Leonard was born in Pinner, Middlesex in December 1930, the son of the late Cyril and Kate Leonard (née Whyte).[4] He attended Ealing Grammar School and the Institute of Education, University of London, where he acquired a teacher training qualification (he had been awarded a place to study at the London School of Economics, but lost it after refusing to abide by the stipulation that he complete National Service prior to matriculation).[1] Leonard worked as a school teacher from 1953 to 1955, and from 1960 to 1968 as a journalist and broadcaster. From 1968 to 1970 he was a senior research fellow (for the Social Science Research Council) at the University of Essex, where he also graduated with an MA degree in political science.[2]
Leonard joined the Labour Party as a teenager in 1945.[5] He was Deputy General Secretary of the Fabian Society, a Labour-affiliated think tank, from 1955 to 1960, and founded the organisation's youth wing, the Young Fabians, in 1960. He became a member of the executive committee of the Fabian Society in 1972, serving until 1980. He was also the Society's chairman from 1977 to 1978.[2]
Leonard first stood for Parliamentin1955, when he contested Harrow West for Labour, a constituency which included his native Pinner. At the time, this was a safe seat for the Conservative Party, and he was thus unsuccessful in standing against their incumbent Member of Parliament, in an election which saw the Conservatives re-elected nationally. Fifteen years later, at the 1970 general election, he stood in the marginal Labour-held seat of Romford. Despite his party going into opposition, Leonard retained the seat.[1]
In Parliament, he introduced the Council Housing Bill in 1971, and the Life Peers Bill in 1973. He was also a member of the Speaker's Conference on Electoral Law from 1972 to 1974. During his time in the House of Commons, he was Parliamentary Private SecretarytoAnthony Crosland, and was regarded as an important associate of Crosland within the ranks of the party's 'intellectual' right wing. Leonard was, however, strongly in favour of entry to the European Economic Community (EEC), and unlike Crosland (who was ambivalent on the matter) he was one of 69 Labour rebels who defied the party's three-line whip to vote in favour of the Conservative Government's application to join the EEC in October 1971.[6]
Leonard stood down at the subsequent February 1974 general election, when there were major changes made to his constituency boundaries, which saw Romford gained by the Conservatives even as Labour was returned to power.[2]
Leonard was a trustee for the Association of London Housing Estates from 1973 to 1978, and from 1978 to 1981, Chairman of the Library Advisory Council. From 1974 to 1985 he was Assistant Editor of The Economist.[7] Leonard served as the Brussels and European Union correspondent in Brussels for The Observer (London) from 1989 to 1997. He was also the Brussels correspondent for Europe magazine from 1992 to 2003.[2]
Leonard remained a loyal right-winger within the Labour Party throughout the 1970s, an association that survived Crosland's untimely death in 1977. However, in January 1982 he announced that he had recently decided to join the Social Democratic Party (SDP) because he felt that Labour "had grievously lost its way."[8] He never played a major role in the SDP, and rejoined Labour following the party's defeat in the 1992 general election.[1]
Reaction to Britain's departure from the European Union[edit]
In 2021, Leonard wrote to his local newspaper, the Camden New Journal, to say that whilst he would give his first preference vote in the London mayoral election to Labour's incumbent Sadiq Khan, he would be giving his second preference to Richard Hewison, a candidate standing under the slogan 'Rejoin EU: Brexit is broken'. Leonard stated that "it is important to keep alive the prospect of a long-time aspiration to which many adhere."[10]
In 1963, Leonard married Irène Heidelberger-LeonardofBad Godesberg, Germany, the daughter of the late Dr Ernst Heidelberger and Dr Gertrud Heidelberger. She is a scholar of postwar German literature, and the couple had two children: Mark Leonard, an expert on foreign policy, and Miriam Leonard, a classical scholar. He lived in Camden,[11] north west London, and listed his recreations as "walking, book-reviewing, family pursuits".[2]
Leonard died in June 2021 at the age of 90 and is buried on the eastern side of Highgate Cemetery.[11]
Leonard had written or co-authored a number of books on contemporary and historical British politics, particularly focusing on Britain's prime ministers. His 2020 book British Prime Ministers from Walpole to Salisbury: The 18th and 19th Centuries was well received by fellow authors Patrick Diamond and David Marquand.[12]
Paying for party politics: The case for public subsidies, PEP Broadsheet No 555, 1975.
The BBC Guide to Parliament, British Broadcasting Corporation, United Kingdom, 1979. ISBN9780563177487, 0563177489
(ed. with David Lipsey) The Socialist agenda: Crosland's legacy, Cape, London, 1981. ISBN0-224-01886-8
(with Richard Natkiel) World atlas of elections: Voting patterns in 39 democracies, Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1986. ISBN0-340-40595-3
(with Richard Lawrence) Pocket guide to the European Community, B. Blackwell, London, 1989. ISBN9780631162841, 0631162844
The Economist Guide to the European Community, 1992; 4th edn as The Economist Guide to the European Union, 1997; 9th edn 2005; 10th edn as Guide to the European Union: The definitive guide to all aspects of the EU, The Economist in association with Profile Books, London, 2009. ISBN978-1-84668-172-1
Elections in Britain today: A guide for voters and students, 1991; 3rd edn, Macmillan, 1996. ISBN0-333-66043-9
"Britain's indecision : from Macmillan to the referendum", chapter in Eminent Europeans (edited by Martyn Bond; Julie Smith; William Wallace), Greycoat Press, London, 1996.
(ed.) Crosland and New Labour, Macmillan in association with the Fabian Society, 1999. ISBN0-333-73990-6
(with Roger Mortimore) Elections in Britain: A voter's guide, Palgrave, Basingstoke, 2001. ISBN0-333-91801-0
(ed. with Mark Leonard) The pro-European reader, Palgrave, Basingstoke, 2001. ISBN0-333-97721-1
A Century of Premiers: Salisbury to Blair, Macmillan, 2005. ISBN1-4039-3990-X
Leonard, R. L.; Mortimore, Roger (2005). Elections in Britain : a voter's guide. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN978-0-230-62963-9. OCLC70181448.
(ed.) The future of socialism by Anthony Crosland, 50th anniv. edn, Constable, London, 2006. ISBN1-84529-485-8
Nineteenth-century premiers: Pitt to Rosebery, Palgrave Macmillan, 2008. ISBN0-230-20985-8
Eighteenth-Century British Premiers: Walpole to the Younger Pitt, Palgrave Macmillan, 2011. ISBN978-1-4039-3908-1
British Prime Ministers from Walpole to Salisbury, United States, Taylor & Francis, 2020. ISBN9781000178098, 1000178099
Modern British Prime Ministers: Balfour to Johnson, 2021.
Critical studies, reviews and biography
Quinault, Roland (November 2013). "[Untitled review]". Reviews. History Today. 63 (11): 61. Archived from the original on 20 November 2015. Retrieved 20 November 2015. Review of The great rivalry.