His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh

Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe Excerpts

Monday 12th April 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe (Lab) [V]]

My Lords, I am most grateful for the opportunity, particularly as a former trade unionist, to pay tribute to the Duke of Edinburgh and to speak of one of the less well-known but equally important contributions that he made to society. I refer to the creation of the Commonwealth Study Conference in 1956. He saw a problem between the relationship between industry and the community around it and decided that it need to be addressed, not only in the UK but also across the Commonwealth. He founded the first ever Commonwealth Study Conference in 1956, which was held in Oxford with around 300 participants from Commonwealth countries. It was an experiment that brought together young leaders from business, unions, and people from a range of different backgrounds, Governments and the community sector. They assembled in Oxford where they were given an outline of the problems they had to address, then sent off to different parts of the country to study how the UK was coping with the impending changes that he had identified. They then came back and presented a report to Prince Philip, which was subjected to the interrogation that I know some noble Lords will have experienced.

The conference was a great success—so much so that it was decided to continue with them on a four-yearly cycle. They have been going on since then with regional conferences held in between. To date, 44 conferences have been held. They are about leadership, capturing high-fliers and influencing them before they reach positions of authority and possibly entrench their views and positions. They showed them the truth about what is happening in industry and society, and making visible the good and the bad so that they could see the need for change. They brought together people across social, political and national divides so that they could come together and reach common viewpoints and rounded solutions, rather than the opposition that we see so much of in society. They were about demonstrating that leadership can make a difference, but only leadership where action is involved as well.

Because the Duke was such an inspiration, most of us took action, carrying out the particular leadership roles we achieved with the aim of trying to improve society, whatever that came to mean for us given the jobs we did and the views we held. It is estimated that around 10,000 people have now attended the conferences over 60-plus years. His influence has had a powerful impact on the actions of those who have been selected to participate. Some of them have become the Prime Ministers of their countries.

I was a participant in the 1980 Canadian conference and, on behalf of the 10,000 participants who benefited from these conferences and study groups, I express our profound gratitude for the Duke and the opportunity he gave us, and for extending and supporting the next study conference in Canada, in 2023. The role that he played in previous conferences will be fulfilled this time by his daughter, Her Royal Highness the Princess Royal. I express our gratitude, sympathy for the family and affection for them all, in particular the Duke. I am sure that he would want us not only to express such sentiments today but to look to the future with positiveness, and to give our support and affection to those in his family and the legacy that he leaves behind.