Michael Ancram

The Most Honourable
The Marquess of Lothian
PC QC DL
Shadow Secretary of State for Defence
In office
10 May 2005 – 6 December 2005
Leader Michael Howard
Preceded by Nicholas Soames
Succeeded by Liam Fox
Shadow Foreign Secretary
In office
18 September 2001 – 10 May 2005
Leader Iain Duncan Smith
Michael Howard
Preceded by Francis Maude
Succeeded by Liam Fox
Deputy Leader of the Conservative Party
In office
18 September 2001 – 6 December 2005
Leader Iain Duncan Smith
Michael Howard
Preceded by Michael Portillo
Succeeded by William Hague
Chairman of the Conservative Party
In office
2 December 1998 – 7 June 2001
Leader William Hague
Preceded by Cecil Parkinson
Succeeded by David Davis
Shadow Constitutional Affairs Spokesperson
In office
19 June 1997 – 1 June 1998
Leader William Hague
Preceded by William Hague
Michael Howard
Succeeded by Liam Fox
Minister of State for Northern Ireland
In office
11 January 1994 – 2 May 1997
Prime Minister John Major
Preceded by Robert Atkins
Succeeded by Adam Ingram
Undersecretary of State for Northern Ireland
In office
27 May 1993 – 11 January 1994
Prime Minister John Major
Preceded by Jeremy Hanley
Succeeded by Tim Smith
Member of Parliament
for Devizes
In office
10 April 1992 – 12 April 2010
Preceded by Charles Morrison
Succeeded by Claire Perry
Member of Parliament
for Edinburgh South
In office
4 May 1979 – 18 May 1987
Preceded by Michael Hutchison
Succeeded by Nigel Griffiths
Member of Parliament
for Berwick and East Lothian
In office
28 February 1974 – 10 October 1974
Preceded by John Mackintosh
Succeeded by John Mackintosh
Personal details
Born (1945-07-07) 7 July 1945
London, England, UK
Political party Conservative
Spouse(s) Jane Fitzalan-Howard
Children 2 daughters
Alma mater Christ Church, Oxford
University of Edinburgh
Religion Roman Catholicism

Michael Andrew Foster Jude Kerr, 13th Marquess of Lothian, Baron Kerr of Monteviot, PC, QC, DL (born 7 July 1945), previously known as Michael Ancram, is a British Conservative Party politician. He was formerly a Member of Parliament (MP) and a member of the Shadow Cabinet. Since 2010 a member of the House of Lords, he is the only marquess in the House of Lords. Lord Lothian is hereditary Chief of the Scottish Clan Kerr.[1]

Early life and education

Michael Ancram was born in London and is the elder son and second child of the 12th Marquess of Lothian.[2] He was educated at the Catholic independent school Ampleforth College in North Yorkshire, followed by Christ Church at the University of Oxford (BA History 1966 proceeded MA), where he was a member of the Bullingdon Club,[3] and the University of Edinburgh (LLB 1968).

Life and career

Ancram was called to the Scottish Bar in 1970 and continued to practice as an Advocate until 1979, apart from a brief period in 1974 when he first sat as an MP;[4] he became a Queen's Counsel (QC) in 1996.[5]

Member of Parliament

Ancram unsuccessfully contested the West Lothian parliamentary seat in 1970. He was first elected to Parliament in the February 1974 general election, when he contested and won the seat of Berwickshire and East Lothian, but lost the seat in the October election of the same year. He re-entered Parliament at the 1979 election as the Member of Parliament for Edinburgh South, beating future Prime Minister Gordon Brown. He lost his seat again at the 1987 general election, but returned to Parliament at the 1992 election representing Devizes.

He was a member of the House of Commons Energy Select Committee between 1979 and 1983, and Chairman of the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party from 1980 to 1983. He was Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Scottish Office with responsibility for Home Affairs, Housing, Local Government, Rating Reform and the Environment from 1983 until 1987.

He lost his seat in 1987 but returned to Parliament in 1992 and was a member of the Public Accounts Committee and Chairman of the backbench Constitutional Affairs Committee from 1992 until May 1993, when he was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Northern Ireland Office. He was promoted to Minister of State at the Northern Ireland Office in January 1994, and was sworn as a Privy Councillor in January 1996.

