Air Marshal Lord Garden

Timothy Garden, air force officer and defence consultant: born Worcester 23 April 1944; Director of Defence Studies, RAF 1982-85; Station Commander, RAF Odiham 1985-87; Assistant Director, Defence Programmes 1987-88; Director, Air Force Staff Duties 1988-90; Assistant Chief of the Air Staff 1991-92; Assistant Chief of Defence Staff (Programmes) 1992-94; CB 1992, KCB 1994; Commandant, Royal College of Defence Studies 1994-95; Director, Royal Institute for International Affairs 1997-98; Visiting Professor, Centre for Defence Studies, King's College London 2000-07; created 2004 Baron Garden; married 1965 Sue Button (two daughters); died London 9 August 2007.

Tim Garden was the Liberal Democrat defence spokesman in the Lords and the finest Chief of the Air Staff the RAF never had. Born in Worcester in 1944 and educated at the King's School, Worcester, he joined the RAF as a university cadet while reading Physics at St Catherine's College, Oxford.

In his final year he was offered the opportunity to undertake postgraduate wind-tunnel research, but the RAF preferred him to start pilot training. Although in those days young officers were expected to remain single, Tim Garden married Sue Button, who read Modern Languages at St Hilda's, Oxford and they started married life living over a transport café while he trained at RAF Church Fenton.

In 1967 he joined 3 Squadron in Germany flying Canberra light bombers and then became a flying instructor on Jet Provosts. Within a year he was given command of a jet flying training squadron. After a spell as Personal Staff Officer to the Air Member for Personnel and attendance at the Army Staff College, Garden was given command of 50 Squadron, flying Vulcan tactical strike bombers at RAF Waddington.

From Lincolnshire he was sent to take a postgraduate international relations degree at Magdalene College, Cambridge, before spending three years as the Director of Defence Studies for the Royal Air Force, lecturing internationally on strategic studies. He was then appointed as station commander of RAF Odiham, where he flew Puma and Chinook helicopters. Rotary-wing noses were put out of joint by this appointment but Garden proved more than up to the task of maintaining flying credibility while running a very busy station that was heavily employed during the Northern Ireland troubles. He became adept at enquiring, as a newcomer, why something was being done and being rather dismissive of the answer, "Well, we've always done it this way."

After six subsequent years at the Ministry of Defence, including a period on the Air Force Board as Assistant Chief of the Air Staff, he was appointed Assistant Chief of the Defence Staff (Programmes) with responsibility for long-term defence programme planning for all three Services. There he argued forcefully for a reduction in large orders for Eurofighter-Typhoon fast jets, foreseeing in the upcoming age of expeditionary warfare that there would be much greater demand for air transports and helicopters, but he was overridden by fast-jet fixated colleagues. He was shrewd enough to recognise the inertia inherent in the defence procurement process. He loved to recount the story of the Defence Minister Alan Clark who, when faced with five competing programmes for military radios, confined all concerned in a room until they agreed to chop three of them. Years later Garden told Clark that, after his departure, the three cancelled projects were all quietly reinstated.

Garden was appointed to be Commandant of the Royal College of Defence Studies for the 1994 and 1995 courses before being offered the job of Air Member for Personnel. "In what rank?" he asked. "What difference does it make?" came the reply. "About £20,000!" But the appointment was conditional on Sue giving up her career to join him in Gloucestershire. He found this unacceptable and he took premature retirement from the RAF in 1996.

It was bizarre that the sharpest Whitehall warrior then wearing light-blue uniform should be prevented from continuing inexorably to become Chief of the Air Staff, and then Chief of the Defence Staff, for not upholding social niceties that went out with Noël Coward. He would certainly have made a better fist of preventing the severe mismatch between defence aspirations and resource allocation that exists today.

Nothing daunted, Garden received many offers to act as a well-rewarded figurehead in the defence industry but he wanted a new challenge and was soon appointed as Director of the Royal Institute for International Affairs. After leaving Chatham House, he wrote, broadcast, lectured and undertook projects for the British government, the US Department of Defense and Nato. In 2000, he provided advice to the Palestinian Authority on negotiations with Israel under the auspices of the Adam Smith Institute.

He was Distinguished Visiting Fellow and Scholar-in-Residence to Indiana University and since 2000 he had been Visiting Professor at the Centre for Defence Studies at King's College London, engaged in research projects on improving European defence capabilities, defence diplomacy, interoperability for Nato forces and counter-terrorism. In July 2003 he was appointed Chevalier de l'Ordre National de la Legion d'honneur by the French president Jacques Chirac for his work on European defence issues.

Garden wrote widely on security topics and his publications include two books, Can Deterrence Last? (1984) and The Technology Trap (1989). He wrote for a number of security related projects including developments in Nato, European defence, missile defence proposals and global security issues. He appeared as the military adviser on the BBC television series Crisis Command. Although he was honorary vice-president of the RAF Rowing Club, he was never a great fan of sport. He was a keen photographer, computer buff and bridge player.

In 2004 he was created Baron Garden and became Lib Dem defence spokesman in the House of Lords. He was a member of the Select Committee on Regulators, and he became President of the Trading Standards Institute in 2005. He was largely instrumental in bringing an air of practical reality to Lib Dem security policies on knotty issues such as withdrawing from Iraq and Trident replacement. He was particularly opposed to corruption in the official arms trade, arguing for transparency of accounts so that everybody could see what the costs were and who was getting the cash, and a clear set of rules that were enforced. His great legacy is the Electoral Administration Bill, for which he secured cross-party support to overcome, in the face of dogged Ministry of Defence opposition, the problems of registration and voting for members of the armed forces and their partners.

Andrew Brookes