David Shutt steps down
The Liberal Democrat chief whip steps down
Baron Shutt of Greetland, the only Quaker in the government, has stepped down as Liberal Democrat chief whip in the upper chamber of Parliament on reaching the age of seventy.
A trained chartered accountant, he has been a lifelong activist and campaigner for the Liberal cause and stood for Parliament several times. He is an ex-chairman of the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust. He became a life peer in 2000.
A Yorkshireman and a Quaker, he is likely to have mixed feelings on standing down from his position.
As chief whip in the upper chamber he was, officially, called ‘Captain of the Queen’s Bodyguard of the Yeoman of the Guard’. This involved dressing up in a scarlet uniform trimmed with gold lace, bus-conductor-style trousers, bullion sash-tassels and a Ruritanian hat.
