RIP Lord Walker

Peter Walker, Baron Walker of Worcester, has died aged 78. He served as a Cabinet Minister in both the Heath and Thatcher governments. He was what might be termed derisively as a ‘Wet’, and was a leading figure on the liberal side of the Conservative Party for thirty years. He was a founder member of the Tory Reform Group, which propounds One Nation Toryism and economic efficiency, ideals that have, it might be argued, profoundly influenced David Cameron’s leadership.

Walker served with distinction throughout the Thatcher government, carrying the brief for Wales, Energy and Food and Fisheries. As Energy Secretary, he was a key figure during the Miner’s Strike. Walker was Trade and Industry Secretary towards the end of the Heath government, but his major ministerial achievement was as the nation’s first Environment Secretary, a post he held from 1970-1972. His Waterways Act restored fish and plant life to rivers and lakes that had been declared biologically dead in the 1950s – a rare example of policy manifestly delivered.