Honorific-prefix	The Right Honourable
Name	The Lord Kinnock
Honorific-suffix	PC
Birth date	March 28, 1942
Birth place	Tredegar, Wales
Office	Leader of the Opposition
Term start	2 October 1983
Term end	18 July 1992
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Primeminister	Margaret ThatcherJohn Major
Predecessor	Michael Foot
Successor	John Smith
Office1	Leader of the Labour Party
Term start1	2 October 1983
Term end1	18 July 1992
Deputy1	Roy Hattersley
Predecessor1	Michael Foot
Successor1	John Smith
Office2	Vice-President of the European Commission
Term start2	16 September 1999
Term end2	21 November 2004
Predecessor2	Leon Brittan
Successor2	Günter Verheugen
Office3	European Commissioner for Administrative Reform
Term start3	16 September 1999
Term end3	21 November 2004
Predecessor3	Erkki Liikanen
Successor3	Siim Kallas
Office4	European Commissioner for Transport
Term start4	16 February 1995
Term end4	16 September 1999
Predecessor4	Karel Van Miert
Successor4	Loyola de Palacio
Office5	Shadow Education Secretary
Term start5	4 May 1979
Term end5	2 October 1983
Leader5	Michael Foot
Predecessor5	Mark Carlisle
Successor5	John Smith
Constituency mp6	Islwyn
Term start6	9 June 1983
Term end6	16 February 1995
Predecessor6	Constituency Established
Successor6	Don Touhig
Constituency mp7	Bedwellty
Term start7	18 June 1970
Term end7	9 June 1983
Predecessor7	Harold Finch
Successor7	Constituency Abolished
Religion	Agnostic
Nationality	British
Spouse	Glenys Kinnock (m. 1967-present)
Children	Stephen KinnockRachel
Party	Labour

Neil Gordon Kinnock, Baron Kinnock (born 28 March 1942) is a British politician belonging to the Labour Party. He served as a Member of Parliament from 1970 until 1995 and as Labour Leader and Leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition from 1983 until 1992.

Following Labour's defeat in the 1992 election Kinnock resigned and served as a European Commissioner from 1995-2004. Until the summer of 2009 he was the Chairman of the British Council. Kinnock served as President of Cardiff University from 1998 until 2009. Today, he is regarded as one of Labour's elder statesmen.

Early life

Kinnock, an only child, was born in Tredegar, Wales. His father Gordon Herbert Kinnock was a coal miner who suffered from dermatitis and had to find work as a labourer; and his mother Mary Kinnock was a district nurse. Gordon died of a heart attack in November 1971 aged 64; Mary died the following month aged 61.

In 1953, Kinnock went to Lewis School, Pengam, which he later criticised for its record on caning in schools. He went on to the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire, obtaining a degree (his second attempt) in industrial relations and history in 1965. A year later, Kinnock obtained a postgraduate diploma in education. Between August 1966 and May 1970, he worked as a tutor for a Workers' Educational Association (WEA).

He married Glenys Parry in 1967; they have two children – son Stephen (born January 1970), and daughter Rachel (born 1971). They now have four grandchildren.

Member of Parliament

In June 1969 he won the Labour Party nomination for the constituency of Bedwellty in Wales (later Islwyn). He was elected on 18 June 1970 and became a member of the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party in October 1978. On becoming an MP for the first time, his father said "Remember Neil, MP stands not just for Member of Parliament, but also for Man of Principle". Labour government policy at the time was in favour of devolution for Wales, but the wider party was split. Calling himself a 'unionist', Kinnock was one of six south Wales Labour MPs to campaign against devolution on centralist, essentially British-nationalist grounds. He dismissed the idea of a Welsh identity, saying that "between the mid-sixteenth century and the mid-eighteenth century Wales had practically no history at all, and even before that it was the history of rural brigands who have been ennobled by being called princes". In the Wales referendum, 1979, the proposal for devolution was rejected.

Following Labour's defeat in the 1979 general election, James Callaghan appointed Neil Kinnock to the Shadow Cabinet as Education spokesman. His ambition was noted by other MPs, and David Owen's opposition to the changes to the electoral college was thought to be motivated by the realisation that they would favour Kinnock's succession. He was known as a left-winger, and gained notoriety for his attacks on Margaret Thatcher's handling of the Falklands War.

Leadership of the Labour Party

First period (1983–1987)

Shortly after Labour's hefty election defeat in June 1983, 70-year-old Michael Foot was leader and from the outset it was expected that Kinnock would succeed him. He was finally elected as Labour Party leader on 2 October 1983, with 71% of the vote, and Roy Hattersley was elected as his deputy.

His first period as party leader – between the 1983 and 1987 elections – was dominated by his struggle with the hard left. Although Kinnock had come from the "Tribune" left of the party, he parted company with many of his previous allies after his appointment to the shadow cabinet. In 1981, Kinnock was alleged to have effectively scuppered Tony Benn's attempt to replace Denis Healey as Labour's deputy leader by first supporting the candidacy of the more traditionalist Tribunite John Silkin and then urging Silkin supporters to abstain on the second, run-off, ballot.

All this meant that Kinnock had made plenty of enemies on the left by the time he was elected as leader, though a substantial number of former Bennites gave him strong backing. He was almost immediately in serious difficulty as a result of Arthur Scargill's decision to lead his union, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) into a national strike (in opposition to pit closures) without a members' ballot. The NUM was widely regarded as the labour movement's praetorian guard and the strike convulsed the Labour movement. Kinnock supported the aim of the strike – which he famously dubbed the "case for coal" – but, as an MP from a mining area, was bitterly critical of the tactics employed. In 1985 he made his criticisms public in a speech to Labour's conference :

The strike's defeat and the rise of the Militant tendency were the immediate background for the 1985 Labour Party conference. Earlier in the year left-wing councils had protested at Government restriction of their budgets by refusing to set budgets, resulting in a budget crisis in Militant-dominated Liverpool City Council. Kinnock attacked Militant and their conduct in Liverpool in one of the most famous passages of any post-war British political speeches:

In 1986, the party's position appeared to strengthen further with excellent election results and a thorough rebranding of the party under the direction of Kinnock's director of communications Peter Mandelson. Labour, now sporting a continental social democratic style emblem of a rose, appeared to be able to run the governing Conservatives close, but Margaret Thatcher did not let Labour's makeover go unchallenged.

The Conservatives' 1986 conference was well-managed, and effectively relaunched the Conservatives as a party of radical free-market liberalism. Labour suffered from a persistent image of extremism, especially as Kinnock's campaign to root out the Militants dragged on as figures on the hard left of the party tried to stop its progress. Opinion polls showed that voters favoured retaining Britain's nuclear weapons and believed that the Conservatives would be better than Labour at defending the country.

1987 general election

In early 1987, Labour lost a by-election in Greenwich to the Social Democratic Party's Rosie Barnes. As a result, Labour faced the 1987 election in some danger of coming third in the popular vote. In secret, Labour's aim became to secure second place with 31% of the vote – comfortably ahead of the Alliance in terms of seats and votes, but some way short of the Tories.

Labour fought a professional campaign that at one point scared the Tories into thinking they might lose. Mandelson and his team had revolutionised Labour's communications – a transformation symbolised by a party election broadcast popularly known as "Kinnock: The Movie". This was directed by Hugh Hudson and featured Kinnock's 1985 conference speech, and shots of him and Glenys walking on the Great Orme in Llandudno (so emphasising his appeal as a family man and associating him with images of Wales away from the coalmining communities where he grew up), and a speech to that year's Welsh Labour Party conference asking why he was the "first Kinnock in a thousand generations" to go to university.

Then-Delaware Senator, presidential candidate and future U.S. Vice President Joe Biden was so impressed with Kinnock's speech that he borrowed lines from it in his own campaign speeches in the summer of 1987. Biden sometimes attributed his words to Kinnock, but notably did not in a speech at a Democratic debate in Iowa in August 1987, a mistake that led to Biden's withdrawal from the race a month later.

