Thomas Galloway Dunlop du Roy de Blicquy Galbraith,2nd Baron Strathclyde, CH , PC (born 22 February 1960),known informally as Tom Strathclyde,is a British Conservative politician. Lord Strathclyde served in the political role of Leader of the House of Lords from the 2010 general election until January 2013 and as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster,having been Leader of the Opposition in the House of Lords (1998–2010). As of 2024,he is the most recent hereditary peer to serve as Leader of the Lords.
Thomas Galbraith was born in Glasgow,the son of Conservative politician Tam Galbraith and his Belgian wife Simone du Roy de Blicquy. His father was MP for Glasgow Hillhead from 1948 until his death in 1982. Galbraith succeeded to the barony in 1985 at the age of 25,following the death of his grandfather Thomas Galbraith,1st Baron Strathclyde. [1] [2] He contested the Merseyside East constituency in the 1984 European election. [3]
Galbraith was educated at Sussex House School,in London,and Wellington College near Sandhurst,Berkshire. He attended the University of East Anglia, [1] where he graduated in 1982 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in modern languages and European studies. He also studied at Aix-Marseille University.
Strathclyde entered the House of Lords in 1986,becoming a Junior Whip in 1988,then Minister for Tourism in 1989. Between 1990 and 1992,he was Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries in the Scottish Office. He then served in the Department of the Environment and the Department of Trade and Industry,before being appointed the Conservative Party Chief Whip in the House of Lords in 1994,succeeding Lord Ullswater. The next year,he was sworn of the Privy Council.
In 1998 Strathclyde,along with the Conservative front bench in the Lords,threatened to tender his resignation if the party refused to accept a proposed compromise plan for reform of the Lords that had been negotiated with the Labour Party by Lord Cranborne,the Conservatives' leader in the Lords,unbeknown to the Leader of the Opposition (in the Commons) William Hague,and to his annoyance. Hague,however,accepted the proposals,dismissing Cranborne for the conduct in negotiations,and Strathclyde was appointed to succeed him. Under his leadership,the House of Lords Act 1999 passed:under this,Strathclyde was elected by other peers as one of the 92 hereditary peers to remain in the House of Lords.
He won Channel 4 Peer of the Year 2000,and Spectator Peer of the Year 2004.
When the Conservatives formed a coalition government under David Cameron in May 2010,Strathclyde became Leader of the House of Lords and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster,with a seat in the Cabinet.
On 7 January 2013,Strathclyde announced that he would be stepping down as Leader of the House of Lords,and resigning from the Cabinet with immediate effect,to pursue a second business career. [4] He was succeeded by Lord Hill of Oareford. He was subsequently appointed a Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour for his services to the Lords. [5]
Strathclyde married Jane Skinner,elder daughter of John Skinner,in 1992. They have three daughters: [1]
The family lives in Westminster and at the Galbraith family estate in Mauchline,Ayrshire.
As Strathclyde has no sons,the heir presumptive to the peerage is his younger brother,the Hon. Charles William du Roy de Blicquy Galbraith (born 1962). [1]
Lord Strathclyde is a governor of Wellington College,Berkshire. He received an Honorary Doctorate of Civil Law from the University of East Anglia in July 2018. [6]
He is a director of Auchendrane Estates Ltd,a landowning company in Scotland. His wealth is estimated at £10m. [7]
He was a non-executive director on the board of Trafigura's hedge-fund arm,Galena Asset Management,from 2004 until 2009. [8] Trafigura defended court actions during the 2006 Ivory Coast toxic waste dump scandal and The Guardian suggested his appointment may be an attempt to de-toxify the Dutch company globally. [9]
|
Marquess of Salisbury is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1789 for the 7th Earl of Salisbury. Most of the holders of the title have been prominent in British political life over the last two centuries, particularly the 3rd Marquess, who served three times as Prime Minister in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
James Michael Leathes Prior, Baron Prior, was a British Conservative Party politician. A Member of Parliament from 1959 to 1987, he represented the Suffolk constituency of Lowestoft until 1983 and then the renamed constituency of Waveney from 1983 to 1987, when he stood down from the House of Commons and was made a life peer. He served in two Conservative cabinets, and outside parliament was Chairman of the Arab British Chamber of Commerce from 1996 to 2004, and Chancellor of Anglia Ruskin University from 1992 to 1999.
