Born in 1936 to George Penkivil Slade (a kinsman of
Sir Benjamin Slade), he was educated at
Eton College before going up to
Trinity College, Cambridge. At
Cambridge, he became President of the
Footlights, and famously recruited
Peter Cook. Slade was a
Liberal Party parliamentary candidate in the 1960s and 1970s, contesting
Putney in
1966,
February 1974 and
October 1974. He stood as an
SDP–Liberal Alliance candidate for
Wimbledon in
1987. He scored an upset electoral victory in the
1981 elections to the
Greater London Council (GLC), winning the
Richmond seat from the
Conservative Edward Leigh by just 115 votes. He became Leader of the SDP–Liberal Alliance group on the GLC, and remained so until the GLC's dissolution in 1986. He was the last
President of the Liberal Party, from 1987 to 1988, conducting its merger negotiations with the
SDP, Slade then served as a Vice-President of the
Liberal Democrats (1988–89). Slade was also known within Liberal Party circles as a pianist and singer, talents which he shared with his brother
Julian Slade. His eldest brother,
Sir Christopher Slade, was a Lord Justice of Appeal (1982–91) and his sister was Pauline Hamilton-Russell. Slade had two children, Nicola and Rupert, with his wife Sue (). He died on 24 January 2025, at the age of 88. == References ==