On polling day, Labour easily took second place, but with only 31 per cent to the SDP-Liberal Alliance's 22 per cent. Labour was still more than ten percentage points behind the Conservatives, who retained a three-figure majority in the House of Commons. However, the Conservative government's majority had come down from 144 in 1983 to 102. Labour won extra seats in Scotland, Wales and Northern England, but lost ground particularly in Southern England and London. Nevertheless, the party still made a net gain in seats.

Second period (1987–1992)

The second period of Kinnock's leadership was dominated by his drive to reform the party's policies and so win power. This began with an exercise dubbed the policy review, the most high-profile aspect of which was a series of consultations with the public known as "Labour Listens" in autumn 1987.

In organisational terms, the party leadership continued to battle with the Militant Tendency, though by now Militant was in retreat in the party and was simultaneously attracted by the opportunities to grow outside Labour's ranks – opportunities largely created by Margaret Thatcher's hugely unpopular poll tax.

After Labour Listens, the party went on, in 1988, to produce a new statement of aims and values – meant to supplement and supplant the formulation of Clause IV of the party's constitution (though, crucially, this was not actually replaced until 1995 under the leadership of Tony Blair) and was closely modelled on Anthony Crosland's social-democratic thinking – emphasising equality rather than public ownership. At the same time the commitment to unilateral nuclear disarmament was dropped, and reforms of Party Conference and the National Executive meant that local parties lost much of their ability to influence policy.

In 1988, Kinnock was challenged by Tony Benn for the party leadership. Later many identified this as a particularly low period in Kinnock's leadership – as he appeared mired in internal battles after five years of leadership and the Conservatives still dominating the scene. In the end, though, Kinnock won a decisive victory over Benn.

The policy review – reporting in 1989 – coincided with Labour's move ahead in the polls as the poll tax row was destroying Conservative support, and Labour won big victories in local by-elections. Kinnock was also perceived as scoring in debates over Margaret Thatcher in the Commons – previously an area in which he was seen as weak – and finally Conservative MPs challenged Thatcher's leadership and she resigned on 22 November 1990 to be succeeded by John Major.

Public reaction to Major's elevation was highly positive. A new Prime Minister and the fact that Kinnock became the longest-serving current leader of a major party reduced the impact of calls for "Time for a Change". Neil Kinnock's showing in the opinion polls dipped; before Mrs Thatcher's resignation, Labour had been up to 10 points ahead of the Tories in the opinion polls (an Ipsos MORI poll in April 1990 had actually shown Labour more than 20 points ahead of the Tories), but many opinion polls were actually showing the Tories with more support than Labour, in spite of the deepening recession.

1992 general election, backbenches and retirement

In the 1992 election, Labour made considerable progress – reducing the Conservative majority to just 21 seats. It came as a shock to many when the Conservatives remained in power, but the perceived triumphalism of a Labour party rally in Sheffield (together with Kinnock's performance on the podium) may have helped put voters off. (Although most of those directly involved in the campaign believe that the rally really came to widespread attention only after the election itself).

On the day of the general election, The Sun ran a famous front page featuring Kinnock (headline: "If Kinnock wins today will the last person to leave Britain please turn out the lights") that he blamed in his resignation speech for losing Labour the election. Kinnock also blamed his defeat on the other newspapers who had backed the Tories in the run-up to the election.

In the three years leading up to the 1992 election, Labour had constantly topped the opinion polls, with 1991 seeing the Tories (rejuvenated by the arrival of a new leader in John Major the previous November) snatch the lead off Labour more than once before Labour regained it. Kinnock had spent all of 1991 putting pressure on Major to hold the election that year, but Major had held out and insisted that there would be no general election in 1991.

Kinnock himself later claimed to have half-expected the loss and proceeded to turn himself into a media personality, even hosting a chat show on BBC Wales and twice appearing – with considerable success – on the topical panel show Have I Got News For You within a year of the defeat. Many years later, he returned to appear as a guest host of the programme.

He remains on the Advisory Council of the Institute for Public Policy Research, which he helped set up in the 1980s.

He was an enthusiastic supporter of Ed Miliband's campaign to lead the Labour Party in 2010, and was reported as telling activists, when Ed Miliband won, "We've got our party back".

Biden incident

Kinnock gained attention in the United States in 1987 when it was discovered that then-Senator Joe Biden of Delaware quoted one of Kinnock's speeches but forgot to credit him during his 1988 presidential campaign. This led to Biden's withdrawing from the race.

Biden was elected Vice President of the United States in 2008; on 18 January 2009 Glenys Kinnock revealed on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show that she and Neil Kinnock had received a personal invitation from Biden to attend the inauguration of Barack Obama and Biden on 20 January 2009 at the United States Capitol in Washington.

European Union Commissioner

Kinnock was appointed one of Britain's two members of the European Commission, which he served first as Transport Commissioner under President Jacques Santer. He was obliged to resign as part of the forced, collective resignation of the Commission in 1999, but there was never any suggestion that he himself had done anything corrupt. He was re-appointed to the Commission under new President Romano Prodi. He now became one of the Vice-Presidents of the European Commission. His term of office as a Commissioner was due to expire on 30 October 2004, but was delayed owing to the withdrawal of the new Commissioners. During this second term of office on the Commission, he was responsible for introducing new staff regulations for EU officials, a significant feature of which was substantial salary cuts for everyone employed after 1 May 2004, reduced pension prospects for many others, and gradually worsening employment conditions. This made him disliked by many EU staff members, although the pressure on budgets that largely drove these changes had actually been imposed on the Commission from above by the Member States in Council.

In February 2004 it was announced that with effect from 1 November 2004 Kinnock would become head of the British Council. Coincidentally, at the same time, his son Stephen became head of the British Council branch in St. Petersburg, Russia. At the end of October, it was announced that he would become a member of the House of Lords (intending to be a working peer), when he was able to leave his EU responsibilities. In 1977, he had remained in the House of Commons, with Dennis Skinner, while other MPs walked to the Lords to hear the Queen's speech opening the new parliament. He had dismissed going to the Lords in recent interviews. Kinnock explained his change of attitude, despite the continuing presence of 90 hereditary peers and appointment by patronage, by asserting that the Lords was a good base for campaigning.

Life peerage

He was introduced to the House of Lords on 31 January 2005, after being created Baron Kinnock, of Bedwellty in the County of Gwent. On assuming his seat he stated, "I accepted the kind invitation to enter the House of Lords as a working peer for practical political reasons." When his peerage was first announced, he said, "It will give me the opportunity... to contribute to the national debate on issues like higher education, research, Europe and foreign policy." His peerage meant that the Labour and Conservative parties were equal in numbers in the upper house of Parliament (since then, the number of Labour members has overtaken the number of Conservative members). Kinnock was a long-time critic of the House of Lords, and his acceptance of a peerage led him to be accused of hypocrisy, by Will Self, among others.

Personal life

He is married to Glenys Kinnock, Britain's Minister for Africa and the United Nations from 2009 to 2010, and a Labour Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 1994 to 2009. When she was made a life peer in 2009, they became one of the few couples to both hold titles in their own right. The two met while studying at University College, Cardiff, where they were known as "the power and the glory" (Glenys the power), and they married on 25 March 1967. Previously living together in Peterston-Super-Ely, a village near the western outskirts of Cardiff, in 2008 they moved to Tufnell Park, London, to be closer to their daughter and grandchildren.

They have two children, Stephen and Rachel. Stephen is married to Helle Thorning-Schmidt, who is the leader of the Danish Social Democrats political party. He is assistant director of the British Council in Sierra Leone. Rachel worked in the Political Office at 10 Downing Street under Gordon Brown.

In 1984, Neil Kinnock appeared in the video for the Tracey Ullman song "My Guy" (his daughter was a fan) as a someone with a clipboard canvassing on a council estate. The record reached #23 in the charts.

On 26 April 2006, Neil Kinnock was given a six-month driving ban after being found guilty of two speeding offences along the M4 motorway, west of London.

Neil Kinnock is a lifelong Cardiff City FC Fan and regularly attends matches.

Kinnock is an agnostic.

