William Whitelaw , 1st Viscount Whitelaw William Stephen Ian Whitelaw , 1st Viscount Whitelaw , KT , CH , MC , PC , DL ( 28 June 1918 – 1 July 1999 ) , often known as Willie Whitelaw , was a British Conservative Party politician who served in a wide number of Cabinet positions , most notably as Home Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister . Early life . Whitelaw was born in Nairn , in northeast Scotland . He never knew his father , who was killed in the First World War when he was a baby . He was educated at Winchester College and Trinity College , Cambridge , where he won a blue for golf and joined the Officer Training Corps . By chance he was in a summer camp in 1939 on the outbreak of the Second World War and was granted a regular , not wartime , commission in the British Army , in the Scots Guards , later serving in the 6th Guards Tank Brigade , a separate unit from the Guards Armoured Division . He commanded Churchill tank s in Normandy during the Second World War and during Operation Bluecoat in late July 1944 , his was the first Allied unit to encounter German Jagdpanther tank destroyers , being attacked by three out of the twelve of these vehicles which were in Normandy . The battalion second - in - command was killed when his tank was hit in front of Whitelaw ' s eyes and Whitelaw succeeded to this position , holding it , with the rank of Major , throughout the advance through the Netherlands into Germany and until the end of the war . He was awarded the Military Cross for his actions at Caumont ; a photograph of Field - Marshal Bernard Montgomery pinning the medal to his chest appears in his memoirs . After the end of the war in Europe , Whitelaw ' s unit was to have taken part in the invasion of Japan but the Pacific War ended before this . Instead he was posted to Palestine , before leaving the army in 1946 to take care of the family estates of Gartshore and Woodhall in Lanarkshire , which he inherited on the death of his grandfather . Political career . After early defeats as a candidate for the constituency of East Dunbartonshire , he became Member of Parliament ( MP ) for Penrith and the Border at the 1955 general election , and represented that constituency for 28 years . He held his first government posts under Harold Macmillan as a Lord of the Treasury ( government whip ) between 1961 and 1962 and under Macmillan and then Sir Alec Douglas - Home as Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Labour between 1962 and 1964 . In 1964 Douglas - Home appointed him as Opposition Chief Whip . He was sworn of the Privy Council in January 1967 . Heath Government , 1970 – 1974 . When the Conservatives returned to power in 1970 under Edward Heath , Whitelaw was made Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons , with a seat in the cabinet . He became the first Secretary of State for Northern Ireland after the imposition of direct rule in March 1972 and he served in that capacity until November 1973 . During his time , in Northern Ireland he introduced Special Category Status for paramilitary prisoners . He attempted to negotiate with the Provisional Irish Republican Army with the then PIRA Chief of Staff Seán MacStiofáin in July 1972 . The talks ended in an agreement to change from a seven day truce , to an open - ended truce , which did not last long . As a briefing for prime minister Edward Heath later noted , Whitelaw " found the experience of meeting and talking to Mr MacStíofáin very unpleasant " . MacStiofáin in his memoir , complimented Whitelaw , saying he was the only Englishman ever to pronounce his name in Irish correctly . He left Northern Ireland in 1973 to become Secretary of State for Employment shortly before the Sunningdale Agreement was reached , to confront the National Union of Mineworkers over pay demands . The dispute was followed by the Conservative party losing the February 1974 general election . Also in 1974 , Whitelaw became a Companion of Honour . In opposition , 1974 – 1979 . Soon after Harold Wilson ' s Labour Party returned to government , Heath appointed Whitelaw as Deputy Leader of the Opposition and Chairman of the Conservative Party . After a second defeat in the October 1974 general election – during which Whitelaw had accused Harold Wilson of going " round and round the country stirring up apathy " , Heath was forced to call a leadership election in 1975 . Whitelaw loyally refused to run against Heath ; however , and to widespread surprise , Margaret Thatcher narrowly defeated Heath in the first round . Whitelaw stood in his place and lost convincingly , against Thatcher in the second round . The vote polarized along right - left lines , with in addition the region , experience and education of the MP having their effects . Whitelaw managed to maintain his position as Deputy Leader until the 1979 general election , when he was appointed Home Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister in Thatcher ' s new government . Home Secretary , 1979 – 1983 . Thatcher was a firm fan of Whitelaw ' s , and appointed him Home Secretary in her first Cabinet , later writing of him " Willie is a big man in character as well as physically . He wanted the success of the Government which from the first he accepted would be guided by my general philosophy . Once he had pledged his loyalty , he never withdrew it " . As Home Secretary , Whitelaw adopted a hard - line approach to law and order . He improved police pay and embarked upon a programme of extensive prison building . His four - year tenure in office , however , was generally perceived as a troubled one . His much vaunted " short , sharp shock " policy , whereby convicted young offenders were detained in secure units and subjected to quasi - military discipline won approval from the public but proved expensive to implement and largely ineffectual in stemming burgeoning crime rates . He was the British Home Secretary during the 6 day long Iranian Embassy siege in London , 30 April 1980 – 5 May 1980 . In March 1981 , he approved Wolverhampton council ' s 14 - day ban on political marches in the borough in response to a planned National Front demonstration there . Inner city decay , unemployment and the heavy - handed policing of ethnic minorities ( notably the application of the notorious sus law ) sparked major riots in London , Liverpool , Bristol and a spate of disturbances elsewhere . The Provisional IRA escalated its bombing campaign on England , and Whitelaw was personally embarrassed by the incident wherein a purportedly mentally ill man breached security at Buckingham Palace , gaining access to the Queen ' s Bedchamber . Leader of the House of Lords , 1983 – 1988 . Two days after the 1983 general election , Whitelaw received a hereditary peer age ( the first created for 18 years ) as Viscount Whitelaw , of Penrith in the County of Cumbria . Thatcher appointed him Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Lords . Lord Whitelaw faced many challenges in attempting to manage the House of Lords , facing a major defeat over abolition of the Greater London Council within a year of taking over . However , his patrician and moderate style appealed to Conservative peers and his tenure is considered a success . During his period as Deputy Prime Minister and Leader of the Lords , Margaret Thatcher relied on Whitelaw heavily , famously announcing that " every Prime Minister needs a Willie " . He chaired the " star chamber " committee that settled the annual disputes between the limited resources made available by Treasury and the spending demands of other government departments . It was Whitelaw who managed to dissuade Thatcher in November 1980 from going to Leeds to take charge of the Yorkshire Ripper investigation personally . Resignation . After a stroke in December 1987 , he was forced to resign . Some people , Nicholas Ridley , among them , argued that Whitelaw ' s retirement marked the beginning of the end of the Thatcher premiership , as he was no longer around as often to give sensible advice and to moderate her stance on issues , or to maintain a consensus of support in her own Cabinet and Parliamentary Party . Retirement and death . During his retirement and up until his death Lord Whitelaw was the Chairman of the Board of Governors at St Bees School , Cumbria . He was appointed a Knight of the Thistle in 1990 . He died of natural causes , aged 81 , in 1999 , survived by his wife of 56 years , Celia , Viscountess Whitelaw of Penrith ( born 1 January 1917 – 5 December 2011 ) , a World War II ATS , volunteer , philanthropist / charity worker and horticulturist . The couple had four daughters . Although Whitelaw was given a hereditary peerage , the title became extinct on his death as his daughters were unable to inherit . His home for many years was the mansion of Ennim just outside the village of Great Blencow near Penrith , Cumbria . He was buried at St . Andrew ' s Parish Church , Dacre , Cumbria .