Record

Code	DS/UK/13135
Name	Boothby; Lord; Robert (12 February 1900-16 July 1986); Baron Boothby, KBE; British Conservative politician
Variations of Name	Bob Boothby \| Robert John Graham Boothby
Dates	12 February 1900-16 July 1986
Gender	Male (cisgender)
Place of Birth/Origin	Edinburgh, Scotland (born)
Relationships	Son of Sir Robert Tuite Boothby and a cousin of Rosalind Grant (mother of the broadcaster Sir Ludovic Kennedy)
Biography	Robert Boothby was a British Conservative politician. Boothby was Parliamentary Private Secretary to Chancellor of the Exchequer Winston Churchill from 1926 to 1929. He helped launch the Popular Front in 1936. He held junior ministerial office as Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food in 194041. He was later forced to resign his post and go to the back benches for not declaring an interest when asking a parliamentary question. During the Second World War he joined the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve and served as a junior staff officer with Bomber Command, and later as a liaison officer with the Free French Forces, retiring with the rank of Flight Lieutenant. In 1950 he received the Legion of Honour for his latter services. During the 1950s, Boothby was a prominent advocate of decriminalizing homosexual acts between men. In his memoirs, he wrote that he was determined to "do something practical to remove the fear and misery in which many of our most gifted citizens were then compelled to live".

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