Satire

Nicknamed "the Welsh Windbag" by Private Eye magazine, an image repeated on Spitting Image, and "Kinocchio" by the Conservatives, he had the task of leading the Labour Party during a protracted period out of government. Private Eye also ran a comic strip "Dan Dire: Pilot of the future?". This was based on the comic character Dan Dare, and one in which the hapless space pilot's adventures were based on the political misfortunes of Kinnock.

The character Paris Geller in popular 2000's U.S. TV programme The Gilmore Girls referred to Neil's voice as something she swooned over in her younger days; this may have been a tongue-in-cheek remark. The professor she dated in the series was Michael York who spoke with a strong English accent; Neil Kinnock speaks with a distinct Welsh accent.

Kinnock is also referred to in the Ginger song by Hale and Pace. The lyrics are "He lost two elections Neil Kinnock's what he's called. He was twice unlucky, 'cause he's ginger and he's bald. He's a welshman and he's bald and he's ginger."

Styles and titles

Neil Kinnock, Esq. (1942–1970)

Neil Kinnock, Esq., MP (1970–1983)

The Rt. Hon. Neil Kinnock MP (1983–1995)

The Rt. Hon. Neil Kinnock (1995–2005)

The Rt. Hon. The Lord Kinnock PC (2005–)

See also

Sustrans

References

Further reading

Martin Westlake and Ian St. John, Kinnock, Little Brown Book Group Limited, 2001. ISBN 0-316-84871-9.

Peter Kellner, essay on Neil Kinnock in G. Rosen (ed.), Dictionary of Labour Biography, Politicos Publishing, 2001. ISBN 1-902301-18-8

Michael Leapman, Kinnock, Unwin Hyman, 1987.

George Drower, Neil Kinnock: The Path to Leadership, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1984.

Greg Rosen, Old Labour to New, Politicos Publishing, 2005 (an account of the Labour Party before, during and after the Kinnock years). ISBN 1-84275-045-3

Patrick Wintour and Colin Hughes, Labour Rebuilt, Fourth Estate, 1990 (an account of Kinnock's modernisation of the Labour Party).

External links

Neil Kinnock on the Home Secretary’s ambitions, and Cameron

Neil Kinnock-2010 Interview

Dailymail.co.uk, "Kinnock tried gag claims EU whistleblower".

Announcement of his introduction at the House of Lords House of Lords minutes of proceedings, 31 January 2005

Offices held

Category:1942 births Category:Living people Category:Alumni of Cardiff University Category:British agnostics Category:British European Commissioners Category:Labour Party (UK) life peers Category:Leaders of the Labour Party (UK) Category:Leaders of the Opposition (United Kingdom) Category:Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Category:Members of the United Kingdom Parliament for Welsh constituencies Category:Old Ludovicans Category:People associated with Cardiff University Category:People from Tredegar Category:UK MPs 1970–1974 Category:UK MPs 1974 Category:UK MPs 1974–1979 Category:UK MPs 1979–1983 Category:UK MPs 1983–1987 Category:UK MPs 1987–1992 Category:UK MPs 1992–1997 Category:Welsh people of Scottish descent Category:Welsh politicians Category:Welsh socialists

Honorific-prefix	The Right Honourable
Name	The Lord Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon
Honorific-suffix	GCMG KBE PC
Imagesize	150px
Office1	High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina
Term start1	27 May 2002
Term end1	30 May 2006
Predecessor1	Wolfgang Petritsch
Successor1	Christian Schwarz-Schilling
Office2	Leader of the Liberal Democrats
Term start2	16 July 1988
Term end2	11 August 1999
Predecessor2	David Steel (Liberal Party) Robert Maclennan (SDP)
Successor2	Charles Kennedy
Constituency mp3	Yeovil
Term start3	9 June 1983
Term end3	7 June 2001
Predecessor3	John Peyton
Successor3	David Laws
Birth date	February 27, 1941
Birth place	New Delhi, British India
Nationality	British
Party	(1) Liberal Party(2) Liberal Democrats
Spouse	Jane Courtenay
Branch	Royal Marines
Serviceyears	1959–1972
Unit	Special Boat Service
Battles	Indonesian Confrontation

Jeremy John Durham Ashdown, Baron Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon, GCMG, KBE, PC (born 27 February 1941), usually known as Paddy Ashdown, is a British politician and diplomat.

After service as a Royal Marine and as an intelligence officer for the UK security services, Ashdown was a Member of Parliament (MP) for Yeovil from 1983 to 2001, and leader of the Liberal Democrats from 1988 until August 1999; later he was the international High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina from 27 May 2002 to 30 May 2006, following his vigorous lobbying for military action against Yugoslavia in the 1990s. A gifted , Ashdown is fluent in Mandarin Chinese and other languages. He was made a Knight Grand Cross of the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George (GCMG) in the New Year Honours 2006.

Early life

Ashdown is the eldest of seven children, near Donaghadee. and from age 11 at Bedford School in England, where his Irish accent earned him the nickname "Paddy". To enable his family to continue his education, it was proposed he undertake the Royal Navy scholarship exam, for which he needed additional maths tuition. but left before taking A-levels and joined the Royal Marines in 1959, serving until 1972. He served in Borneo during the Indonesian Confrontation and the Persian Gulf before Special Forces training in 1965, after which he joined the elite Special Boat Service and commanded a Special Boat Section in the Far East. He then went to Hong Kong in 1967 to undertake a full-time interpreter's course in Chinese, and returned to Britain in 1970 when he was given command of a Commando Company in Belfast.

Intelligence Officer and diplomat

Ashdown left the Marines to join the Secret Intelligence Service, or MI6. He had a comfortable life in Switzerland, where he lived with his wife Jane and their two children Simon and Katherine in a large house on the shores of Lake Geneva, enjoying plenty of time for sailing, skiing and climbing. Ashdown decided to enter politics due to living during the era of two general elections in one year and the Three-Day Week. He said that "most of my friends thought it was utterly bonkers" to leave the dipomatic service, but that he had "a sense of purpose". and took a job with Normalair Garrett, then part of the Yeovil-based Westland Group. Yeovil's Liberal candidate had been placed second in February 1974 who had held the seat since its creation in 1918.

Member of Parliament

In the 1979 general election which returned the Conservatives to power, Ashdown regained second place, establishing a clear lead of 9% over the Labour candidate. was still large enough to be regarded as a safe seat; when the sitting MP John Peyton stood down at the 1983 general election to be made a life peer, however, Ashdown had gained momentum after his years of local campaigning. and the SDP–Liberal Alliance. In the early 1980s he was a prominent campaigner against the deployment in Europe of American nuclear-armed cruise missiles, describing them at a Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament rally in Hyde Park in 1983 as "the front end of the whole anti-nuclear struggle. It is the weapon we HAVE to stop." He opposed the privatisation of the Royal Ordnance Factories in 1984, in 1986 he criticised the Thatcher government for allowing the United States to bomb Libya from UK bases, and in 1987 he campaigned against the loss of trade union rights by workers at GCHQ.