Shadow Cabinet and failed leadership bid

After the Conservatives' defeat at the 1997 election he served in the Shadow Cabinet as Constitutional Affairs Spokesman from June 1997 to June 1998, and as Chairman of the Conservative Party from October 1998 to September 2001.

In 2001, he ran against Iain Duncan Smith, Michael Portillo, Kenneth Clarke and David Davis in the election for the party leadership. In the first poll of Conservative MPs he and David Davis were tied for last place, leading to a re-run in which Ancram was placed bottom. He was eliminated, and Davis withdrew. Both swung their support behind Iain Duncan Smith, who went on to win, beating Clarke in the final vote of party members. Duncan Smith made Ancram Deputy Leader of the Opposition and Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs in September 2001. He remained in this position after Michael Howard took over in 2003.

In the reshuffle following the 2005 election, Ancram was moved to Shadow Secretary of State for Defence but remained Deputy Leader. He stood down from the Shadow Cabinet in December 2005, following the election of David Cameron as Conservative Party Leader.[6] In January 2006 he was appointed to the Intelligence and Security Committee, replacing James Arbuthnot.

Later years as an MP

Ancram was a founding signatory in 2005 of the Henry Jackson Society principles, advocating a proactive approach to the spread of liberal democracy across the world, including when necessary by military intervention. On 21 April 2006 he became one of the first senior Conservative MPs to call for British troops to withdraw from Iraq, saying Iraq was effectively in a state of civil war and that "It is time now for us to get out of Iraq with dignity and honour while we still can."[7]

Ancram is a founder member of the Top Level Group of UK Parliamentarians for Multilateral Nuclear Disarmament and Non-proliferation,[8] established in October 2009.

In 2006 he set up Global Strategy Forum, a bi-partisan foreign affairs think tank based in London.

On 11 August 2009, Ancram announced that he was to stand down as the MP for Devizes at the 2010 general election due to heart problems.[9] He retired when Parliament was dissolved on 12 April 2010; his successor as Conservative member for the Devizes constituency is Claire Perry.[10]

Personal life

He married Lady Jane Fitzalan-Howard, the youngest daughter of the 16th Duke of Norfolk. They are both prominent Roman Catholics. She is a Patron of the Right to Life Trust[11] and also a Patroness of the Royal Caledonian Ball.[12]

The Marquess and Marchioness of Lothian (as now formally styled) have two daughters and two grandchildren:

As the Kerr family titles cannot pass through the female line, the heir presumptive to his hereditary titles is his younger brother Lord Ralph Kerr. However, his elder daughter is heir presumptive to Lady Herries of Terregles, in succession to her childless aunt and mother. Lord Lothian is also one of the five co-heirs to the Barony of Butler, abeyant since 1905. Though the most junior heir by primogeniture, he holds the strongest claim, as the other heirs have a lesser share to that title. Upon his death, however (and assuming the barony of Butler is not called out of abeyance), his own share will be further subdivided between his two daughters.

His younger sister, Lady Cecil Cameron OBE, married Prime Minister David Cameron's 6th cousin and Clan Chieftain, Donald Cameron of Lochiel. Another sister, the former Lady Clare Kerr, is now Dowager Countess of Euston (daughter-in-law of the late Duke of Grafton) and mother of the present and 12th Duke.

Lord Lothian is a keen country music fan and has often played acoustic guitar at Conservative Party conferences.[13] He is a knight of Order of St John and Order of St Lazarus, He was also made a Freeman of Gibraltar in 2010.[14][15]

Name and titles

Marquess of Lothian's coat of arms

Although his family name is Kerr, Michael Ancram was known from birth by the courtesy title Earl of Ancram as elder son and heir of the 12th Marquess of Lothian. He is said to have dropped the use of this title in favour of plain Mr Michael Ancram after becoming a lawyer, supposedly because he believed it might confuse the jury if any Judge were to have addressed him as "My Lord".[16]

Ancram is known to many of his friends as Crumb, a nickname attributed to a party in the sixties at which on arrival Ancram introduced himself as "Lord Ancram" and was duly announced as "Mr Norman Crumb".[2]

Ancram became Marquess of Lothian upon his father's death in 2004, but did not take up use of this title in public life whilst still sitting as an MP (although properly he should have ceased being styled by the courtesy title of Earl of Ancram). The House of Lords Act 1999 meant that, on acceding to the peerage, he was not disqualified from sitting in the House of Commons as hereditary peers no longer have an automatic right to sit in the House of Lords. Apart from Irish peers, he was, after John Sinclair, 3rd Viscount Thurso and Douglas Hogg, 3rd Viscount Hailsham, the third person to have sat in the House of Commons while simultaneously being a hereditary peer.

