Alastair Kilmarnock, who has died recently in Spain at the age of 81, was the moving force behind the establishment of the Social Market Foundation and, from 1989 to 1990, its first director.
Alastair was an elegant and perceptive writer, particularly about Spain and the Andalucian town of Ronda, with which he fell in love in his twenties and where he lived for a large part of his life. Following the death of his father in 1975, the opportunity to participate in the House of Lords brought him, over the subsequent twenty years, to London much more.
Initially a cross-bencher, he joined the SDP at the time of its formation and served successively as health spokesman, chief whip and deputy leader in the Lords. Throughout his time in the Lords, he was recognised as a leading specialist in the areas of health and welfare; and as chairman of the All Party Group on AIDS from 1987 to 1996, he played an invaluable role in bringing parliamentary attention to every aspect of AIDS at that time.
When the SDP split following the 1987 general election, he was determined that ideas and public policy should not get lost in the party manoeuvrings. With the support of a few people, notably David Owen, Paul Hamlyn and David Sainsbury, he got the SMF off the ground, running it initially from the Primrose Hill house that he and his wife shared with Kingsley Amis.
As the SMF's influence and success quietly grew, disproportionately to the shoestring on which it was run, he passed the torch of director to Danny Finkelstein, but remained an energetic and enthusiastic contributor to, and editor of, SMF publications, including, as recently as 1999, The Social Market and the State. He remained until his death strongly interested in the fortunes of the SMF; and its continuing vibrant contribution to British public life and policy is a great legacy to a delightful, modest man of ideas.
Written by Viscount Tom Chandos, 24th March 2009