Leader of Liberal Democrats

during the 1992 General Election campaign]] When the Liberal Party merged in 1988 with the Social Democrats to form the Social and Liberal Democrats (the name was later shortened to "Liberal Democrats"), he was elected as the new party's leader and made a Privy Councillor in January 1989.Liberal Democrats]] | years=1988–1999 | before=David Steel and Robert Maclennan | after=Charles Kennedy }}

Category:British military personnel of the Indonesian Confrontation Category:British spies Category:European Union diplomats Category:High Representatives for Bosnia and Herzegovina Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George Category:Leaders of the Liberal Democrats (UK) Category:Liberal Party (UK) MPs Category:Liberal Democrat (UK) MPs Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon Category:Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Category:Members of the United Kingdom Parliament for English constituencies Category:Old Bedfordians Category:Royal Marines officers Category:Special Boat Service officers Category:UK MPs 1983–1987 Category:UK MPs 1987–1992 Category:UK MPs 1992–1997 Category:UK MPs 1997–2001 Category:1941 births Category:Living people

Honorific-prefix	The Right Honourable
Name	The Lord Howard of Lympne
Honorific-suffix	QC PC
Caption	Michael Howard delivering a speech
Office	Leader of the Opposition
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Primeminister	Tony Blair
Term start	6 November 2003
Term end	6 December 2005
Predecessor	Iain Duncan Smith
Successor	David Cameron
Office2	Leader of the Conservative Party
Term start2	6 November 2003
Term end2	6 December 2005
Predecessor2	Iain Duncan Smith
Successor2	David Cameron
Office3	Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer
Leader3	Iain Duncan Smith
Term start3	18 September 2001
Term end3	6 November 2003
Predecessor3	Michael Portillo
Successor3	Oliver Letwin
Office4	Shadow Foreign Secretary
Leader4	William Hague
Term start4	12 June 1997
Term end4	15 June 1999
Predecessor4	John Major
Successor4	John Maples
Office5	Shadow Home Secretary
Leader5	John Major
Term start5	2 May 1997
Term end5	11 June 1997
Predecessor5	Jack Straw
Successor5	Brian Mawhinney
Office6	Home Secretary
Primeminister6	John Major
Term start6	27 May 1993
Term end6	2 May 1997
Predecessor6	Kenneth Clarke
Successor6	Jack Straw
Office7	Secretary of State for Environment
Primeminister7	John Major
Term start7	11 April 1992
Term end7	27 May 1993
Predecessor7	Michael Heseltine
Successor7	John Gummer
Office8	Secretary of State for Employment
Primeminister8	Margaret ThatcherJohn Major
Term start8	3 January 1990
Term end8	11 April 1992
Predecessor8	Norman Fowler
Successor8	Gillian Shephard
Constituency mp9	Folkestone and Hythe
Term start9	9 June 1983
Term end9	6 May 2010
Predecessor9	Albert Costain
Successor9	Damian Collins
Birth date
Birth place	Gorseinon, Wales
Spouse	Sandra Paul
Party	Conservative
Alma mater	Peterhouse, CambridgeInner Temple
Profession	Barrister
Religion	Judaism

Michael Howard, Baron Howard of Lympne QC (born 7 July 1941) is a British Conservative politician. He served as the Leader of the Conservative Party from November 2003 to December 2005. Prior to that, he held a number of cabinet posts in the governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major. From 1983 to 2010, he was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Folkestone and Hythe.

Howard was born in Gorseinon, South Wales. He joined the Young Conservatives at age 15 and studied at Peterhouse, Cambridge. In 1964, Howard was called to the Bar and became a Queen's Counsel in 1982. Howard became a Member of Parliament (MP) in the 1983 General Election, representing the constituency of Folkestone and Hythe.

This led to Howard becoming quickly promoted and he became the Minister for Local Government in 1987. Under Prime Minister John Major (1990–1997), Howard held several cabinet positions including Secretary of State for Employment (1990–1992) and Home Secretary (1993–1997). Following the Conservative Party's defeat in the 1997 General Election, Howard unsuccessfully made a bid for the post of Conservative Party leader and held the posts of Shadow Foreign Secretary (1997–1999) and Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer (2001–2003).

In November 2003, following the Conservative Party's Vote of No Confidence in its leader Iain Duncan Smith, Howard was elected unopposed to the position of Conservative Party leader. In the 2005 General Election, the Conservatives gained 33 new seats in Westminster but this still only gave them 198 seats to Labour's 355. Following the election, Howard resigned as Leader of the Conservative Party and was succeeded by David Cameron.

Howard did not contest his seat of Folkestone and Hythe in the 2010 General Election and entered the House of Lords as Baron Howard of Lympne.

Early life

Howard was born in Gorseinon, in the north west of Swansea, Wales. He is the son of Bernard Hecht, a Romanian-born shopkeeper of Jewish descent who came to Britain in 1939. His mother, Hilda Kershion, was Welsh-born. When Howard was six, the family name Hecht was anglicised to Howard.

Howard passed his Eleven-plus exam in 1952, and then attended Llanelli Grammar School. He joined the Young Conservatives at age 15. He obtained eight O-levels, and his subsequent A-levels earned him a place in Peterhouse at Cambridge University. He was President of the Cambridge Union Society in 1962. After taking a 2:1 in the first part of the Economics tripos, he switched to Law and graduated with a 2:2 in 1962. Howard was one of a cluster of Conservative students at Cambridge University around this time, sometimes referred to as the "Cambridge Mafia", many of whom held high government office under Margaret Thatcher and John Major. (See: Cambridge University Conservative Association.)

Howard was called to the Bar at the Inner Temple in 1964, and specialised in employment and planning law. Unlike his many Cambridge contemporaries, Howard continued his career at the Bar, becoming a practising Queen's Counsel in 1982 (unlike many barrister-MPs who are awarded the title as an honorific despite no longer practising at the Bar).

The late-1960s saw Howard's promotion within the Bow Group, where he became Chairman in April 1970. At the Conservative Party conference in October 1970, he made a notable speech commending the government for attempting to curb trade union power, and called for state aid to strikers' families to be reduced or stopped altogether, a policy which the Thatcher government pursued over a decade later.

In the 1970s, Howard was a leading advocate of British membership of the Common Market (EEC), and served on the board of the cross-party Britain in Europe group.

Howard was named as co-respondent in the high profile divorce case of 1960s model Sandra Paul, (now Sandra Howard). She and Howard subsequently married in 1975. Their son Nicholas was born in 1976, and daughter Larissa in 1977.

Member of Parliament

At the 1966 general election and 1970 general election, Howard unsuccessfully contested the safe Labour parliamentary constituency of Liverpool Edge Hill. These early races led to his strong support for Liverpool FC, which he has retained.

In June 1982, Howard was selected to contest the constituency of Folkestone and Hythe in Kent after the sitting Conservative MP, Sir Albert Costain, decided to retire. Howard won the seat at the 1983 general election.

In government

Howard gained quick promotion, becoming Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department of Trade and Industry in 1985 with responsibility for regulating the financial dealings of the City of London. This junior post became very important, as he oversaw the Big Bang introduction of new technology in 1986. After the 1987 election, he became Minister for Local Government. Following a proposal from backbench MP David Wilshire, he accepted the amendment which would become Section 28 (prohibiting local governments from the promotion of homosexuality), and defended its inclusion. As party leader in March 2005, when the clause had been abolished, Howard told Johann Hari that it was of its time, and that it would not be reintroduced by any future Conservative government.

Howard guided the 1988 Local Government Finance Act through the House of Commons. This act brought in Margaret Thatcher's new system of local taxation, officially known as the Community Charge, but almost universally nicknamed the "poll tax". Howard personally supported the tax and won the respect of Mrs Thatcher for minimising the rebellion against it within the Conservative Party. After a period as Minister for Water and Planning in 1988-89, during which he was responsible for implementing water privatisation in England and Wales, Howard was promoted to the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Employment in January 1990 following the resignation of Norman Fowler. Howard subsequently guided through legislation abolishing the closed shop, and campaigned vigorously for Mrs Thatcher in the first ballot of the 1990 Conservative Party leadership contest, although he told Thatcher a day before she resigned that he felt she wasn't going to win, and that John Major was better placed to defeat Michael Heseltine.

He retained his cabinet post under John Major and campaigned against trade-union power during the 1992 general election campaign.

His work in the campaign led to his appointment as Secretary of State for the Environment in the reshuffle after the election. In this capacity he encouraged the United States to participate in the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, but he was soon after appointed Home Secretary in a 1993 reshuffle initiated by the sacking of Norman Lamont as Chancellor. As Home Secretary he pursued a tough approach to crime, summed up in his sound bite, "prison works". During his time as Home Secretary, offences fell by 16.8 per cent.

Howard repeatedly clashed with judges and prison reformers as he sought to clamp down on crime through a series of 'tough' measures, such as reducing the right to silence of defendants in their police interviews and at their trials as part of 1994's Criminal Justice and Public Order Act. Howard voted for the reintroduction of the death penalty for the killing of police officers on duty and for murders carried out with firearms in 1983 and 1990, though he voted against it for cold-blooded and premeditated murder in 1987 and 1990. However, in 1991 he changed his mind and became against the reintroduction of the death penalty, regardless of the crime, and voted against it again in February 1994.

