Ralph Harris, Baron Harris of High Cross
Encyclopedia
Ralph Harris, Baron Harris of High Cross (10 December 1924 – 19 October 2006) was a British
economist
. He was head of the Institute of Economic Affairs
from 1957 to 1988. The Institute's brand of free market
liberal economics was deeply unpopular when it was founded, but 25 years later, Harris was considered by some to have been an architect of Thatcherism
.
ways inspector, was "one of four children born to working-class parents on a council estate in Tottenham, north-east London". He was educated at Tottenham Grammar School
. He read Economics
at Queens' College, Cambridge
, graduating with a first-class degree. At Cambridge he was influenced by Stanley Dennison, "who introduced him to the works of Friedrich von Hayek".
at St Andrews University from 1949 to 1965. He was an unsuccessful Conservative Party
candidate for Kirkcaldy
in 1951
and for Edinburgh Central
in 1955
, and became a leader writer for the Glasgow Herald in 1956.
Harris became general director of the Institute of Economic Affairs
(IEA) in 1957. He remained in this post until 1988, when he stepped down to become its chairman and was replaced by Graham Mather. Harris was then a founder president of the IEA from 1990 to his death. The IEA was set up by Antony Fisher
and Oliver Smedley
in 1955. Friedrich Hayek
had suggested that an intellectual counterweight was necessary to combat the prevailing Keynesian consensus "Butskellism" of R. A. Butler
and Hugh Gaitskell
. Harris, together with editorial director Arthur Seldon
, built the IEA into a bastion of free market
liberal economics. The IEA developed links with economists such as Friedrich Hayek
, Gottfried Haberler
, Harry Johnson
, Milton Friedman
, George Stigler
and James Buchanan
, and published many pamphlets and papers on public finance issues, such as taxation, pensions, education, health, transport, and exchange rates.
In 1979, during Margaret Thatcher
's first few months in power, he was made a life peer
as Baron Harris of High Cross, of Tottenham in Greater London
. Yet, despite his strong affiliation with Tory free-marketeers, Harris refused to take the Conservative whip when made a peer, and instead sat on the crossbenches in the House of Lords
to show his independence from any party political party. Harris told Andy Beckett in August 2006, who interviewed him for his coming book, When the Lights Went Out: Britain in the Seventies, that he voted Labour in both the February and October 1974 General Elections, because he was angry at the Heath government, over Europe, the miners and its lack of free-market fervour.
Harris deeply respected Adam Smith
's The Theory of Moral Sentiments
and The Wealth of Nations
; declining a grant of arms
after his peerage on the grounds that the invisible hand
could not be blazon
ed.
He served on the council of the University of Buckingham
from 1980 until 1995. It was founded in 1976 following a call from Harris and Seldon in 1968 for an independent university. Harris was Secretary of the Mont Pelerin Society
from 1967, and its President from 1982 to 1984. He was "a moving spirit in the Wincott Foundation and the founding of the Social Affairs Unit
." He did not like to be described as a "Thatcherite", but was a founder of the No Turning Back group in 1985. Harris became a Eurosceptic
, and was chairman of the Bruges Group
from 1989 to 1991. He was a director of Rupert Murdoch
's Times Newspapers company from 1988 to 2001, although he read and wrote for The Daily Telegraph
. Nonetheless, Harris described Murdoch as the "Saviour of what we used to call Fleet Street"
Harris helped set up a fighting fund so Neil Hamilton
could sue the BBC
for libel in 1986 and Mohamed Al Fayed for libel in 1999. He was chairman of Civitas from 2000. He also supported the Poll Tax
.
A pipe smoker, he was a chairman of smokers' rights campaigners, FOREST
, and its president in 2003. He was not convinced that passive smoking
was dangerous and published and campaigned against the banning of smoking on trains from Brighton to Victoria station in 1995, although he admitted that he was not a frequent rail user himself. Harris died of an aortic aneurysm in London. Harris married in 1949 and was survived by his wife and his daughter. Two sons predeceased him
for the 2006 BBC
TV documentary series Tory! Tory! Tory!
.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
economist
Economist
An economist is a professional in the social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy...
. He was head of the Institute of Economic Affairs
Institute of Economic Affairs
The Institute of Economic Affairs , founded in 1955, styles itself the UK's pre-eminent free-market think-tank. Its mission is to improve understanding of the fundamental institutions of a free society by analysing and expounding the role of markets in solving economic and social...
from 1957 to 1988. The Institute's brand of free market
Free market
A free market is a competitive market where prices are determined by supply and demand. However, the term is also commonly used for markets in which economic intervention and regulation by the state is limited to tax collection, and enforcement of private ownership and contracts...
liberal economics was deeply unpopular when it was founded, but 25 years later, Harris was considered by some to have been an architect of Thatcherism
Thatcherism
Thatcherism describes the conviction politics, economic and social policy, and political style of the British Conservative politician Margaret Thatcher, who was leader of her party from 1975 to 1990...
