Conrad Russell, 67; British Politician Who Advocated for the Poor

Liberal historian and politician Conrad Russell, 67, son of philosopher Bertrand Russell, has died. Russell died Thursday after a long illness, announced the Liberal Democrats, the party he represented in Parliament.

Russell, who had been estranged from his father for many years, gained a reputation as a defender of the disenfranchised during his time in the House of Lords. In 1997, he admonished Prime Minister Tony Blair for saying he didn’t give money to beggars.

Blair “should remember that need may happen to anyone,” Russell wrote In a letter to the Daily Telegraph. “If, after Mr. Blair has reformed the welfare state and gone out of office at the moment his pension fund goes broke, I find him at King’s Cross chanting ‘give a tenner to Tony,’ I will give to him, even if my gorge rises at it.”

Russell sat in the House of Lords as Earl Russell, a title he inherited from his half brother in 1987. The first Earl Russell, Conrad’s great-grandfather, was Lord John Russell, a 19th century Liberal prime minister.

Russell also taught history at Yale University and the University of London, specializing in the 17th century and the English Civil War. He wrote several books, including “The Causes of the English Civil War,” “The Fall of the British Monarchies” and “An Intelligent Person’s Guide To Liberalism.”