Humanists UK mourns Dick Taverne (1928-2025)

Humanists UK is deeply saddened by the death of Liberal Democrat peer Lord Taverne, a lifelong humanist, patron of Humanists UK, and former Vice-Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Humanist Group (APPHG), aged 97.

Born in 1928, Dick Taverne was educated at Charterhouse before studying philosophy and ancient history at Balliol College, Oxford. He became a lawyer, then an MP, and later a minister from 1966 to 1970. His political career was marked by conviction and a refusal to compromise on principle. Initially a Labour MP and minister in the 1960s, he was deselected from his seat in 1972 over his pro-European views and so resigned from the Party and his seat and won the subsequent by-election as an independent – a historic victory against the party machine. He later lost it in 1974 but in 1981 joined and became a leading figure in the new Social Democratic Party (SDP), which merged with the Liberal Party in 1988 to become the Liberal Democrats. He then sat as a Lib Dem life peer from 1996 until his death. In the early 1970s, he became the founding Director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, and in 1993 founded the think tank Public Policy Centre, which later became the consultancy Prima Europe, specialising in economic and political analysis.

Taverne’s commitment to rationalism was most clearly seen in his tireless advocacy for science. In 2002, he founded the charity Sense About Science, dedicated to advancing public understanding of science and promoting evidence-based policymaking. His 2005 book, The March of Unreason: Science, Democracy and the New Fundamentalism, directly challenged what he saw as a rising tide of irrationality in Western society. In recognition of this work, he was named Parliamentary Science Communicator of the Year in 2005.

Humanism was an important part of Taverne’s personal and professional life. In 2007, the peer delivered Humanists UK’s prestigious Voltaire Lecture on the question ‘Are science and religion incompatible?’ He served for many years as Vice-Chair of the APPHG, where he consistently championed evidence and reason in public policy. He was a fierce advocate for the legalisation of assisted dying, ending religious segregation in schools, and legal recognition of humanist marriage. He also took a keen interest in overseas persecution of the non-religious, the discriminatory treatment sometimes faced by non-religious asylum seekers to the UK, and the impact of blasphemy laws around the world. He challenged the state funding of homeopathy and campaigned for more people to get vaccinated against Covid during the pandemic. Another key campaign for him was to reform Parliament to make it more secular and democratic, including by removing the 26 bishops who sit in the Lords.

He only stopped being an APPHG Vice-Chair in 2024 because the rules for APPGs were changed such that there could only be at most four officers, though his advancing years had in practice made him inactive in the Lords since 2022. He retired as a peer in April.

Lord Taverne’s firm belief in reason was perhaps best summarised in his own words:

‘Science, with all the benefits it brings, is an essential part of a civilised and democratic society: it offers the most hopeful future for humankind.’

Commenting on Lord Taverne’s death, Andrew Copson said:

‘Dick was an exemplary peer and voice for the humanist movement. His relentless campaigning in parliament against what he called “the march of unreason” will leave a lasting legacy on public life. We’re very grateful for his support as a patron and for his wisdom and service to the cause of liberal, open, and rational public policy. He will be missed by all of us for his friendship and counsel.’