Speakership
Williams was lined up to be the Labour nominee for Speaker of the House of Commons after the 1959 general election had Labour won the election, but Labour's defeat put paid to his chances and a Conservative MP was allowed the job without opposition. From 1960 he was given a front bench responsibility for the Post Office.
In 1962, Conservative Prime Minister Harold Macmillan approached Williams with an offer to become the Deputy Chairman of Ways and Means (second Deputy Speaker). Williams declined, and the offer itself was controversial as many Labour MPs felt that Macmillan should have consulted the Labour leader Hugh Gaitskell rather than make the offer direct to Williams. Williams died the next year at his home in Banstead.
Read more about this topic: William Richard Williams