Oliver Frederick George StanleyMCPCMP (4 May 1896 – 10 December 1950) was a prominent British Conservative politician who held many ministerial posts before his early death.
Caricature of Stanley believed to have been drawn between 1939 and 1946
He soon came to the attention of the Conservative leaders and held a number of posts in the National Government of the 1930s. As Minister of Transport he was responsible for the introduction of a 30 miles per hour speed limit and driving tests for new drivers. In May 1938 whilst President of the Board of Trade he achieved a rare distinction in British politics when his brother Lord Stanley became Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs – a rare example of two brothers sitting in the same Cabinet, more so as their father, a former Conservative minister, was still alive. Nevertheless, five months later Edward died. (Another example is that of two Labour Party brothers, David Miliband and his brother Ed Miliband, who were appointed to the British Cabinet in June 2007.)
In January 1940 Stanley was appointed Secretary of State for War after the previous incumbent, Leslie Hore-Belisha, had been sacked after falling out with the leading officers. Much was expected of Stanley's tenure in this office, for his father had held it during the First World War, but four months later the government fell, and Stanley was replaced by Anthony Eden. Churchill offered Stanley the Dominions Office, which Stanley turned down.[1] Instead, Churchill made him a personal link with intelligence agencies, notably as founder of the London Controlling Section. Two years later Stanley's political fortunes revived when Churchill appointed him Secretary of State for the Colonies, a post which he held until the end of the war.
After the Conservatives' massive defeat in the 1945 general election Stanley was prominent amongst those rebuilding the party, and he came to be regarded as one of the most important Conservative MPs. He was a governor of The Peckham Experiment in 1949.[4] Along with Churchill and Anthony Eden, Stanley was seen as one of the Conservative Party's leaders in 1950.[5] He succeeded his father as Chancellor of the University of Liverpool. By this time, however, his health was in decline; and he died on 10 December 1950 at his home in Sulhamstead.[1]
Stanley had been Chairman of the Conservative Finance Committee.[6] Had he lived longer, he might well have been appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer when the Conservatives formed a government the following year. Rab Butler was appointed instead.[7] Butler later wrote in his 1971 memoirs that Oliver Stanley was “the acutest brain on the Conservative front bench, the keenest lance I have ever known in politics, and a flowing pen which could [write] several pages of immaculate foolscap in the same time that lesser men would take to wrote a decent paragraph”. However, Butler’s view was that he probably would not have been a great Prime Minister or even Chancellor of the Exchequer, as he was too indecisive, but that he was great in opposition.[8]
Historian Sir Charles Petrie went further, and argued in his 1972 memoirs (A Historian Looks At His World) that "the greatest blow the Conservative Party has sustained since the late war was the premature death of Oliver Stanley. He was one of the most gifted men of the century, and would have made a very great Prime Minister. ... He was as brilliant a conversationalist as a public speaker."[9]
Michael Charles Stanley (1921–1990), who married (Aileen) Fortune Constance Hugh Smith and had two sons;[10] and
Kathryn Edith Helen Stanley DCVO (1923–2004), Lady-in-Waiting to Queen Elizabeth II from 1955 to 2002, and who married Sir John Dugdale KCVO (1923–1994) and had two daughters and two sons.[10]
Lady Maureen died in June 1942, aged 41. Stanley survived her by eight years and died in December 1950, aged 54.[10]
^"SECRETARY FOR COLONIES VISITS TRAINING CENTRE". The Royal Gazette. City of Hamilton, Pembroke, Bermuda. 1 January 1945. p. 2. Colonel the Right Hon. Oliver Stanley, Secretary of State for the Colonies, visited Warwick Battery on Saturday morning where he inspected the Vocational Training Centre. Accompanied by Mr T.I.K. Lloyd, an Assistant Under-Secretary of State at the Colonial Office, by his private secretary, Mr. C. H. Thornley, and by Brigadier the Hon. H. D. Maconochie, Officer Commanding British Troops, Colonel Stanley inspected a guard of honour commanded by Captain A. L. Flitcroft, Adjutant, Bermuda Militia. Shortly after 1 o'clock. Colonel Stanley and his entourage arrived at Prospect where they were greeted by Brigadier Maconochie and Lieut.-Col. J. C. Astwood, O.C, B.V.R.C Colonel Stanley inspected a guard of honour provided by the B.V.R.C. under the command of Captain W. J. Williams, following which he visited the Garrison Officers' Mess where he was introduced to the Officers of the Bermuda Command and refreshments wen served. The Colonial Secretary's visit to Prospect marked the first formal parade attended by the newly reorganised B.V.R.C. Band.
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