Interview on Newsnight

His reputation was dented on 13 May 1997 when a critical inquiry into a series of prison escapes was published. In advance of the publication Howard made statements to assign blame to the prison service. A further controversy came when the television interviewer, Jeremy Paxman, relentlessly asked him the same question (12 times in all, 14 if including two earlier inquiries that were worded somewhat differently) during an edition of the Newsnight programme. Asking whether Howard had intervened when Derek Lewis sacked a prison governor, Paxman asked: "Did you threaten to overrule him?" Howard did not give a direct answer, instead repeatedly saying that he "did not instruct him", and ignoring the "threaten" part of the question.

Ann Widdecombe's assertion about Howard

Six days after the Derek Lewis incident on Newsnight, Ann Widdecombe, his former minister of state at the Home Office, made a statement in the House of Commons about the dismissal of then director of the Prison Service, Derek Lewis, and famously remarked of Howard that "there is something of the night about him", a widely quoted comment that may have contributed to the failure of his 1997 bid for the Conservative Party leadership. The comment was taken by some as a reference to his dour demeanor, which was implied as being sinister and almost Dracula-like, and related to his Romanian ancestry.

First attempt to win party leadership

After the 1997 resignation of John Major, Howard and William Hague announced they would be running on the same ticket, with Howard as leader and Hague as Deputy Leader and Party Chairman. However, the day after they agreed this, Hague decided to run on his own. Howard also stood but his campaign was marred by attacks on his record as Home Secretary.

Howard came in last out of five candidates with the support of only twenty-three MPs in the first round of polling for the leadership election. He then withdrew from the race and endorsed the eventual winner William Hague. Howard served as Shadow Foreign Secretary for the next two years but would retire from the Shadow Cabinet in 1999, though remaining an MP.

Leader of the Opposition

After the 2001 general election, Howard was recalled to frontline politics when the Conservative Party's new leader, Iain Duncan Smith, appointed him Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer. His performances in the post won him much praise, indeed under his guidance the Conservatives decided to debate the economy on an 'Opposition Day' for the first time in several years. After Duncan Smith was removed from the leadership, Howard was elected unopposed as leader of the party in November 2003. As leader, he faced much less discontent within the party than any of his three predecessors and was seen as a steady hand. He avoided repeating such managerial missteps as Duncan Smith's firing of David Davis as Conservative Party Chairman, and imposed discipline quickly and firmly; he removed the party whip from Ann Winterton following her telling of a tasteless joke.

In February 2004, Howard called on PM Tony Blair to resign over the Iraq war, for failing to ask "basic questions" regarding WMD claims and misleading Parliament. In July the Conservative leader stated that he would not have voted for the motion that authorised the Iraq war had he known the quality of intelligence information on which the WMD claims were based. At the same time, he said he still believed in the Iraq invasion was right because "the prize of a stable Iraq was worth striving for". His criticism of Blair did not earn Howard any sympathy in Washington DC, where President Bush refused to meet him. Karl Rove is reported to have told Howard, "you can forget about meeting the president. Don't bother coming." Howard only gave a lukewarm response to Bush's re-election as President in November 2004. He also gave a very negative response to Bush's foreign policy.

Michael Howard was named 2003 Parliamentarian of the Year by The Spectator and Zurich UK. This was in recognition of his performance at the dispatch box in his previous role as Shadow Chancellor. However, 12 months after he became party leader, his personal popularity with the public had not increased from that of several years before. Neither had that of his party in the opinion polls.

Crossing swords with Paxman again

In November 2004, Newsnight again concentrated on Howard with coverage of a campaign trip to Cornwall and an interview with Jeremy Paxman. The piece, which purported to show that members of the public were unable to identify Howard and that those who recognised him did not support him, was the subject of an official complaint from the Conservative Party. The complaint claimed that the Newsnight team only spoke to people who held opinions against either Michael Howard or the Conservatives, and that Paxman's style was bullying and unnecessarily aggressive. Paxman returned to his question from 1997, and Howard was surprised, remarking: "Oh come on Jeremy, are you really going back over that again? As it happens, I didn't. Are you satisfied now?" Secret Home Office papers released in 2005 under the Freedom of Information Act failed to corroborate this last quote.

2005 Election

In the 2005 general election (on 5 May 2005), Howard's Conservative Party failed to unseat the Labour government, although the Conservatives did gain 33 seats (inclduing five from the Liberal Democrats) and Labour's majority shrank from 167 to 66. But this still only gave the Conservatives 198 seats to Labour's 355. The Conservative share of the national vote increased by 0.6% from 2001 and 1.6% from 1997. The party ended with 34% of the total votes casts, which was within 2% of Labour on 36%. Commentators pointed to the state of Britain's constituency boundaries coupled with the first-past-the-post British voting system and the distribution of votes within constituencies, which together heavily favour the Labour Party. It is estimated that changes proposed by the Boundary Commission for England would result in a gain of 10-20 seats for the Conservatives with no change in the vote. Despite the third consecutive defeat, Howard received much praise for the election results, which bought forward strong elections policy on crime, immigration and tax freedom day.

The day after the election, Howard stated in a speech in the newly gained Conservative seat in Putney that he would not lead the party into the next general election as he would be "too old", and that he would stand down "sooner rather than later", following a revision of the Conservative leadership electoral process. Despite the election of a third consecutive Labour government, Howard described the election as "the beginning of a recovery" for the Conservative party after Labour's landslide victories in 1997 and 2001.

Howard's own constituency of Folkestone and Hythe had been heavily targeted by the Liberal Democrats as the most sought after prize of their failed "decapitation" strategy of seeking to gain seats from prominent Conservatives. Yet Howard almost doubled his majority to 11,680, while the Liberal Democrats saw their vote fall.

Criticism of 2005 campaign

During the 2005 campaign, Howard was criticised by some commentators for conducting a campaign which addressed the issues of immigration, asylum seekers and travellers, when he himself was the descendant of immigrants. Others pointed out that the continued media coverage of such issues created most of the controversy and that Howard merely defended his views when questioned at unrelated policy launches.

Some evidence suggested that the public generally supported policies proposed by the Conservative Party when they were not told which party had proposed them, indicating that the party still had an image problem. Conservative John Major's 30% lead in 1992 amongst the sought after ABC1 voters (e.g. doctors, lawyers, managers) had all but disappeared by 2005; it is widely-believed that the focus of the 2005 campaign on issues such as immigration and crime did not reverse the Conservatives's reputation as "the nasty party", and did not return many educated professionals to the party.

The campaign focus on immigration may have been influenced by Howard's election adviser Lynton Crosby, who earlier had run similar tactics in Australian elections. Whether the hiring of Crosby was a good idea or not in hindsight, his organisation of the campaign was credited with making the Conservative election drive much more professional and organised than at the previous election. Crosby was later re-hired by the Conservative Party to run their successful campaign in the 2008 London Mayor election.

In the lead up to the election campaign, Howard continued to impose strong party discipline, controversially forcing the deselection of Danny Kruger (Sedgefield), Adrian Hilton (Slough) and Howard Flight (Arundel & South Downs).

Cash for Peerages

On 23 October 2006, Michael Howard revealed that he had voluntarily been questioned as a potential witness concerning the Cash for Peerages investigation surrounding fundraising and the 2005 election campaign. He was not suspected of any criminal activity, was not accused of any criminal activity and gave evidence purely as a witness in an investigation focussing primarily on the Labour Government's use of the peerages system and their party fundraising.

Resignation

Despite announcing after the 2005 general election that he would vacate the role of party leader, Howard performed a substantial reshuffle of the party's front bench on the 10 May in which several rising star MPs were given their first shadow portfolios, including George Osborne and David Cameron. This move cleared the way for David Cameron (who had worked for Howard as a Special Adviser when the latter was Home Secretary) to run for the Conservative Party leadership.