.
Background
Harris, the son of a tramTram
A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...
ways inspector, was "one of four children born to working-class parents on a council estate in Tottenham, north-east London". He was educated at Tottenham Grammar School
Tottenham Grammar School
Tottenham Grammar School was a renowned grammar school in North London, with local football connections.-History:A Tottenham Grammar School had existed for centuries...
. He read Economics
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
at Queens' College, Cambridge
Queens' College, Cambridge
Queens' College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.The college was founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou , and refounded in 1465 by Elizabeth Woodville...
, graduating with a first-class degree. At Cambridge he was influenced by Stanley Dennison, "who introduced him to the works of Friedrich von Hayek".
Career
After working at the Conservative Political Centre at Conservative Central Office, Harris was a lecturer in political economyPolitical economy
Political economy originally was the term for studying production, buying, and selling, and their relations with law, custom, and government, as well as with the distribution of national income and wealth, including through the budget process. Political economy originated in moral philosophy...
at St Andrews University from 1949 to 1965. He was an unsuccessful Conservative Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
candidate for Kirkcaldy
Kirkcaldy (UK Parliament constituency)
Kirkcaldy was a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom in Fife, returning one Member of Parliament . It existed from the February 1974 election until its abolition in 2005.-Boundaries:...
in 1951
United Kingdom general election, 1951
The 1951 United Kingdom general election was held eighteen months after the 1950 general election, which the Labour Party had won with a slim majority of just five seats...
and for Edinburgh Central
Edinburgh Central (UK Parliament constituency)
Edinburgh Central was a burgh constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1885 to 2005. It elected one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election....
in 1955
United Kingdom general election, 1955
The 1955 United Kingdom general election was held on 26 May 1955, four years after the previous general election. It resulted in a substantially increased majority of 60 for the Conservative government under new leader and prime minister Sir Anthony Eden against Labour Party, now in their 20th year...
, and became a leader writer for the Glasgow Herald in 1956.
Harris became general director of the Institute of Economic Affairs
Institute of Economic Affairs
The Institute of Economic Affairs , founded in 1955, styles itself the UK's pre-eminent free-market think-tank. Its mission is to improve understanding of the fundamental institutions of a free society by analysing and expounding the role of markets in solving economic and social...
(IEA) in 1957. He remained in this post until 1988, when he stepped down to become its chairman and was replaced by Graham Mather. Harris was then a founder president of the IEA from 1990 to his death. The IEA was set up by Antony Fisher
Antony Fisher
Sir Antony Fisher was one of the most influential background players in the global rise of libertarian think-tanks during the second half of the twentieth century, founding the Institute of Economic Affairs and the Atlas Economic Research Foundation. Through Atlas, he helped establish up to 150...
and Oliver Smedley
Oliver Smedley
Major Oliver Smedley MC was a British businessman involved in classical liberal politics and pirate radio. He was acquitted of the murder of a business rival on the grounds of self-defence.-Military:...
in 1955. Friedrich Hayek
Friedrich Hayek
Friedrich August Hayek CH , born in Austria-Hungary as Friedrich August von Hayek, was an economist and philosopher best known for his defense of classical liberalism and free-market capitalism against socialist and collectivist thought...
had suggested that an intellectual counterweight was necessary to combat the prevailing Keynesian consensus "Butskellism" of R. A. Butler
Rab Butler
Richard Austen Butler, Baron Butler of Saffron Walden, KG CH DL PC , who invariably signed his name R. A. Butler and was familiarly known as Rab, was a British Conservative politician...
and Hugh Gaitskell
Hugh Gaitskell
Hugh Todd Naylor Gaitskell CBE was a British Labour politician, who held Cabinet office in Clement Attlee's governments, and was the Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition from 1955, until his death in 1963.-Early life:He was born in Kensington, London, the third and youngest...
. Harris, together with editorial director Arthur Seldon
Arthur Seldon
Dr Arthur Seldon CBE was joint founder president, with Ralph Harris, of the Institute of Economic Affairs, where he directed academic affairs for 30 years....
