COTTER, The Rt Hon Baron (Brian Joseph Michael COTTER) 1936 - 2023

[Henry W]

From Hansard of 14 November 2023

The Lord Speaker (Lord McFall of Alcluith)

My Lords, I regret to inform the House of the death of the noble Lord, Lord Cotter, this morning. On behalf of the House, I extend our condolences to the noble Lord’s family and friends.

Created a Life Peer in 2006.  He sat as a Lib Dem. Former MP 1997 - 2005.  He m 1963 Eyleen Patricia WADE and had issue: 2 sons, 1 dau (all m with issue).

[Richard R]

Obit in the Times of 22 Nov 2023:

E X T R A C T

Lord Cotter obituary

Lib Dem peer who represented Weston-super-Mare as an MP and campaigned to have Jeffrey Archer deprived of his title

Being an MP is testing enough, but things are even harder when an ­ennobled perjurer has the name of your constituency in his title. Brian Cotter, who for eight years represented ­Weston-super-Mare for the Liberal Democrats, was none too happy about Lord Archer of Weston-super-Mare and the ignominy that the politician-turned-novelist-turned-criminal brought ­upon the Somerset seaside town.

Tabling a Commons early day ­motion in 2002, Cotter called for parliamentary rules to be changed to allow jailed peers not only to be expelled from the Lords but also deprived of their ­titles, adding: “He is pulling down the town’s name because he continues to call himself Lord Archer of Weston- super-Mare.”…

…Cotter was finally ousted [as an MP] in 2005 by John Penrose and the resurgent Tories. “I went to the House of Commons on Tuesday after election day,” he recalled gloomily, “and was given notice to be out two days later, on Thursday.” A year after losing his seat, Cotter was made a life peer, by way of consolation.

Brian Joseph Michael Cotter was born in London in 1936, the younger of two sons of Michael Cotter, a doctor who hailed from Weston-super-Mare, and his Irish-born wife Mary (née ­Nugent), who had previously worked in a bank in Dublin; his brother Niall spent much of his life in Nigeria and pre­deceased him….

…In 1963 he married Eyleen Wade, an occupational therapist. She survives him with their three children: Nicholas, a lawyer, Dominic, who works for BBC Radio Gloucestershire, and Isabel, who works at a hospital.

Despite his best efforts, Cotter never did succeed in separating the good name of Weston-super-Mare from that of Jeffrey Archer.

Lord Cotter, Lib Dem MP for Weston-super-Mare, 1997-2005, was born on August 24, 1936. He died from complications of dementia on November 14, 2023, aged 87

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/lord-cotter-obituary-vkmf5ncqk