Patrick Gordon Walker: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

Patrick Chrestien Gordon Walker (April 7, 1907 - December 2, 1980) was a British politician.

Born in Worthing, he was elected Labour MP for Smethwick in 1945 and at the UK general election, 1964, following a successful career in opposition, he was destined to become Foreign Secretary in a widely anticipated Labour government. However, he was defeated in controversial circumstances by Conservative candidate Peter Griffiths. Smethwick had been a focus of immigration from the Commonwealth in the economic and industrial growth of the years following World War II and Griffiths ran a campaign critical of the opposition's, and the government's, policy. There were rumours that Griffiths' supporters had covertly circulated the slogan If you want a nigger for a neighbour, vote Liberal or Labour. Many felt that Gordon Walker had pandered to such sentiment when his local party ran an eve-of-poll leaflet saying:

Be fair. Immigrants only arrived in Smethwick in large numbers during the past ten years--while the Tory [conservative] government was in power. You can't blame Labour or Gordon Walker for that. Labour favours continued control of immigration, stricter health checks and deportation of those convicted of criminal offences. Labour will give local authorities greater power to help overcrowding. Labour will provide new and better housing.

His reputation on racial issues was further damanged by the accusation that, while at the Commonwealth Office in 1951, he had obstructed Seretse Khama's chieftancy of Bechuanaland under pressure from South Africa's objections to Khama's marriage to a white woman.

Nevertheless, he was appointed to the Foreign Office by Harold Wilson and stood for the Labour stronghold constituency of Leyton in a byelection in January 1965, losing again, and was forced to resign as Foreign Secretary. After a sabbatical conducing research in Southeast Asia, he finally won Leyton in the UK general election, 1966. Following his election, he served at education and science. He was made a Baron in 1974 and was briefly a Member of the European Parliament.

Gordon Walker died in London.