| The Right Honourable The Lord Strathclyde PC |
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Leader of the Opposition in the House of Lords
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 1998 |
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| Preceded by | The Rt. Hon. The Viscount Cranborne PC |
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| Born | 22 February 1960 Glasgow, Scotland |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Alma mater | University of East Anglia University of Aix-en-Provence |
Thomas Galloway Dunlop du Roy de Blicquy Galbraith, 2nd Baron Strathclyde, PC (born 22 February 1960, Glasgow, Scotland) is a United Kingdom politician and the leader of the Conservative Party in the House of Lords. He is known informally as Tom Strathclyde.
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Early life
Strathclyde's father, Tam Galbraith, was Conservative MP for Glasgow Hillhead (1948–82) but died before his own father in 1982, triggering the famous by-election that saw the election of Roy Jenkins.
Strathclyde was educated at Wellington College and at the University of East Anglia where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1982. He also studied at the University of Aix-en-Provence, and is fluent in French.
Conservative Party
Strathclyde first 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 Conservative 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 entire Conservative front bench in the House of 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 by Lord Cranborne, Conservative leader in the Lords, to the disapproval of party leader William Hague. Hague accepted the proposals, though Cranborne was dismissed for the way in which they had been negotiated, and Strathclyde was appointed to succeed him. Under his leadership the House of Lords Act 1999 passed. Strathclyde was subsequently selected 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.
Career
He is a director of Auchendrane Estates Ltd, a landowning company in Scotland.
He is currently non-executive director on the board of Trafigura's hedge-fund arm, Galena Asset Management although he has stated that he intends to stand down from Trafigura [1] Trafigura has been in the news for a number of years in relation with the 2006 Côte d'Ivoire toxic waste dump scandal.[2]
His wealth is estimated at £10m.[3]
Styles
- The Hon. Thomas Galbraith (1960–1985)
- The Rt. Hon. The Lord Strathclyde (1985–1995)
- The Rt. Hon. The Lord Strathclyde PC (1995–)
See also
References
- ^ http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/sep/17/lord-strathclyde-end-trafigura-links
- ^ http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/16/inside-trafigura-pollution-conservatives
- ^ Samira Shackle, Stephanie Hegarty and George Eaton The new ruling class New Statesman 01 October 2009
External links
Offices held
| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by The Lord Beaverbrook |
Lord-in-Waiting 1988 – 1989 |
Succeeded by The Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne |
| Preceded by The Viscount Ullswater |
Captain of the Gentlemen-at-Arms 1994 – 1997 |
Succeeded by The Lord Carter |
| Peerage of the United Kingdom | ||
| Preceded by Thomas Galbraith |
Baron Strathclyde 1985–present |
Incumbent |
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