Richard Lawrence Leonard (12 December 1930 – 24 June 2021) was a British writer, journalist and Labour politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Romford from 1970 to 1974.

[2] He was a pro-European social democrat and had been a supporter of the late Labour foreign secretary Anthony Crosland, who championed Gaitskellism.

[4] He attended Ealing Grammar School and the Institute of Education, University of London, where he acquired a teacher training qualification (he had been awarded a place to study at the London School of Economics, but lost it after refusing to abide by the stipulation that he complete National Service prior to matriculation).

[6] Leonard stood down at the subsequent February 1974 general election, when there were major changes made to his constituency boundaries, which saw Romford gained by the Conservatives even as Labour was returned to power.

However, in January 1982 he announced that he had recently decided to join the Social Democratic Party (SDP) because he felt that Labour "had grievously lost its way.

[5] In 2021, Leonard wrote to his local newspaper, the Camden New Journal, to say that whilst he would give his first preference vote in the London mayoral election to Labour's incumbent Sadiq Khan, he would be giving his second preference to Richard Hewison, a candidate standing under the slogan 'Rejoin EU: Brexit is broken'.

[11] Leonard had written or co-authored a number of books on contemporary and historical British politics, particularly focusing on Britain's prime ministers.

His 2020 book British Prime Ministers from Walpole to Salisbury: The 18th and 19th Centuries was well received by fellow authors Patrick Diamond and David Marquand.