Benjamin Russell Mackintosh Stoneham, Baron Stoneham of Droxford (born 26 August 1948)[1] is a British peer, journalist, and Liberal Democrat politician.[2] He is currently the Liberal Democrat Chief Whip in the House of Lords, having been elected to that position in October 2016.
Stoneham's early politics were Labour. At the age of 29 he was Labour candidate in the Saffron Walden by-election of 1977.[3][4] He was later treasurer of the moderate Campaign for Labour Victory,[5] many of whose leading lights later joined the SDP. Stoneham was the SDP candidate for Parliament in Stevenage in 1983 and 1987. In 1983, he had the best finish by any non-incumbent SDP candidate in an English seat and narrowly lost by about 1,700 votes.
He is a senior party activist for the Liberal Democrat party.[6]
From 2003 to 2010, he was operations director of the party, under the leadership of Charles Kennedy,[7] and Nick Clegg.[8]
He was made a Life peer on 17 January 2011 as Baron Stoneham of Droxford, of Meon Valley in the County of Hampshire.[9]
He gave his maiden speech on 20 January 2011.[10]
In October 2016, Lord Stoneham was elected as the Liberal Democrat Chief Whip in the House of Lords, succeeding Lord Newby.
Super-injunction statement
Lord Stoneham came to prominence on 19 May 2011 when used parliamentary privilege to reveal details of a super-injunction during a debate in the House of Lords. He questioned whether a super-injunction prevented bank regulators from investigating corporate governance at the Royal Bank of Scotland:[11]
Every taxpayer has a direct public interest in the events leading up to the collapse of the Royal Bank of Scotland, so how can it be right for a super-injunction to hide the alleged relationship between Sir Fred Goodwin and a senior colleague.
If true, it would be a serious breach of corporate governance and not even the Financial Services Authority would be allowed to know about it.[12]
Reprimanded
Lord Stoneham was reprimanded on 27 February 2013 by his own party following reports he telephoned and angrily remonstrated with one of the women who had complained to newspapers about his close friend Lord Rennard's alleged sexual harassment of party workers. Nick Clegg's aides described Lord Stoneham's conduct as "completely unacceptable." Liberal Democrat chief whip in the House of Lords, Lord Newby gave a warning to Lord Stoneham over his conduct.[13]
