The Lord Londesborough | |
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![]() Lord Londesborough in 2021, official photo | |
Member of the House of Lords | |
Lord Temporal | |
In office 8 April 1996 –11 November 1999 as a hereditary peer | |
Preceded by | The 8th Baron Londesborough |
Succeeded by | Seat abolished [a] |
Assumed office 23 June 2021 as an elected hereditary peer | |
Preceded by | The 31st Countess of Mar |
Personal details | |
Born | Richard John Denison 2 July 1959 |
Political party | None (crossbench) |
Richard John Denison,9th Baron Londesborough (born 2 July 1959),is an entrepreneur,investor in start-ups and Crossbench member of the House of Lords.
Londesborough was a journalist and foreign correspondent in Iran (1978) and Mexico (1982) before setting up from his kitchen table a specialist informational service,Latin America Monitor,with fellow journalist Jonathan Feroze in 1984.
Londesborough took his seat as a crossbench member of the House of Lords in 1999,and made his maiden/valedictory speech just one week before being excluded by the House of Lords Act 1999. [1]
He became a member of the Lords again in June 2021,having been elected by the whole House in a by-election following the retirement of the Countess of Mar. [2] After a gap of 22 years,Lord Londesborough spoke again in the Lords,touching on his first maiden speech and foreign aid on 27 October 2021. [3]
He speaks regularly on the economy,business,entrepreneurship,sport and small and medium enterprises,and was appointed to the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee in 2023.
He caused controversy in 2023 during a debate on artificial intelligence,by raising the prospect that members of the House of Lords might be replaced by "peerbots with deeper knowledge,higher productivity and lower running costs."
Londesborough married Rikki (née Morris) in 1987. They have a son and a daughter,and live on Richmond Hill in west London.