, built the IEA into a bastion of free market
Free market
A free market is a competitive market where prices are determined by supply and demand. However, the term is also commonly used for markets in which economic intervention and regulation by the state is limited to tax collection, and enforcement of private ownership and contracts...
liberal economics. The IEA developed links with economists such as Friedrich Hayek
Friedrich Hayek
Friedrich August Hayek CH , born in Austria-Hungary as Friedrich August von Hayek, was an economist and philosopher best known for his defense of classical liberalism and free-market capitalism against socialist and collectivist thought...
, Gottfried Haberler
Gottfried Haberler
Gottfried von Haberler was an economist. He worked in particular on international trade....
, Harry Johnson
Harry Gordon Johnson
Harry Gordon Johnson was a Canadian economist who studied topics such as International trade and International finance.He was born on 26 May 1923 in Toronto, Canada, the elder son of two children of Henry Herbert Johnson, newspaperman and later secretary of the Liberal Party of Ontario, and his...
, Milton Friedman
Milton Friedman
Milton Friedman was an American economist, statistician, academic, and author who taught at the University of Chicago for more than three decades...
, George Stigler
George Stigler
George Joseph Stigler was a U.S. economist. He won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1982, and was a key leader of the Chicago School of Economics, along with his close friend Milton Friedman....
and James Buchanan
James M. Buchanan
James McGill Buchanan, Jr. is an American economist known for his work on public choice theory, for which he received the 1986 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. Buchanan's work initiated research on how politicians' self-interest and non-economic forces affect government economic policy...
, and published many pamphlets and papers on public finance issues, such as taxation, pensions, education, health, transport, and exchange rates.
In 1979, during Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
's first few months in power, he was made a life peer
Life peer
In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the Peerage whose titles cannot be inherited. Nowadays life peerages, always of baronial rank, are created under the Life Peerages Act 1958 and entitle the holders to seats in the House of Lords, presuming they meet qualifications such as...
as Baron Harris of High Cross, of Tottenham in Greater London
Greater London
Greater London is the top-level administrative division of England covering London. It was created in 1965 and spans the City of London, including Middle Temple and Inner Temple, and the 32 London boroughs. This territory is coterminate with the London Government Office Region and the London...
. Yet, despite his strong affiliation with Tory free-marketeers, Harris refused to take the Conservative whip when made a peer, and instead sat on the crossbenches in the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
to show his independence from any party political party. Harris told Andy Beckett in August 2006, who interviewed him for his coming book, When the Lights Went Out: Britain in the Seventies, that he voted Labour in both the February and October 1974 General Elections, because he was angry at the Heath government, over Europe, the miners and its lack of free-market fervour.
Harris deeply respected Adam Smith
Adam Smith
Adam Smith was a Scottish social philosopher and a pioneer of political economy. One of the key figures of the Scottish Enlightenment, Smith is the author of The Theory of Moral Sentiments and An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations...
's The Theory of Moral Sentiments
The Theory of Moral Sentiments
The Theory of Moral Sentiments was written by Adam Smith in 1759. It provided the ethical, philosophical, psychological, and methodological underpinnings to Smith's later works, including The Wealth of Nations , A Treatise on Public Opulence , Essays on Philosophical Subjects , and Lectures on...
and The Wealth of Nations
The Wealth of Nations
An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, generally referred to by its shortened title The Wealth of Nations, is the magnum opus of the Scottish economist and moral philosopher Adam Smith...
; declining a grant of arms
Grant of Arms
A grant of arms is an action by a lawful authority, such as an officer of arms, conferring on a person and his or her descendants the right to bear a particular coat of arms or armorial bearings...
after his peerage on the grounds that the invisible hand
Invisible hand
In economics, invisible hand or invisible hand of the market is the term economists use to describe the self-regulating nature of the marketplace. This is a metaphor first coined by the economist Adam Smith...
could not be blazon
Blazon
In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct the appropriate image...
ed.
He served on the council of the University of Buckingham
University of Buckingham
The University of Buckingham is an independent, non-sectarian, research and teaching university located in Buckingham, Buckinghamshire, England, on the banks of the River Great Ouse. It was originally founded as Buckingham University College in the 1970s and received its Royal Charter from the...
from 1980 until 1995. It was founded in 1976 following a call from Harris and Seldon in 1968 for an independent university. Harris was Secretary of the Mont Pelerin Society
Mont Pelerin Society
The Mont Pelerin Society is an international organization composed of economists , philosophers, historians, intellectuals, business leaders, and others who favour classical liberalism...
from 1967, and its President from 1982 to 1984. He was "a moving spirit in the Wincott Foundation and the founding of the Social Affairs Unit
Social Affairs Unit
The Social Affairs Unit is a right-leaning think tank in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1980 as an offshoot of the Institute of Economic Affairs, it publishes books on a variety of social issues...
