Fred Mulley

The Right Honourable The Lord Mulley PC
Shadow Secretary of State for Defence
In office 4 May 1979 – 14 June 1979
Leader	James Callaghan
Preceded by	Ian Gilmour
Succeeded by	William Rodgers
Secretary of State for Defence
In office 10 September 1976 – 4 May 1979
Prime Minister	James Callaghan
Preceded by	Roy Mason
Succeeded by	Francis Pym
Secretary of State for Education and Science
In office 5 March 1975 – 10 September 1976
Prime Minister	Harold Wilson James Callaghan
Preceded by	Reg Prentice
Succeeded by	Shirley Williams
Minister of Transport
In office 7 March 1974 – 5 March 1975
Prime Minister	Harold Wilson
Preceded by	John Peyton (Transport Industries)
Succeeded by	John Gilbert
Member of Parliament for Sheffield Park
In office 23 February 1950 – 9 June 1983
Preceded by	Thomas Burden
Succeeded by	Constituency Abolished
Personal details
Born	3 July 1918
Died	15 March 1995 (aged 76)
Political party	Labour
Alma mater	Christ Church, Oxford St Catharine's College, Cambridge
Military service
Service/branch	British Army • Worcestershire Regiment
Rank	Sergeant
Battles/wars	World War II

Frederick William Mulley, Baron Mulley PC (3 July 1918 – 15 March 1995) was a British Labour politician, barrister-at-law and economist.

Early life

Mulley attended Warwick School between 1929 and 1936. He served in the Worcestershire Regiment in the Second World War, reaching the rank of sergeant, but was captured in 1940 and spent five years as a prisoner of war in Germany. During this time he obtained a BSc in economics and became a chartered secretary.^[1]

At the end of the war, he received an adult scholarship to Christ Church, Oxford, and after a brief spell on an economics fellowship at the University of Cambridge (1948–50) he trained as a barrister, being called to the Bar in 1954.

Parliamentary career

Mulley had been a member of the Labour Party since 1936 and at the 1945 general election he unsuccessfully contested the constituency of Sutton Coldfield. He became Member of Parliament for Sheffield Park in 1950, a position he held until retiring at the 1983 general election.

During a long career in politics he held many ministerial positions including Minister of Aviation (1965–67), Minister for Disarmament (1967–69), and Minister of Transport (1969–70, 1974–75). While at the Transport Ministry he believed it would be inappropriate to be seen to be a car driver. Although he owned an Austin Maxi, his wife was the sole user of it during this period.^[2]

In 1975 Harold Wilson brought him to the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Education and Science, and in 1976 became Secretary of State for Defence.

He fell asleep during the Queen's Jubilee Review of the Royal Air Force at RAF Finningley in 1977 when there was considerable noise around him. Having a small sleep during exercise was referred to by members of the RAF as having a "Fred Mulley". It was suggested in the satirical magazine Private Eye that Mulley was guilty of treason (then still a capital offence) for having slept with the Queen.

House of Lords

After retiring from the House of Commons in 1983, he was created a life peer as Baron Mulley, of Manor Park in the City of Sheffield on 30 January 1984,^[3] and he held a variety of directorial positions.

Legacy

A main road in the Lower Don Valley in Sheffield is named after him.

References

1. Worcestershire Regiment (29th/36th of Foot) Web site
2. "Election special: Who's hand on the wheel?". Autocar. 141 (nbr 4067): Pages 39–40. 5 October 1974.
3. The London Gazette: no. 49636. p. 1499. 2 February 1984.

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Fred Mulley