Arthur Gore, 8th Earl of Arran

Arthur Kattendyke Strange David Archibald Gore, 8th Earl of Arran (5 July 1910 – 23 February 1983), styled Lord Arran, was a British columnist and politician who served as the Conservative whip in the House of Lords. He is known for leading the effort in the House of Lords to decriminalise male homosexuality in 1967.

Early life and education

Gore was the second son of Arthur Gore, 6th Earl of Arran and Maud Jacqueline Marie Beauclerk, only daughter of 3rd Baron Huyssen van Kattendyke of Kattendijke, Zeeland, Holland. He was affectionately known as "Boofy".

He was educated at Eton and Balliol College, Oxford.

Career

During the Second World War, Gore worked first as a press attaché at the British Legion in Bern (1939–45) and at the British Embassy in Lisbon (1941–42). He was deputy director of the overseas general division of the Ministry of Information (1943–45) and was secretariat director at the Central Office of Information (1945–49).

In 1958 on the death of his elder bachelor brother, the 7th Earl of Arran, Gore succeeded to the title, and became an active member of the House of Lords.

His brother had been homosexual, and Arran was the sponsor in the House of Lords of Labour MP Leo Abse's 1967 private member's bill which, as the Sexual Offences Act 1967, decriminalised homosexual acts between two consenting adult men. He was of the opinion that "no amount of legislation will prevent homosexuals from being the subject of dislike and derision, or at best of pity". He also sponsored a bill for the protection of badgers, and was once asked why this effort had failed whereas decriminalising homosexuality had succeeded. Arran is reported to have replied: "There are not many badgers in the House of Lords."