David Steel

The Right Honourable The Lord Steel of Aikwood KT KBE PC
Official portrait, 2020
Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament
In office 12 May 1999 – 7 May 2003
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Deputy	Patricia Ferguson George Reid Murray Tosh
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	George Reid
Leader of the Liberal Democrats
In office 3 March 1988 – 16 July 1988 Serving with Robert Maclennan
Preceded by	Himself (Lib.Tooltip Liberal Party (UK)) Robert Maclennan (SDPTooltip Social Democratic Party (UK))
Succeeded by	Paddy Ashdown
Leader of the Liberal Party
In office 7 July 1976 – 16 July 1988
Deputy	John Pardoe (1976–1979) Alan Beith (1985–1988)
President	List Basil Goldstone Gruffydd Evans Michael Steed Richard Holme Viv Bingham John Griffiths Geoff Tordoff Alan Watson David Penhaligon Des Wilson Adrian Slade
Preceded by	Jo Grimond (acting)
Succeeded by	Paddy Ashdown (Leader of the Social and Liberal Democrats)
Chief Whip of the Liberal Party
In office 18 June 1970 – 7 July 1976
Leader	Jeremy Thorpe Jo Grimond
Preceded by	Eric Lubbock
Succeeded by	Cyril Smith
Parliamentary offices Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal Life peerage 6 June 1997 – 27 March 2020 Member of the Scottish Parliament for Lothians (1 of 7 Regional MSPs) In office 6 May 1999 – 31 March 2003 Member of Parliament for Tweeddale, Ettrick, and Lauderdale Roxburgh, Selkirk, and Peebles (1965–1983) In office 25 March 1965 – 8 April 1997 Preceded by Charles Donaldson Succeeded by Michael Moore
Personal details
Born	David Martin Scott Steel (1938-03-31) 31 March 1938 (age 86) Kirkcaldy, Scotland
Political party	Independent (since 2020)
Other political affiliations	Liberal Democrats (1988–2020) Liberal (until 1988)
Spouse	Judith MacGregor ​ (m. 1962)​
Children	3
Parent	David Steel
Alma mater	University of Edinburgh
Signature

David Martin Scott Steel, Baron Steel of Aikwood, KT, KBE, PC (born 31 March 1938) is a retired Scottish politician.^[1] Elected as Member of Parliament for Roxburgh, Selkirk, and Peebles, followed by Tweeddale, Ettrick, and Lauderdale, he served as the final leader of the Liberal Party, from 1976 to 1988. His tenure spanned the duration of the alliance with the Social Democratic Party, which began in 1981 and concluded with the formation of the Liberal Democrats in 1988.^[1]

Steel served as a Member of the UK Parliament for 32 years, from 1965 to 1997, and as a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) from 1999 to 2003, during which time he was the parliament's Presiding Officer. He was a member of the House of Lords as a life peer from 1997 to 2020. Steel resigned from the House of Lords after the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse accused him of an "abdication of responsibility" over his failure to investigate allegations of child sex abuse against the former Liberal MP Sir Cyril Smith.^[2]