." He did not like to be described as a "Thatcherite", but was a founder of the No Turning Back group in 1985. Harris became a Eurosceptic
Euroscepticism
Euroscepticism is a general term used to describe criticism of the European Union , and opposition to the process of European integration, existing throughout the political spectrum. Traditionally, the main source of euroscepticism has been the notion that integration weakens the nation state...
, and was chairman of the Bruges Group
Bruges Group
The Bruges Group is a think tank based in the United Kingdom.The group is often associated with the Conservative Party, though it is independent of it and remains an all-party organisation...
from 1989 to 1991. He was a director of Rupert Murdoch
Rupert Murdoch
Keith Rupert Murdoch, AC, KSG is an Australian-American business magnate. He is the founder and Chairman and CEO of , the world's second-largest media conglomerate....
's Times Newspapers company from 1988 to 2001, although he read and wrote for The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
. Nonetheless, Harris described Murdoch as the "Saviour of what we used to call Fleet Street"
Harris helped set up a fighting fund so Neil Hamilton
Neil Hamilton (politician)
Mostyn Neil Hamilton is a former British barrister, teacher and Conservative MP. Since losing his seat in 1997 and leaving politics, Hamilton and his wife Christine have become media celebrities...
could sue the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
for libel in 1986 and Mohamed Al Fayed for libel in 1999. He was chairman of Civitas from 2000. He also supported the Poll Tax
Poll tax
A poll tax is a tax of a portioned, fixed amount per individual in accordance with the census . When a corvée is commuted for cash payment, in effect it becomes a poll tax...
.
A pipe smoker, he was a chairman of smokers' rights campaigners, FOREST
FOREST
FOREST is a United Kingdom political pressure group that campaigns from a pro-smoking perspective, opposing measures to reduce tobacco consumption on the grounds of defending a perceived right to smoke tobacco...
, and its president in 2003. He was not convinced that passive smoking
Passive smoking
Passive smoking is the inhalation of smoke, called secondhand smoke or environmental tobacco smoke , from tobacco products used by others. It occurs when tobacco smoke permeates any environment, causing its inhalation by people within that environment. Exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke causes...
was dangerous and published and campaigned against the banning of smoking on trains from Brighton to Victoria station in 1995, although he admitted that he was not a frequent rail user himself. Harris died of an aortic aneurysm in London. Harris married in 1949 and was survived by his wife and his daughter. Two sons predeceased him
In the media
Harris was interviewed about his work at the IEA and the rise of ThatcherismThatcherism
Thatcherism describes the conviction politics, economic and social policy, and political style of the British Conservative politician Margaret Thatcher, who was leader of her party from 1975 to 1990...
for the 2006 BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
TV documentary series Tory! Tory! Tory!
Tory! Tory! Tory!
Tory! Tory! Tory! is a 2006 BBC television documentary series on the history of the people and ideas that formed Thatcherism told through the eyes of those on the New Right.-Production:...
.
Works
- Politics without prejudice (1956)
- Hire purchase in a free society (1958; 1959; 1961; with Arthur SeldonArthur SeldonDr Arthur Seldon CBE was joint founder president, with Ralph Harris, of the Institute of Economic Affairs, where he directed academic affairs for 30 years....
and Margot Naylor) - Choice in Welfare 1965 (1965)
- The Urgency of an Independent University (1968; 1969; with Arthur SeldonArthur SeldonDr Arthur Seldon CBE was joint founder president, with Ralph Harris, of the Institute of Economic Affairs, where he directed academic affairs for 30 years....
) - Choice in Welfare 1970 (1971) ISBN 0-255-36009-6
- Down with the Poor (1971)
- Not from Benevolence (1977, with Arthur SeldonArthur SeldonDr Arthur Seldon CBE was joint founder president, with Ralph Harris, of the Institute of Economic Affairs, where he directed academic affairs for 30 years....
) ISBN 0-255-36090-8 - Overruled on Welfare (1979) ISBN 0-255-36122-X
- No, Prime Minister! (1994)
- Murder a Cigarette (1998, with Judith Hatton) ISBN 0-7156-2891-7
External links
- Interview with Ralph Harris on PBSPublic Broadcasting ServiceThe Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
- A Conversation with Harris and Seldon, The Institute of Economic Affairs, 2001 (PDF, 96 pages)
- Announcement of his death at the House of Lords House of Lords minutes of proceedings, 23 October 2006