Bill Rodgers

William Thomas Rodgers, Baron Rodgers of Quarry Bank, PC (born 28 October 1928), usually known as William Rodgers, but also often known as Bill Rodgers, is one of the \'Gang of Four\' of senior British Labour Party politicians who defected to form the Social Democratic Party (SDP). He subsequently helped to lead the SDP into the merger that formed the Liberal Democrats, and later served as that party\'s leader in the House of Lords.\n', '

Rodgers was born in Liverpool, Lancashire, and educated at Quarry Bank High School in Liverpool and at Magdalen College, Oxford. He was general secretary of the Fabian Society 1953–1960 and a councillor on St. Marylebone Borough Council 1958–62. He also fought a by-election at Bristol West in 1957.\n', '

Rodgers first entered the British House of Commons at a by-election in 1962, and served in Labour Governments under Harold Wilson and James Callaghan…