The campaign to win a pardon for the UK's computer genius Alan Turing has been stepped up by the introduction today of a Private Members Bill in the House of Lords.

The brief measure calls for action to be taken in the current centenary year of the birth of Turing, who was convicted of gross indecency with another man in 1952 when such sexual encounters were unlawful.

Growing sunflowers in Manchester to test a Turing maths puzzle - one of the centenary celebration events. Photograph: Alamy

The one-page bill was laid before the Lords this morning, Wednesday 25 May, by Lord Sharkey, the Liberal Democrat peer who lobbied the government unsuccessfully in February for a pardon. The refusal prompted the leading American mathematician Dennis Hejhal to call for "an appropriate hullabaloo" in the UK.

This has duly happened, with celebrations of Turing's life interspersed with increasing pressure for action beyond the public apology for the scientist's treatment by the then Prime Minister Gordon Brown in 2006. Lord Sharkey, who has enlisted all-party support in both houses of Parliament, says:

We are talking about a great man, an exceptionally great man, whose mind changed the course of science - and the course of the Second World War.

Turing is increasingly acknowledged as the 'father of the computer', whose work at Manchester university built on outstanding service at the secret Bletchley Park code-cracking centre during the war. This part of his life won him an OBE after VJ Day but was not known to his colleagues when he was prosecuted after reporting a young man to police as a suspected thief.

The cruelty of Turing's treatment, though not exceptional at the time, was made worse that it led to a course of hormone therapy, or 'chemical castration'. He was found dead from cyanide poisoning at his home two years later and an inquest concluded that he had committed suicide.

Lord Sharkey's measure is called the Alan Turing (Statutory Pardon) Bill and reads in full:

A Bill to give a statutory pardon to Alan Mathison Turing for offences under section 11 of the Criminal Amendment Act 1885 of which he was convicted on 31 March 1952.

BE IT ENACTED by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—

1 Statutory Pardon of Alan Mathison Turing

(1) Alan Mathison Turing, who was born on 23 June 1912 and died on 8 June 1954, and who was convicted of offences under section 11 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885 (gross indecency between men) at the Quarter Sessions at Knutsford in Cheshire on 31 March 1952, is to be taken to be pardoned for those offences.

(2) This Act does not affect any conviction or sentence or give rise to any right, entitlement or liability, and does not affect the prerogative of mercy.

2 Short title

(1) This Act may be cited as the Alan Turing (Statutory Pardon) Act 2012.

(2) This Act extends to England and Wales.

Lord Sharkey says:



Today, this campaign takes a step forward. I have introduced into the House of Lords a Bill which will, if it becomes law, grant a pardon to Dr Turing.

Alan Turing was a truly great Briton. He was the father of computing; his legacy is with us every time anyone uses a computer anywhere in the world.

He also helped save this country. His work on cracking the Enigma Code at Bletchley Park during World War II undoubtedly changed the course of the war and saved many thousands of lives. But instead of being rewarded by his country, he was cruelly punished and convicted simply for being gay. If my Bill becomes law, as I hope it will, then this will finally go some way towards acknowledging the debt we all owe to Alan Turing and grant him the free pardon he so clearly deserves.



The bill's co-sponsors are Ian Stewart, Conservative MP for Milton Keynes south and the Liberal Democrat MPs for Cambridge and Manchester Withington, Julian Huppert and John Leech. Lord Sharkey said that other colleagues from the three main parties at Westminster were campaigning for the measure.

Alan Turing as a public schoolboy. In his mid-thirties, he was set to run for Britain in the 1948 London Olympic Games

John Leech says:

This man was hero. It's a simple as that. And no one should treat heroes like this.

The news was welcomed by organisers of the current Alan Turing Year which is holding worldwide events from academic conferences to statue unveilings and the growing of sunflowers by children in Manchester to test one of the scientist's numerical theories.

Professor Barry Cooper of Leeds university, chair the celebrations, says:

He even got a GoogleDoodle this year... Photograph: Google

This is a great step forward, especially at a time when the eyes of the world are on us because of the Olympic Games. Remember that, amid all his other achievements, Alan Turing would almost certainly have run for Britain in the last London Olympics in 1948, had it not been for an injury. His scientific significance is colossal, and yet we have this blot on our history that is just not going to go away until we secure a pardon.

The Turing Centenary celebrations have been beyond what anyone expected, with over 30 countries staging events from Mexico to Finland, New Zealand, Taiwan, Korea, Switzerland and the USA etc etc. Quite amazing. And the outcome of this is an international focus on the UK recognition of Turing, and our willingness to at least attempt some sort of straightening of the record.

The bill is likely to face opposition on grounds of precedent and the singling out of Turing largely because of his fame, while less notable victims of past prejudice do not receive the same recompense. Cooper says:

We understand that argument but it should not stop us from getting on with the case of someone who was indeed exceptional. Can you imagine us treating Charles Darwin or Sir Isaac Newton like this?

The Guardian Northerner has regular posts on the Turing affair in the last year. You can find them here.