Dingle Foot

Sir Dingle Mackintosh Foot (1905-1978), British politician, was born in Plymouth in Devon. His father, Isaac Foot, was a solicitor, an active member of the Liberal Party and Liberal Member of Parliament for Bodmin in Cornwall 1922-1924 and 1929-1935. His brother, Michael Foot, was a prominent figure in the Labour Party and was Leader of the Opposition 1981-1983. His other brother Hugh Foot (later Lord Caradon, father of campaigning journalist Paul Foot) was also active in politics and represented the United Kingdom at the United Nations from 1964-1970.

Dingle Foot was educated at Balliol College, Oxford, and was called to the bar in 1930. From 1931 to 1945 he was Liberal MP for Dundee. He was Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Economic Warfare in Winston Churchill's wartime coalition, and a member of the British delegation to San Francisco Conference in 1945. At the 1945 election he lost his seat to Labour.

Foot left the Liberal Party and joined the Labour Party in 1956. He was Labour MP for Ipswich 1957-1970. He became Solicitor-General in the government of Harold Wilson and was knighted in 1964. In 1970 he was again defeated, this time by the Conservative Party. His publications included Despotism in Disguis (1937) and British Political Crises (1976).