Evan Luard

Luard was educated at King's College School, Cambridge,^[1] Felsted School and King's College, Cambridge, where he gained a First in Part I of the Modern Languages tripos.^[2] In 1950, Luard joined the Foreign Service, and after learning Chinese he was stationed in Peking from 1952 to 1954. In 1956 he resigned from the diplomatic service in protest of Britain's involvement in the Suez Crisis.

He became a research fellow at St Antony's College, Oxford, in 1957, where he was able to research Chinese relations with Britain. He was a Labour councillor on Oxford City Council from 1958 to 1961.

Having first contested the seat in 1964, Luard was elected as the Labour Party Member of Parliament (MP) for Oxford in 1966.^[3] He served as MP until 1970 and again from October 1974 to 1979. He was the only Labour member ever to represent the constituency in its original form. He served as a Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Foreign Office from 1969 to 1970 and again from 1976 until Labour left power in 1979.

Luard joined the SDP soon after its formation, and contested the 1983 general election for the party in the newly formed constituency of Oxford West and Abingdon. He was de-selected as candidate in 1987 in favour of Chris Huhne.