The reforms to the party's election process took a number of months and Howard remained in his position for six months after the elections. During that period, he enjoyed a fairly pressure-free time, often making joking comparisons between himself and Tony Blair, both of whom had declared they would not stand at the next general election. He also oversaw Blair's first parliamentary defeat, when the Conservative Party, the Liberal Democrats and sufficient Labour Party rebels voted against government proposals to extend to 90 days the period that terror suspects could be held for without charge. Howard stood down as leader in December 2005 and was replaced by David Cameron.

In 2010, it was announced David Cameron wanted Howard to join his Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition, possibly as Lord Chancellor, via the House of Lords as part of David Cameron's appeal to rightwing Tories. However, it did not happen, although it is rumoured he may join the cabinet soon. Lord Howard has, nonetheless, been critical of the governments proposal for a 'rehabilitation revolution'.

Retirement

Howard announced on 17 March 2006 that he would stand down as MP for Folkestone and Hythe at the 2010 election. On 13 July 2006 the Conservatives selected Damian Collins to stand in his place at that election.

On 19 June 2006 the International Herald Tribune reported that Michael Howard would become chairman of Diligence Europe, a private intelligence and risk assessment company founded by former CIA and MI5 members.

On 22 February 2007, Howard became an Honorary Patron of the University Philosophical Society.

On 28 May 2010, it was announced in the Dissolution Honours List that Michael Howard would be ennobled and become a Conservative life peer in the House of Lords. His title was gazetted in the afternoon of 13 July 2010 as Baron Howard of Lympne of Lympne in the County of Kent. He was formally introduced into the House of Lords on 20 July 2010 at 2:20pm, and attended Questions and debate later that day. He was introduced to the Chamber by past colleague Baron Lamont of Lerwick.

See also

Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet (United Kingdom)

References

External links

Michael Howard MP official site

Conservative Party: Michael Howard official profile of the Party Leader

ePolitix.com - Michael Howard profile

Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Michael Howard MP

They Work For You: Michael Howard MP

The Public Whip - Michael Howard MP voting record

BBC News - Michael Howard profile 17 October 2002

YouTube Michael Howard on Newsnight

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Category:1941 births Category:Alumni of Peterhouse, Cambridge Category:British people of Jewish descent Category:British people of Romanian descent Category:British Secretaries of State Category:British Secretaries of State for Employment Category:British Secretaries of State for the Environment Category:Conservative Party (UK) MPs Category:Leaders of the Conservative Party (UK) Category:Leaders of the Opposition (United Kingdom) Category:Living people Category:Members of the Bow Group Category:Members of the Inner Temple Category:Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Category:Members of the United Kingdom Parliament for English constituencies Category:People from Llanelli Category:People from Swansea Category:Presidents of the Cambridge Union Society Category:British Queen's Counsel Category:Secretaries of State for the Home Department Category:UK MPs 1983–1987 Category:UK MPs 1987–1992 Category:UK MPs 1992–1997 Category:UK MPs 1997–2001 Category:UK MPs 2001–2005 Category:UK MPs 2005–2010 Category:Welsh lawyers Category:Welsh politicians Category:Conservative Party (UK) life peers

Name	Andrew Marr
Caption	In black tie at the 2009 BAFTA awards
Birthname	Andrew William Stevenson Marr
Birth date	July 31, 1959
Birth place	Glasgow, Scotland, UK
Occupation	Journalist, presenter, political commentator
Credits	BBC NewsThe Andrew Marr Show
Spouse
Children	3

Andrew William Stevenson Marr (born 31 July 1959) is a British journalist and political commentator. He edited The Independent for two years until May 1998, and was political editor of BBC News from 2000 until 2005.

He began hosting a political programme Sunday AM, now called The Andrew Marr Show, on Sunday mornings on BBC One from September 2005. Marr also hosts the BBC Radio 4 programme Start the Week. In 2007 he presented a political history of post-war Britain on BBC Two, Andrew Marr's History of Modern Britain, followed by a prequel in 2009 - Andrew Marr's The Making of Modern Britain focusing on the period between 1901-1945.

Early life

Marr was born on 31 July 1959 in Glasgow, Scotland

He was once a member of the Socialist Campaign for a Labour Victory. At Cambridge, Marr says he was a "raving leftie", and he acquired the nickname 'Red Andy'.

In October 2006 the Daily Mail claimed that Andrew Marr said: "The BBC is not impartial or neutral. It's a publicly funded, urban organisation with an abnormally large number of young people, ethnic minorities, and gay people. It has a liberal bias, not so much a party-political bias. It is better expressed as a cultural liberal bias."

Marr spoke at the Cheltenham Literary Festival on 10 October 2010 about political blogging. He claimed that "[a] lot of bloggers seem to be socially inadequate, pimpled, single, slightly seedy, bald, cauliflower-nosed young men sitting in their mother's basements and ranting. They are very angry people."

Private life

Family

Marr lives in East Sheen, London, with his wife, the political journalist Jackie Ashley of The Guardian, whom he married in August 1987 in Surrey. She is a daughter of the Labour Life Peer Lord Ashley of Stoke. The couple have a son and two daughters.

Legal issues

It was revealed in The Independent on 28 June 2008 by Richard Ingrams, that Marr has gained a high court injunction preventing disclosure in the press of "private information". Permission had also been granted for the existence of the injunction not to be mentioned, a so called 'super injunction', and it was indeed not mentioned until Private Eye commented on it.

In 2009, Marr's publisher, Macmillan Publishers, was successfully sued for libel by equality activist Erin Pizzey after his book A History of Modern Britain claimed she had once been part of the militant group Angry Brigade. According to her own account, in an interview in The Guardian in 2001, Pizzey had been present at a meeting when they discussed their intention of bombing Biba, a lively fashion store, and threatened to report their activities to the police. The publisher also recalled and destroyed the offending version of the book, and republished it with the error removed.

Awards

In 1995 he was named Columnist of the Year at both the What the Papers Say Awards and the British Press Awards, and received the Journalist Award in the Channel 4 Political Awards of 2001.

He was considered for honorary membership of The Coterie for 2007. Marr has received two British Academy Television Awards: the Richard Dimbleby Award at the 2004 ceremony and the award for Best Specialist Factual Programme (for his History of Modern Britain) at the 2008 ceremony.

Marr and his wife were both awarded honorary doctorates from Staffordshire University in July 2009.

Other work

Marr has helped support the Sense-National Deafblind and Rubella Association, and was the face of a hugely successful Sense direct marketing appeal. He has also been involved with the charity Common Purpose UK

References

External links

Press Office — Andrew Marr — BBC biography

'Marr quits as BBC political chief' — BBC News'

TV is less up itself than newspapers — The Guardian

Transcript - The Big Idea - BBC, 1996

Category:Alumni of Trinity Hall, Cambridge Category:BBC newsreaders and journalists Category:British political pundits Category:Trotskyists Category:High School of Dundee alumni Category:Old Lorettonians Category:People from Glasgow Category:Scottish columnists Category:Scottish journalists Category:Scottish newspaper editors Category:Scottish political writers Category:Scottish television presenters Category:1959 births Category:Living people Category:Scottish libertarians

Honorific-prefix	The Right Honourable
Name	William Hague
Honorific-suffix	MP
Office	First Secretary of State
Primeminister	David Cameron
Term start	12 May 2010
Predecessor	The Lord Mandelson
Office1	Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
Primeminister1	David Cameron
Term start1	11 May 2010
Predecessor1	David Miliband
Office2	Senior Member of the Shadow Cabinet
Leader2	David Cameron
Term start2	6 December 2005
Term end2	11 May 2010
Predecessor2	Michael Ancram
Successor2	Jack Straw
Office3	Shadow Foreign Secretary
Leader3	David Cameron
Term start3	6 December 2005
Term end3	11 May 2010
Predecessor3	Liam Fox
Successor3	David Miliband
Office4	Leader of the Opposition
Monarch4	Elizabeth II
Primeminister4	Tony Blair
Term start4	19 June 1997
Term end4	13 September 2001 His fast rise up through the government is attributed to his intelligence and skills in debate. Hague made a good impression at the Welsh Office; his predecessor John Redwood had been heavily criticised in the role. Resolving not to repeat Redwood's attempt to mime the Welsh national anthem at a public event, Hague asked a Welsh Office civil servant, Ffion Jenkins, to teach him the words; they later married. He continued serving in the Cabinet until the Conservatives were removed from power in the 1997 general election.

