The Fonds of Lord Plumb

Biography

Charles Henry Plumb was born in Warwickshire, United Kingdom, on 27 March 1925. He was a farmer and politician, titled the Baron of Coleshill in the County of Warwickshire. He held a number of honorary doctorates, including Honorary Doctorates of Science from the Cranfield Institute of Technology, the De Montfort University and the Silsoe College of Technology, an Honorary Doctor of Law from the University of Warwick and an Honorary Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Gloucestershire. He was also named an Honorary Member of the European Parliament and a Member of the House of Lords in the UK.

Lord Plumb passed away on 15 April 2022.

Political Posts Held

•    1964-1965: Vice-President of the National Farmers' Union of England and Wales (NFU)
•    1966-1969: Deputy President of the NFU
•    1970-1979: President of the NFU
•    1973: Knighted by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
•    1975-1977: President of the Committee of Agricultural Organizations in the European Community (COPA)
•    1979-1982: President of the International Federation of Agricultural Producers
•    1979-1999: Member of the European Parliament for the Cotswolds
•    1979-1982: Chairman of the EP Committee of Agriculture of the EP
•    1982-1987: Chairman of the European Democratic Group
•    1987-1989: President of the European Parliament
•    1987-2000: Chairman, International Policy Council on Agriculture, Food & Trade (IPC)
•    1987: Became Baron of Coleshill in the County of Warwickshire
•    1994-1997: Vice-President of the European People's Party
•    1994-1997: Leader of the British Conservatives in the European Parliament
•    1994-1999: Co-President of the ACP/EU Joint Assembly
•    1999: Honorary Member of the European Parliament
•    2001-2006: Chairman of the Assembly of Former Members of the European Parliament

What's in the Archives

The archives of Lord Plumb's Office to date contain over 1,800 files with more than 14,900 items. These documents are arranged in files relating to specific procedures and in accordance with the various activities carried out during the President's term of office.

Public Figure

PE2 P2 100/PERS

This group of series is made up of seven series on subjects relating to the President as a public figure. The largest series are those relating to sponsorships and events, media image, defence of human rights and, lastly, exchanges with private individuals.

Presidency of Parliament

PE2 P2 200/PRES

This group of series is made up of eight series relating to the President's political duties.

The first series, 'Exercise of the presidency', refers to the president's activities during Strasbourg part-sessions and also with the Bureau and the enlarged Bureau. This series also reflects the various events and meetings that punctuated Lord Plumb's term of office, such as hearings and courtesy visits, receptions of prominent personalities and official visits. The four following series cover the President's various relations: interinstitutional (Council, Commission and other Community bodies), interparliamentary (Member States and third countries), external (Member States, third countries, international organisations, national political parties and trade unions, etc.), with the press, and with citizens (in particular requests for subsidies, appeals for the defence of human rights, and EP and Community activities).

The second-last series contains documents concerning relations with some of the European Parliament's political bodies such as the College of Quaestors, parliamentary committees and delegations, and political groups. The final series relates more specifically to the President's Office, chiefly from the point of view of its organisation, functioning, and mail (filed chronologically in terms of incoming and outgoing).

Secretariat of Parliament

PE2 P2 300/SECR

This group of series presents documents relating to the administrative and legal duties of the President's Office, i.e. its relations with the various directorates-general and the Legal Service. The largest series covers relations with the Legal Adviser, but also with directorates-general: DG Information and public relations, DG Administration, personnel and finance (in particular the series of 'Personal files', 'Job vacancies and filling vacant posts' and 'Protocol'), and, finally, DG Research and documentation.

Representation of staff and political groups

PE2 P2 400/CPGP

This final series contains the series concerning relations with the Staff Committee, the unions and, finally, the secretariat of the political groups.

Annex

Finally, a last, annexed collection relates to the World Food Conference (Brussels, 7-8 April 1988).

Reflections of Former Presidents of the European Parliament: Lord Plumb

On reflecting on the key moments of my presidency of the EP, my mind immediately went back to the election which preceded it, simply because it was an exciting, close-run thing. My rival – and eventual successor in post – Enrique Baron Crespo and I both ran campaigns which were energetic but which contained no element of personal rancour or invective.

