It is with much regret that Liberal Democrat Voice has received word that Lord Hooson, former Liberal MP for Montgomeryshire, passed away peacefully yesterday.

Emlyn Hooson was educated at Denbigh Grammar School and University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, before serving in the Royal Navy in World War II. By 1960, he had become the youngest ever Queen’s Counsel, whilst rising swiftly through the ranks of the Liberal Party, chairing the Welsh Liberal Party from 1955.

When Clement Davies died in 1962, Emlyn was selected to fight the resultant by-election for a Parliamentary seat which had been continuously Liberal since 1880, and he turned a majority of 2,794 in 1959 into a 7,549 majority, going on to retain the seat through five General Elections.

As was common, he continued with his legal career, representing the ‘Moors Murderer’, Ian Brady, when he was tried and convicted in 1966. He also contested the leadership of the Liberal Party in the following year, before withdrawing in favour of Jeremy Thorpe.

Montgomeryshire was lost in the 1979 General Election, and Emlyn was appointed to the Lords later that year, where he was the spokesperson for Legal Affairs, Agriculture and European Affairs, and then Welsh Affairs.