R. Leonard

Who is R. Leonard?

Richard Lawrence Leonard is a British writer and journalist, writing as Dick Leonard, and also a former British Labour politician. He is a pro-European social democrat and a disciple of the late Anthony Crosland. He is married to Irène Heidelberger-Leonard, a scholar of postwar German literature, and is the father of Mark Leonard, an expert on foreign policy, and Miriam Leonard, a classical scholar.

Dick Leonard was educated at the Institute of Education at London University. He was Deputy General Secretary of the Fabian Society from 1955 to 1960, when he became a freelance journalist and broadcaster. From 1968 to 1970 he was a Senior Research Fellow at Essex University.

He served as Member of Parliament for Romford from 1970 until the February 1974 general election, when there were major changes made to the constituency boundary. During his time in the House he was PPS to Anthony Crosland.

From 1974 to 1985 he was Assistant Editor of The Economist. He served as Europe Correspondent in Brussels for The Observer from 1989 to 1997. He remained in Brussels until 2009 and wrote on Belgian politics in The Bulletin, and on European affairs in The Guardian, the Financial Times, the Times Literary Supplement, European Voice, and other newspapers in several countries.