Ancram was created a Life Peer on 22 November 2010 as Baron Kerr of Monteviot, of Monteviot in Roxburghshire, and was introduced in the House of Lords the same day;[17] by custom, he is referred to by his senior title as The Marquess of Lothian during all parliamentary business and in other official records such as Hansard.[18]

Titles from birth

Ancestry

Arms

References

  1. ↑ "Kerr". Clanjames.com. Retrieved 2016-03-28.
  2. 1 2 "Biography". MichaelAncram.com. Retrieved 9 September 2013.
  3. ↑ "ImageShack - Image Page". Imageshack.us. Retrieved 2016-03-28.
  4. ↑ "MP Michael Ancram". UK Political Parties Directory. Retrieved 27 November 2010.
  5. ↑ "Profile: Michael Ancram – The next leader of the Tories?". The Independent. 27 November 1999. Retrieved 27 November 2010.
  6. ↑ "Ancram to stand down from Shadow Cabinet". Conservative Party. 4 October 2005. Retrieved 1 November 2006.
  7. ↑ "Tory MP urges Iraq troop pull-out". BBC News. 21 April 2006. Retrieved 1 November 2006.
  8. ↑ Borger, Julian (8 September 2009). "Nuclear-free world ultimate aim of new cross-party pressure group". The Guardian. London.
  9. ↑ Prince, Rosa (11 August 2009). "Michael Ancram to stand down as MP". The Telegraph. Retrieved 12 May 2010.
  10. ↑ "Claire Perry chosen for Devizes". BBC News. 6 November 2009. Retrieved 12 May 2010.
  11. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 25 April 2012. Retrieved 22 August 2012.
  12. ↑ "Patronesses". Royal Caledonian Ball.
  13. ↑ "Ancram, the emollient earl". BBC News. 21 June 2001. Retrieved 27 November 2010.
  14. ↑ "Press Release : Freedom of the City" (PDF). Gibraltar.gov.gi. Retrieved 2016-03-28.
  15. ↑ "Freedom of the City for two friends". Panorama.gi. Retrieved 2016-03-28.
  16. ↑ Rachel Sylvester and George Jones (27 June 2001). "Ancram offers healing hands to Tories". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 1 November 2006.
  17. ↑ "House of Lords Business". Publications.parliament.uk. Retrieved 2016-03-28.
  18. ↑ "Marquess of Lothian". UK Parliament website. Retrieved 27 November 2010.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
John Mackintosh		 Member of Parliament
for Berwick and East Lothian
1974 		Succeeded by
John Mackintosh
Preceded by
Michael Hutchison		 Member of Parliament
for Edinburgh South
1979–1987 		Succeeded by
Nigel Griffiths
Preceded by
Charles Morrison		 Member of Parliament
for Devizes
1992–2010 		Succeeded by
Claire Perry
Political offices
Preceded by
William Hague
Michael Howard		 Shadow Constitutional Affairs Spokesperson
1997–1998 		Succeeded by
Liam Fox
Preceded by
Michael Portillo		 Deputy Leader of the Opposition
2001–2005 		Succeeded by
William Hague
Preceded by
Francis Maude		 Shadow Foreign Secretary
2001–2005 		Succeeded by
Liam Fox
Preceded by
Nicholas Soames		 Shadow Secretary of State for Defence
2005 		Succeeded by
Liam Fox
Party political offices
Preceded by
Cecil Parkinson		 Chair of the Conservative Party
1998–2001 		Succeeded by
David Davis
Preceded by
Michael Portillo		 Deputy Leader of the Conservative Party
2001–2005 		Succeeded by
William Hague
Peerage of Scotland
Preceded by
Peter Kerr		 Marquess of Lothian
2004–present 		Incumbent
Orders of precedence in the United Kingdom
Preceded by
The Marquess of Tweeddale		 Order of Precedence of the United Kingdom Succeeded by
The Marquess of Lansdowne
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