Douglas Martin Hogg, 3rd Viscount Hailsham, Baron Hailsham of Kettlethorpe,, is a British politician and barrister. A member of the Conservative Party, he served in John Major’s second government as Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food from 1995 to 1997, and was a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1979 to 2010.
George Samuel Knatchbull Young, Baron Young of Cookham,, known as Sir George Young, 6th Baronet from 1960 to 2015, is a British Conservative Party politician who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1974 to 2015, having represented Ealing Acton from 1974 to 1997 and North West Hampshire from 1997. He has served in Cabinet on three occasions: as Secretary of State for Transport from 1995 to 1997; as the Leader of the House of Commons and Lord Privy Seal from 2010 to 2012; and as Conservative Chief Whip from 2012 to 2014.
Ian Bruce Lang, Baron Lang of Monkton, PC DL is a British Conservative Party politician and Life Peer who served as the Member of Parliament for Galloway, and then Galloway and Upper Nithsdale, from 1979 to 1997.
John Roddick Russell MacGregor, Baron MacGregor of Pulham Market,, is a politician from the United Kingdom. A member of the Conservative Party, he was the Member of Parliament (MP) for South Norfolk from 1974 to 2001. He served in the Cabinet as Chief Secretary to the Treasury (1985–87), Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1987–89), Secretary of State for Education and Science (1989–90), Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Council (1990–92), and Secretary of State for Transport (1992–94). He was made a life peer in 2001.
The House of Lords Act 1999 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed the House of Lords, one of the chambers of Parliament. The Act was given Royal Assent on 11 November 1999. For centuries, the House of Lords had included several hundred members who inherited their seats ; the Act removed such a right. However, as part of a compromise, the Act allowed ninety-two hereditary peers to remain in the House. Another ten were created life peers to enable them to remain in the House.
Baron Strathclyde is a title that has been created twice in British history, both times in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was first created on 15 January 1914 when the politician and judge Alexander Ure was made Baron Strathclyde, of Sandyford in Lanarkshire. This creation became extinct on his death in 1928.
Baron Raglan, of Raglan in the County of Monmouth, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 20 October 1852 for the military commander Lord FitzRoy Somerset, chiefly remembered as commander of the British troops during the Crimean War.
Robert Michael James Gascoyne-Cecil, 7th Marquess of Salisbury, Baron Gascoyne-Cecil, is a British Conservative politician. From 1979 to 1987 he represented South Dorset in the House of Commons, and in the 1990s he was Leader of the House of Lords under his courtesy title of Viscount Cranborne. Lord Salisbury lives in one of England's largest historic houses, the 17th-century Hatfield House in Hertfordshire, and currently serves as Chancellor of the University of Hertfordshire.
James Edward Hubert Gascoyne-Cecil, 4th Marquess of Salisbury,, known as Viscount Cranborne from 1868 to 1903, was a British statesman.
In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. Life peers are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister. With the exception of the Dukedom of Edinburgh awarded for life to Prince Edward in 2023, all life peerages conferred since 2009 have been created under the Life Peerages Act 1958 with the rank of baron and entitle their holders to sit and vote in the House of Lords, presuming they meet qualifications such as age and citizenship. The legitimate children of a life peer appointed under the Life Peerages Act 1958 are entitled to style themselves with the prefix "The Honourable", although they cannot inherit the peerage itself. Prior to 2009, life peers of baronial rank could also be so created under the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876 for senior judges.
Lieutenant Colonel Rupert Charles Ponsonby, 7th Baron de Mauley,, is a British hereditary peer, former Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and retired Territorial Army officer.
Sir Thomas Galloway Dunlop Galbraith, known as Tam Galbraith, was a Scottish Unionist politician.
Thomas Dunlop Galbraith, 1st Baron Strathclyde, PC, was a Scottish Unionist Party politician.
The Shadow Cabinet appointed by Conservative Party leader William Hague was the Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet from 1997 to 2001. Following his initial appointments in June 1997, Hague reshuffled the Shadow Cabinet five times before his resignation as leader following defeat in the 2001 general election.
David Garro Trefgarne, 2nd Baron Trefgarne,, is a British Conservative politician. He is currently the longest-serving member of the House of Lords.
Rodney Elton, 2nd Baron Elton, was a British Conservative politician and member of the House of Lords.
The UK Shadow Cabinet was appointed by Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan Smith. Following his initial appointments in September 2001 Smith managed three reshuffles before his resignation as leader in November 2003.
Donald Euan Palmer Howard, 4th Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal,, was a British Conservative politician.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)