After my victory, by the slim margin of five votes, we could remain friends, holding differing views on the details of ‘Europe’ , but with a common commitment to making its institutions work in the service of the peoples of our continent. I believe that is the way our politics, at whatever level, should always function, and regret that they seldom do.

The former EP President Lord Plumb (L) congratulates his newly elected colleague, Enrique Barón Crespo (R). © European Communities 1989

Every President of the EP since 1979 can say that their period in office coincided with a time of important change. That is a reflection of the fact that our institution, and indeed political Europe as a whole, has been constantly evolving.

Critics may argue over the ideal balance between the deepening and widening aspects of that process, but what is undeniable is that both have taken place and, however imperfect each stage has been, great progress has been achieved.

My key moments as President were linked to one of those crucially important evolutionary stages in the history of the Parliament and of the Union, namely the Single European Act (SEA).

After a period of comparative stagnation in the early 1980s, the ‘Big Idea’ which pulled Europe forward was the development, via the Single European Act (SEA) from a common market towards an integrated economy, which in turn led in the direction of the Union and the subsequent evolutionary stages.

Plenary session in Strasbourg in November 1988 © European Communities 1988 – European Parliament

I am proud that the Parliament had played a significant role in making the case for the single market and when the SEA came into force, just six months after I became President, I knew that a new era had begun in Parliament. Within a very short time, draft legislation under the new two-readings dispensation would begin to arrive and would have to be dealt with expeditiously and efficiently, if our institution was not to lose the opportunity of demonstrating our growing maturity. This required swift re-organisation at both political and administrative levels. A much more sophisticated legislative programme had to be put in place and the sectoral parliamentary committees, suitably staffed, focused on the new, tight timetables.

All this was terra incognita for all concerned, members and officials alike, and the fact that Parliament managed successfully to adapt to the new arrangements with only a very few roughnesses I consider a real achievement.

I recall three moments thereafter which I believe demonstrate that the world outside had taken notice of the progress achieved and had begun to take on board the fact that ‘Europe’ was no longer a collection of countries, but a more-than-embryonic entity, which had to be taken seriously.

Perhaps the most important of these was a presidential visit to the Soviet Union, whose leadership had decided to recognise the Community as such and to develop relations between the Supreme Soviet and the EP. We were not to know at the time that the end of the Communist empire was but a few years away, but it was obvious from my discussions with President Augusts Voss of the Supreme Soviet and with the State President, Andrei Gromyko, that part of the changes that were already underway in Moscow involved a new policy which accorded greater importance to the European Community and to the EP.

Meeting with Andrei Gromyko, Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, in the Kremlin during a visit of a delegation of the EP headed by Lord Plumb, President of the EP to Moscow accompanied by Robert Ramsay. © European Union 2019 – European Parliament

The second such moment was my attendance at a meeting of South American heads of Government in San Juan de Costa Rica. They were striving, much as the European ‘Founding Fathers’ had done some thirty years before, to create institutions through which common objectives could be achieved. (The Andean Parliament and Mercosur were two of the fruits of these efforts.) What struck me most was the admiration which those leaders had for the European enterprise and their appreciation of the degree of success we had already secured. Our adventure had been unique in political history and we had become a role model for others.

The third key moment which I recall was the visit of Pope John-Paul to address a Plenary Session of the EP. It became famous for the dramatic confrontation between the visitor and the Rev. Ian Paisley. This was a duel which was a gift to the tabloid press, even though it lasted but a few seconds, and, since I had anticipated it, the incident was always under control. But the underlying importance of the visit was a further recognition, from outside the Community, that political and institutional Europe was a reality which had now to be taken account of in international relations.

These three memories of my presidency lead me, in conclusion, to draw attention to the paradox that the successes of the EU and its institutions are frequently more apparent to those looking at the Union from the outside. The challenge remains to make those successes more obvious to the citizens of Europe.