OBITUARY:
Lord David Lipsey, a distinguished political adviser, journalist and House of Lords member, has died aged 77 after swimming in the River Wye near Glasbury, Powys. His body was recovered on 1 July by Dyfed–Powys Police. Born in Dorset in April 1948, Lipsey was educated at Bryanston and gained a first in PPE from Magdalen College, Oxford. He began his career advising Labour politicians including Anthony Crosland and Prime Minister Jim Callaghan in the 1970s. He is credited with coining “New Labour” and the phrase “winter of discontent.”
After leaving Number 10, Lipsey pivoted to journalism. He held prominent editorial roles at The Economist (as the “Bagehot” columnist), The Times, The Sunday Times, The Guardian, also being involved with the co-founding of the Sunday Correspondent and he received a Special Orwell Prize in 1997 for his work. In 1999, Tony Blair appointed him as a life peer, Baron Lipsey of Tooting Bec and in the House of Lords, he served on numerous commissions, including electoral reform and elderly care, and chaired both the All‑Party Group on Classical Music and the Greyhound Racing Board.
Lipsey also supported harness racing and animal welfare, leading the British Harness Racing Club and the Greyhound Trust. He was a patron of the Glasbury Arts Festival and held trusteeships in arts and conservation charities. Keir Starmer described him as “loved and respected by so many” and “worked tirelessly for what he believed in.”
Lipsey was 77 years old and is survived by his wife Margaret.