Description

Admin History:

Christopher Price was born on 26 January 1932 in Leeds. He went to Leeds Grammar School and Queen's College, Oxford. After university, he acted as chair of the National Association of Labour Student Organisations during 1956. Having taught Classics at Sheffield and Southampton, he served as a councillor on Sheffield City Council from 1962 to 1966 and was deputy chairman of its education committee from 1963. Two years after contesting Shipley in 1964, he was elected in as Labour MP for Birmingham Perry Barr, which he held until June 1970, when he lost the seat to the Conservative Joseph Kinsey. He was the Secretary of State for Education, 1966 to 1967. Between 1966 and 1968 he was editor of New Education, acted as education correspondent for the New Statesman, 1968 - 1974 and was Thames Televisions' education correspondent, 1971 - 1974. Price also sat as a Member of the European Parliament, 1977 to 1978. In February 1974 he was elected as MP for Lewisham West, a seat he held until 1983. In the mid 1980s Price was appointed as director of Leeds Polytechnic which, after becoming Leeds Metropolitan University in 1992, awarded him an honorary degree in 1994. Between 1994 and 1995, he was Chairman of the New Statesman, and was a founding member of the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles. He was also Chairman of the National Youth Bureau and Yorkshire Arts; co-Chairman of the Freedom of Information Campaign and a member of the Arts Council. He married Anne Grierson in June 1956. Christopher Price died on 21 February 2015.

Description:

This collection mainly covers Christopher Price's time as MP for Birmingham Perry Bar, as well various campaigns for criminal justice.

For Christopher Price as MP for Birmingham Perry Bar, there is Constituents' Correspondence for Birmingham [U DMP/1-6, closed under Data Protection Act] as well as subject files, both for local and national issues [U DMP/7-27].

The collection also includes files regarding education in London [U DMP/30-33, 73-75], particularly for a campaign against the presence of a student who was a member of the National Front while studying at the Polytechnic of North London [U DMP/30] and regarding sit-ins at the Guildford School of Art in 1968-9 [U DMP/33].

A large part of the collection relates to criminal justice campaigns which were ongoing while Price was MP for Lewisham West [U DMP/34-70]. Specifically there is material for:

- The Colonel B Case and Cyprus [U DMP/34-37]

- The Confait Case (the murder of Maxwell Confait in 1970. Includes the Fisher Inquiry and campaign for compensation for Colin Lattimore), [U DMP/38-43, 46, 50]

- Guildford Four [U DMP/44-45, 47-49, 51]

- General reports and reviews on criminal justice [U DMP/52-57]

- Committee of Privileges files [U DMP/59-61]

- The May Inquiry [U DMP/58, 62-70]

There is also material for Christopher Price's campaign for the Lewisham West seat in 1974 [U DMP/71], his appointment at Leeds Polytechnic in the mid-1980s [U DMP/72], and a significant volume of press cuttings [articles written by Price, U DMP/76-118].