Leon Brittan

Leon Brittan, Baron Brittan of Spennithorne, PC, QC, DL (25 September 1939 – 21 January 2015), was a British barrister and Conservative politician who represented Cleveland and Whitby as a Member of Parliament from February 1974 to 1983 and Richmond from 1983 to 1988, served as Home Secretary from 1983 to 1985 and Secretary of State for Trade and Industry from 1985 to 1986, before becoming a European Commissioner for Competition from 1989 to 1993 and for Trade from 1995 to 1999.

Leon Brittan was born on 25 September 1939 in North London to Joseph Brittan, a doctor, and his wife Rebecca (née Lipetz). His parents were Lithuanian Jews who migrated to Britain in the 1930s, escaping rising antisemitism in their homeland ahead of the Second World War.

Brittan grew up in a middle-class household in North London, where he was raised in the Orthodox Jewish tradition. His father, having qualified as a medical practitioner after arriving as a refugee, provided a stable professional environment that valued education and professional success.

As the younger brother of Samuel Brittan, later a noted economics commentator, Leon was exposed from an early age to intellectual debates on free-market principles and limited government, amid the post-war dominance of Labour policies in Britain. This family milieu, rooted in the self-made achievements of Jewish immigrants, contributed to his emerging conservative inclinations favoring individual enterprise over collectivism.