The speech was criticised in even traditionally Conservative newspapers such as The Sun and The Times. Former Conservative Deputy Prime Minister Michael Heseltine, a prominent One Nation Conservative, was particularly critical of Hague's allegation that Britain was becoming a "foreign land", and confessed in newspaper interviews that he was uncertain as to whether he could support a Hague-led Conservative Party. With hindsight, the speech served to cement the portrayal of the Conservatives' as "the nasty party" in the run-up to the general election.

Skill in debate

Hague's critics were checked each Wednesday by his performance at Prime Minister's Questions. During one particular exchange, while responding to the Queen's Speech of 2000, Hague attacked the Prime Minister's record:

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Blair responded by criticising what he saw as Hague's "bandwagon" politics:

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Resignation

On the morning of Labour's second consecutive landslide victory in the 2001 general election, Hague stated: "we have not been able to persuade a majority, or anything approaching a majority, that we are yet the alternative government that they need." In the 2001 election the Conservative Party had gained only one seat from their disastrous 1997 election. Following the defeat, Hague resigned as leader, thus becoming the first full Conservative Party leader never to have been Prime Minister since 1922 .

Backbenches

On the backbenches he occasionally spoke in the Commons on the issues of the day. While Hague spoke in support of the military action proposed by Prime Minister Tony Blair during debate before the 2003 Iraq War, one could lipread Blair saying to his colleague, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw: "He's good, you know."

Between 1997 and 2002 William Hague was the chairman of the International Democrat Union.

Hague's profile and personal, though not political, popularity have risen among both Conservative Party members and the wider public significantly since his spell as party leader. Since ceasing to be Leader of the Opposition, Hague has been an active media personality. He put in three much-praised appearances as a guest host on the BBC satirical news show Have I Got News For You in which he was also persuaded by Ian Hislop to admit that endorsing the soon-to-be-jailed Jeffrey Archer as the Conservative candidate for the post of Mayor of London was his "biggest mistake".

Other subsequent activities have included writing an in-depth biography of 18th century Prime Minister Pitt the Younger (published in 2004), teaching himself how to play the piano, and hosting the 25th anniversary programme for Radio 4 on the political television satire Yes Minister in 2005. In June 2007 he also published his second book, a biography of the anti-slave trade campaigner William Wilberforce, shortlisted for the 2008 Orwell Prize for political writing. He has also enjoyed a career as one of the UK's most popular after-dinner speakers.

Hague's annual income is the highest in Parliament, with earnings of about £400,000 a year from directorships, consultancy, speeches, and his parliamentary salary. His income was previously estimated at £1 million annually, but he dropped several commitments and in effect took a salary cut of some £600,000 on becoming Shadow Foreign Secretary in 2005.

Along with former Prime Minister John Major, former Chancellor Kenneth Clarke, and Hague's successor Iain Duncan Smith, Hague served for a time on the Conservative Leadership Council, which was itself set up by Michael Howard upon his unopposed election as Conservative Party Leader in 2003.

In the 2005 Conservative leadership election Hague backed eventual winner David Cameron.

Hague is the chairman of the Team 2 Thousand donor club, a society for donors to the Conservative party.

He is a member of Conservative Friends of Israel, a group which he joined when he was 15.

Return to the Shadow Cabinet

Following the 2005 General Election, the Conservative Party leader Michael Howard offered Hague the post of Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, but he turned the post down. Hague apparently told Howard that his business commitments would make it difficult for him to take on such a high profile job.

On 6 December 2005, David Cameron was elected leader of the Conservative party. Hague was offered and accepted the role of Shadow Foreign Secretary and Senior Member of the Shadow Cabinet, effectively serving as Cameron's deputy (though not formally, unlike previous deputy Conservative leaders Willie Whitelaw, Peter Lilley and Michael Ancram). He had been widely tipped to return to the front bench under either Cameron or leadership contest runner-up David Davis.

On 30 January 2006, per David Cameron's instructions, Hague traveled to Brussels for talks to pull Conservative Party MEPs out of the European People's Party–European Democrats (EPP-ED) group in the European Parliament. (Daily Telegraph, 30 Jan 2006). Further, on 15 February 2006, Hague stood in during David Cameron's paternity leave at Prime Minister's Questions. This appearance gave rise to jokes at the expense of Blair, that all three parties that day were being led by 'stand ins', with the Liberal Democrats represented by acting leader Sir Menzies Campbell, the Labour Party by the departing Blair, and the Conservatives by Hague. Hague again deputised for Cameron for several sessions in 2006. His standing in for Cameron at PMQs had increased the resemblance of his role to that of a deputy leader, but he retained only the title Senior Member of the Shadow Cabinet. Despite still being relatively young for an MP, Hague has been described as the Conservative Party's "elder statesman".

Foreign Secretary

Hague's appointment as Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs was Prime Minister David Cameron's first. He was also appointed to the honorary position of First Secretary of State. In his first overseas visit as Foreign Secretary, Hague met with United States Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in Washington, D.C.

In August 2010, Hague set out a values based foreign policy. He said that "We cannot have a foreign policy without a conscience. Foreign policy is domestic policy written large. The values we live by at home do not stop at our shores. Human rights are not the only issue that informs the making of foreign policy, but they are indivisible from it, not least because the consequences of foreign policy failure are human".

Hague said that "There will be no downgrading of human rights under this government and no resiling from our commitments to aid and development" he said. He continued saying that "Indeed I intend to improve and strengthen our human rights work. It is not in our character as a nation to have a foreign policy without a conscience, and neither is it in our interests."

Israel-Palestinian conflict

Hague was criticized by Israeli leaders after meeting with Palestinians who demonstrate against Israel's security barrier in the West Bank. He expressed solidarity with the idea of non-violence and listened to the accounts of left-wing and Palestinian activists. Israeli opposition leader Tzipi Livni condemned the statements, and said:

The security barrier has saved lives, and its construction was necessary. The barrier has separated Israel from Palestinian cities and completely changed the reality in Israel, where citizens were exposed to terror every day.

Personal life

William Hague married his wife Ffion, née Jenkins, at the House of Commons Crypt in 1997. He is currently a Vice President of the Friends of the British Library, which provides funding support to the British Library to make new acquisitions. Mr Hague is also a Patron of the European Youth Parliament UK, an educational charity organisation that runs debating competitions and discussion forums across the UK. Hague is also a judo practitioner. He learnt the piano in his early 40s and has a keen interest in music. He is also an enthusiast for the natural history and countryside of his native Yorkshire.

In early September 2010, a number of newspapers including The Daily Telegraph, The Independent and Daily Mail published stories about the fallout from allegations surrounding Hague's friendship with 25-year-old Christopher Myers, a history graduate from Durham University whom he employed as a parliamentary special adviser. A spokesperson stated that "Any suggestion that the Foreign Secretary's relationship with Chris Myers is anything other than a purely professional one is wholly inaccurate and unfounded." On 1 September 2010, Myers resigned from his position in the light of the press allegations. The media stories led Hague to make a public statement, in which he confirmed that he had "occasionally" shared a hotel room with Myers, but described as "utterly false" suggestions that he had ever been involved in a relationship with any man. A spokesperson for the Prime Minister David Cameron reported that he offered his "full support" over the media rumours. However, a number of figures from both within and without the Conservative Party criticised Hague for his personal response to the stories. Former Conservative leadership candidate John Redwood suggested that Hague showed "poor judgement" whilst Labour-supporting Speaker's wife Sally Bercow commented that Hague had been given "duff PR advice". Hague's political colleague and friend, the Conservative MP and government minister Alan Duncan, described the media coverage as "contemptible".

