Owen, David Anthony Llewellyn (1938– )

British politician, Labour foreign secretary 1977–79. In 1981 he was one of the founders of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), and became its leader in 1983. Opposed to the decision of the majority of the party to merge with the Liberals in 1987, Owen stood down but emerged in 1988 as leader of a rump SDP, which was eventually disbanded in 1990.

Owen was born in Plymouth and trained as a doctor before entering Parliament in 1966. In 1992 he replaced Lord Carrington as European Community (now European Union) mediator in the peace talks on Bosnia-Herzegovina. He resigned from the post in 1995, and retired from active politics. He received a life peerage in 1992.