Stanley Clinton-Davis, Baron Clinton-Davis

Stanley Clinton Clinton-Davis, Baron Clinton-Davis, PC (born Stanley Clinton Davis, 6 December 1928 – 11 June 2023) was a British politician and solicitor. A member of the Labour Party, he served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Hackney Central from 1970 to 1983, and was a minister in the Labour governments of Harold Wilson, James Callaghan and Tony Blair. He was European Commissioner in the Delors Commission (1985–1989). In 1990, he became a life peer, sitting on the Labour benches in the House of Lords until his retirement in 2018.

Davis was born in Hackney on 6 December 1928, the only child of Jewish parents Sidney and Lilly Davis. He was educated at Hackney Downs School, Mercers' School, and King's College London, where he graduated in Law in 1950. He was admitted as a solicitor in 1953.

Davis became interested in Labour politics from an early age. He joined the Labour Party at the age of 15, and formed the Labour Society at King's College London. He was a member of the executive council of the National Association of Labour Student Organisations (1948–50). In 1959, Davis was elected as a councillor for the London Borough of Hackney. He served as a councillor until 1971 and was Chairman of Social Services. He was Mayor of Hackney from 1968 to 1969.

Davis first stood as Parliamentary candidate for the Conservative-held constituency of Portsmouth Langstone at the 1955 general election. He then contested the marginal constituency of Yarmouth at the 1959 and 1964 general elections; on all three occasions, he was unsuccessful. Davis was elected to the House of Commons at the 1970 general election as MP for Hackney Central. He served as MP for the constituency until 1983, when the constituency was abolished due to boundary changes.

Davis' first ministerial post, which he held from 1974 until 1979, was as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Companies, Aviation and Shipping in the governments of Prime Ministers Harold Wilson and James Callaghan. Following the Conservative Party's victory in the 1979 general election, Davis remained on the Labour front bench as the Opposition Spokesman on Trade, Prices and Consumer Protection (1979–81) and Foreign Affairs (1981–83). He was also the first MP ever to ask Margaret Thatcher a question at Prime Minister's Questions (on 22 May 1979).

In 1985, Davis was appointed to serve as European Commissioner alongside Lord Cockfield in the Delors Commission. He was the European Commissioner for Transport, the Environment and Nuclear Safety until 1989. In 1990, Clinton-Davis was awarded the Grand Cross Order of King Leopold II of Belgium for services to the European Community. Clinton-Davis was a member of the United Kingdom Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and Western European Union (1999–2001).^{[citation needed]}

Davis was appointed to the House of Lords as a life peer, and on 8 May 1990 was created Baron Clinton-Davis, of Hackney in the London Borough of Hackney, having changed his surname by deed poll to Clinton-Davis on 20 April. In the Lords, Clinton-Davis served as Opposition Spokesman for Transport (1990–1997), and Supporting Spokesperson for Trade and Industry (1990–1996) and Foreign Affairs (1990–1997).^{[citation needed]}

Following the Labour victory at the 1997 general election, Prime Minister Tony Blair decided to use the experience of a handful of former Labour ministers at the commencement of his New Labour project. Clinton-Davis was appointed Minister of State for Trade, serving in the Department of Trade and Industry until 1998.^{[citation needed]}