What is John Roper, Baron Roper?
'''John Francis Hodgess Roper, Baron Roper''' (10 September 1935 &ndash; 29 January 2016) was a [[British people|British]] politician. Roper was elected [[Member of Parliament]] for [[Farnworth (UK Parliament constituency)|Farnworth]] in [[United Kingdom general election, 1970|1970]]. He sat as a [[Labour Co-operative]] MP from 1970 to 1981, and for the [[Social Democratic Party (UK)|Social Democratic Party]] (SDP) from 1981 to 1983, when he was also the party's [[Whip (politics)|Chief Whip]]. His Farnworth seat was then abolished, and he contested the seat of [[Worsley (UK Parliament constituency)|Worsley]] at the [[United Kingdom general election, 1983|1983 general election]]. He finished third in a three-way marginal election. On 12 May 2000, he was created a [[life peer]] as '''Baron Roper''', of [[Thorney Island (London)|Thorney Island]] in the [[City of Westminster]].<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=55850 |date=17 May 2000 |page=5419}}</ref> He was the [[Liberal Democrats|Liberal Democrat]] Chief Whip in the [[House of Lords]] until 2005. He was then appointed to the [[Privy Council of the United Kingdom]]. In 2008, he was elected Principal Deputy [[Chairman of Committees (House of Lords)|Chairman of Committees]]. He retired from the House of Lords on 23 May 2015.<ref>http://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/lords/retired-lords/ Retired members of the House of Lords</ref> Roper died on 29 January 2016 after a long illness. He was aged 80.<ref>{{cite news| url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-35443826 | title= Ex-Liberal Democrat chief whip Lord Roper dies aged 80| publisher=[[BBC]] | date= 29 January 2016| access-date=29 January 2016}}</ref> ==References== {{reflist}} ==Other websites== *[http://www.libdems.org.uk/party/people/mr-lord-roper.html Lord Roper] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060112014154/http://www.libdems.org.uk/party/people/mr-lord-roper.html |date=2006-01-12 }} profile at the site of Liberal Democrats *[http://www.roperld.com/RoperLord.htm Who's Who 20