded by Charles Kennedy
Succeeded by Diana Maddock
Under-Secretary of State, Prices and Consumer Protection
In office
4 March 1974 – 4 May 1979
Prime Minister Harold Wilson
James Callaghan
Preceded by Office Created
Succeeded by Office Abolished
Member of Parliament
for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross
Caithness and Sutherland (from 1966 to 1992)
In office
31 March 1966 – 7 June 2001
Preceded by George Y Mackie
Succeeded by John Thurso
Personal details
Born (1936-06-26) 26 June 1936 (age 88)
Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom
Political party (1) Labour ( – 1981)
(2) Social Democratic Party (1981–1988)
(3) Liberal Democrats (1988– )

Robert Adam Ross "Bob" Maclennan, Baron Maclennan of Rogart, PC (born 26 June 1936, Glasgow) is a British Liberal Democrat life peer. He was the last leader of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), serving during the negotiations that led to its merger with the Liberal Party in 1988. He then became joint interim leader of the new party, known as the Social and Liberal Democrats (SLD) before later becoming the Liberal Democrats.

Early life

Maclennan was educated at Glasgow Academy; Balliol College, Oxford; Trinity College, Cambridge; and Columbia University, New York City. Brother to David MacLennan, Elizabeth MacLennan, and Kenneth MacLennan, he became Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of Caithness and Sutherland in 1966, and serving until 1997; and for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross after boundary changes, from 1997 to 2001. Following this he was raised to the House of Lords, elevated to a life peer as Baron Maclennan of Rogart, of Rogart in Sutherland.

In Parliament

He was first elected as a member of the Labour Party and served as a junior minister in the Labour government of 1974–1979, but in 1981 defected to become a founder member of the SDP. He was one of the few SDP MPs to keep their seats in the 1983 general election. After his stint as SDP Leader in 1988, he served as a front bench spokesman for the Liberal Democrats, and as their president from 1994 until 1998. He is now the party's Cabinet Office spokesman in the House of Lords.

External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Caithness and Sutherland
19661997
Constituency abolished
New constituency Member of Parliament for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross
19972001
Succeeded by
John Thurso
Party political offices
Preceded by Leader of the Social Democratic Party
1987–1988
Party merged with Liberal Party
New political party Leader of the Social and Liberal Democrats
1988
with David Steel
Succeeded by
Paddy Ashdown
Preceded by President of the Liberal Democrats
1994–1998
Succeeded by
Diana Maddock

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