Awards

The Spectator's "Parliamentarian of the Year Award" (1998)

History Book of the Year in the 2005 British Book Awards, for William Pitt the Younger

The Spectator's 'Speech of the Year Award' (2007)

The Trustees Award at the 2008 Longman/History Today Awards

Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (2009)

Styles

Master William Hague (1961–1977)

Mr William Hague (1977–89)

Mr William Hague MP (1989–95)

The Rt. Hon. William Hague MP (1995–)

See also

UK Shadow Cabinet 1997-2001

Notes

External links

Rt Hon William Hague MP official Conservative Party profile

Twitter page

Collected news and commentary at The New York Times

Category:1961 births Category:Alumni of INSEAD Category:Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford Category:British judoka Category:British Secretaries of State Category:Conservative Party (UK) MPs Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature Category:First Secretaries of State of the United Kingdom Category:Former pupils of Wath Comprehensive School Category:Leaders of the Conservative Party (UK) Category:Leaders of the Opposition (United Kingdom) Category:Living people Category:Management consultants Category:McKinsey & Company people Category:Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Category:Members of the United Kingdom Parliament for English constituencies Category:People from Rotherham Category:Presidents of the Oxford Union Category:Secretaries of State for Wales Category:UK MPs 1987–1992 Category:UK MPs 1992–1997 Category:UK MPs 1997–2001 Category:UK MPs 2001–2005 Category:UK MPs 2005–2010 Category:UK MPs 2010–

Honorific-prefix	The Right Honourable
Name	Michael Foot
Honorific-suffix	FRSL
Caption	Foot in 1953.
Office	Leader of the Opposition
Primeminister	Margaret Thatcher
Term start	4 November 1980
Term end	2 October 1983
Predecessor	James Callaghan
Successor	Neil Kinnock
Office1	Leader of the Labour Party
Deputy1	Denis Healey
Term start1	4 November 1980
Term end1	2 October 1983
Predecessor1	James Callaghan
Successor1	Neil Kinnock
Office2	Deputy Leader of the Labour Party
Leader2	James Callaghan
Term start2	5 April 1976
Term end2	4 November 1980
Predecessor2	Edward Short
Successor2	Denis Healey
Office3	Leader of the House of Commons
Primeminister3	James Callaghan
Term start3	8 April 1976
Term end3	4 May 1979
Predecessor3	Edward Short
Successor3	Norman St John-Stevas
Office4	Lord President of the Council
Primeminister4	James Callaghan
Term start4	8 April 1976
Term end4	4 May 1979
Predecessor4	Edward Short
Successor4	Christopher Soames
Office5	Secretary of State for Employment
Primeminister5	Harold Wilson
Term start5	5 March 1974
Term end5	8 April 1976
Predecessor5	William Whitelaw
Successor5	Albert Booth
Constituency mp6	Blaenau GwentEbbw Vale (1960-1992)
Term start6	17 November 1960
Term end6	9 April 1992
Predecessor6	Aneurin Bevan
Successor6	Llew Smith
Constituency mp7	Plymouth Devonport
Term start7	5 July 1945
Term end7	26 May 1955
Predecessor7	Leslie Hore-Belisha
Successor7	Joan Vickers
Birth date	July 23, 1913
Birth place	Plymouth, Devon
Death date	March 03, 2010
Death place	Hampstead, London
Party	Labour
Spouse	Jill Craigie (1949–1999)
Alma mater	Wadham College, Oxford
Religion	None (Atheism)

Michael Mackintosh Foot (23 July 1913 – 3 March 2010) was a British Labour Party politician, journalist and author, who was a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1945 to 1955 and from 1960 until 1992. He was also the Leader of the Opposition from 1980 to 1983.

Associated with the Labour left for most of his career, he was a supporter of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and British withdrawal from the European Economic Community. A passionate orator, he was Labour leader at the 1983 general election when the party received its lowest share of the vote since 1918. Foot successfully sued the Sunday Times, winning "substantial" damages.

However, in the Daily Telegraph in 2010 Charles Moore gave a "full account", which he claimed had been provided to him by Gordievsky shortly after Foot's death, of the extent of Foot's alleged KGB involvement. Moore also wrote that, although the claims are difficult to corroborate without MI6 and KGB files, Gordievsky's past record in revealing KGB contacts in Britain had been shown to be reliable.

On 23 July 2006, his 93rd birthday, Michael Foot became the longest-lived leader of a major British political party, passing Lord Callaghan's record of 92 years, 364 days.

A staunch republican (though actually well-liked by the Royal Family on a personal level), Foot rejected honours from the Queen and the government, including a knighthood and a peerage, on more than one occasion.

Health

Foot suffered from asthma until 1963 (which disqualified him from active service in World War II) and eczema until middle age.

In October 1963 he was involved in a car crash, suffering pierced lungs, broken ribs, and a broken left leg. He subsequently used a walking stick for the rest of his life. According to former MP Tam Dalyell, Foot had up to the accident been a chain-smoker, but gave up the habit thereafter.

In 1976, Foot became blind in one eye following an attack of shingles.

Death

Foot died at his Hampstead, North London home in the morning of 3 March 2010. The House of Commons was informed of the news later that day by Justice Secretary Jack Straw, who told the House: "I am sure that this news will be received with great sadness not only in my own party but across the country as a whole." Foot's funeral was a non-religious service, held on 15 March 2010 at Golders Green Crematorium in North West London.

Fictional depiction

Foot was portrayed by Patrick Godfrey in the 2002 BBC production of Ian Curteis' long unproduced The Falklands Play.

Notes

Bibliography

"Cato". Guilty Men. Left Book Club. 1940.

"Brendan and Beverley" (as "Cassius"). Victor Gollancz. 1940.

Foot, Michael: The Pen and the Sword. MacGibbon and Kee. 1957. ISBN 0-261-61989-6.

Foot, Michael: Aneurin Bevan. MacGibbon and Kee. 1962 (vol 1); 1973 (vol 2). ISBN 0-261-61508-4.

Foot, Michael: Debts of Honour. Harper and Row. 1981. ISBN 0-06-039001-8.

Foot, Michael: Another Heart and Other Pulses. Collins. 1984. ISBN 978-0002172561.

Foot, Michael: H. G.: The History of Mr Wells. Doubleday. 1985. ISBN 978-1887178044.

Foot, Michael: Loyalists and Loners. Collins. 1986. ISBN 978-0002175838.

Foot, Michael: Politics of Paradise. HarperCollins. 1989. ISBN 0-06-039091-3

Foot, Michael: 'Introduction' in Swift, Jonathan. Gulliver's Travels. Penguin (Penguin Classics), 1967 & 1985.

Foot, Michael: 'Introduction' in Russell, Bertrand: Autobiography. Routledge. 1998.

Foot, Michael: Dr Strangelove, I Presume. Gollancz. 1999.

Foot, Michael, Brian Brivati (ed.): The Uncollected Michael Foot. Politicos Publishing. 2003. ISBN 978-1842750964.

Foot, Michael: 'Foreword' in Rosen, Greg: Old Labour to New. Methuen Publishing. 2005. ISBN 978-1842750452.

Foot, Michael: Isaac Foot: A West Country Boy - Apostle of England. Politicos Publishing. 2006. ISBN 978-1842751817.

Biographies

Hoggart, Simon; & Leigh, David. Michael Foot: a Portrait. Hodder. 1981. ISBN 0-340-27040-3

Jones, Mervyn. Michael Foot. Gollancz. 1993. ISBN 0-575-05933-8

Morgan, Kenneth O. Michael Foot: A Life. HarperPress (HarperCollins) 2007. ISBN 978 0 00 717826 1

External links

Michael Foot at 90 Johann Hari, 24 July 2003 - In-depth biographical interview marking Foot's 90th birthday

Michael Foot (1913-2010) Slideshow, The First Post

Fictional obituary of Michael Foot: "what if" the Falklands Task Force had been defeated? Today in Alternate History

The Labour History Archive and Study Centre hold Michael Foot's archive at: People's History Museum

Michael Foot 1913-2010 New Statesman, 3 November 2008 - The last published interview with the former Labour leader, who died on 3 March 2010 at the aged of 96

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