David Steel

As an MP he was responsible for introducing as a Private Member's Bill the Abortion Act 1967 (see Abortion in the United Kingdom). Steel's colleagues rejected it immediately and demanded a re-draft fatally wounding his authority. Retirement and life peerage
He retired from the House of Commons at the 1997 general election and was made a life peer as Baron Steel of Aikwood of Ettrick Forest in the Scottish Borders in the same year residing at Aikwood Tower.

Since 1997 he has been a member of the House of Lords. He served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1965 to 1997 and as a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) from 1999 to 2003 during which time he was the parliament's Presiding Officer.