Desmond Plummer (Lord Plummer of St Marylebone), who has died aged 95, led the Greater London council from 1967 to 1973. He was a traditional Conservative moderate who had also been a member of the former London county council, towards the end of its life when it was dominated by the Labour party, led by proteges of Herbert Morrison.
Plummer was the first non-Labour politician to run the capital since 1934, and the longest-serving leader of the GLC. While Harold Wilson's Labour government unleashed new social and economic forces in Britain, the capital was dominated by the Conservatives. After Plummer's win in 1967, the Tories went on to inflict a heavy defeat on Labour in borough elections during the spring of 1968, paving the way for Edward Heath's general election victory in 1970.
Born in Temple Fortune, north London, Plummer went to school at Hurstpierpoint college, West Sussex, and then trained at the College of Estate Management, Reading, Berkshire. He served in the Royal Engineers from 1938 to 1946 before pursuing a career as a surveyor and estate manager.
In 1952 he was elected to the then St Marylebone borough council, serving as mayor in 1958-59. In 1960, he was also elected as the London county council member for St Marylebone, holding the seat until the council's abolition in 1965. He was one of the original members of the GLC in 1964, representing first the cities of London and Westminster, then, from 1973 to 1976, St Marylebone. In 1966 he succeeded Sir Percy Rugg as Conservative leader, taking the party to victory the following year and thus becoming leader of the council.
As leader, Plummer was fond of driving about the city in a gold-coloured Mini Cooper, implying a modernity much in keeping with the times. His administration at County Hall promoted the "motorway box" solution to London's worsening traffic congestion. The idea of a series of ring roads at increasing distances from the city centre had long been promoted by the then Ministry of Transport. Bitter opposition was aroused by the GLC's "ringway" policies, and the anti-roads lobby was born.
Only the East Cross route, near Bow, and a section of the West Cross route between the A40 Westway elevated dual carriageway and Shepherds Bush were constructed, although eventually the M25 would follow. The GLC was, in part, seen as an institution that could deliver an ambitious road system for London of the kind that Robert Moses had attempted in New York. Plummer's name remains on commemorative plaques on both the Blackwall tunnel, in east London, and the Westway.
Carnaby Street in the West End was pedestrianised during his period of office. Efforts were also made to remove all traffic from Bond Street and Oxford Street, though neither fully succeeded. Covent Garden market was moved south of the river to Vauxhall. The GLC at this time pioneered the policy of selling council homes to sitting tenants, an idea that would come to national fruition during Margaret Thatcher's government.
Plummer's administration considered road pricing, while Plummer himself saw electric cars as offering a solution to pollution. In 1970 the transport minister, Barbara Castle, transferred London Transport to the GLC, allowing plans to be advanced to extend the tube to Heathrow and to build the Fleet (eventually Jubilee) line. Studies were undertaken into exotic plans for a monorail along Regent Street and an underground freight railway. The beautifully named Operation Moondrop attempted to keep roads clear by restricting deliveries to night-time. Plummer also tried to introduce a London-wide lottery, though the idea was killed off in the House of Lords.
He had done rather well out of the Wilson government and his relationship with Heath was not particularly close, even though London had blazed a trail for the Conservatives nationally. The best-known story about their relationship concerns an occasion when, having been stuck in traffic in Whitehall, en route from No 10 to the Commons, Heath crossly demanded to speak to Plummer, who happened to be in Tokyo. Plummer used the ensuing telephone call to tell the prime minister that the jams would have been eased if only the government had funded the GLC's road programme. The carefully leaked row became front-page news in the following day's London Evening Standard.
During his time as leader of the GLC, Plummer took on various public appointments, including membership of a number of bodies in the arts, transport and planning. He also sat on the court of the University of London.
After Labour took control of the GLC in 1973, he served as leader of the opposition for a year before resigning (he remained a council member until 1976). He returned to his property interests and became chairman of the Horserace Betting Levy Board (1974-82) and of the National Stud (1975-82), maintaining his long interest in horseracing. He was an outstanding swimmer, loved cricket (he lived latterly in St John's Wood, near Lord's) and was president of the London Anglers' Association for many years. From 1983 to 1990, he was chairman of the Portman Building Society, later serving as president.
Knighted in 1971, Plummer was made a peer in 1981 and attended the House of Lords regularly. From there he spoke out in opposition to the abolition of the GLC during the mid-1980s. He continued to drive in to Westminster from his home, even in old age.
In 2007 the London School of Economics held a seminar at City Hall, hosted by Ken Livingstone, to mark the 40th anniversary of Plummer's election win. Many former GLC and LCC members were able to look back at the city's development since the 1960s. In a public conversation with the local government analyst George Jones, Plummer reminisced about leading the capital during an extraordinary period. Livingstone, himself a traditionalist, took great care of his frail predecessor.
Plummer's death represents a further break between contemporary London government and the postwar era. Local government leaders at that time presided over a city that was losing its population and, in relative terms, its economic dominance. The docks declined precipitously during the 1960s and 1970s. Today, with another Conservative running a very different system of government, the capital faces new challenges. Plummer embodied moderate Conservatism during a period of radical economic and social change.
His wife, Pat, died in 1998 after 57 years of marriage. He is survived by a daughter.