Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 7th Marquess of Salisbury

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Robert Gascoyne-Cecil is a member of the House of Lords. [1] He is well connected with Ulster unionism, a member of Friends of the Union, and part of a number of Eurosceptic and Neoconservative connected organisations such as Open Europe.

Alternatively known as...

He is also known as:

Background

Gascoyne-Cecil comes from one of England's most prominent aristocratic families, with a long history of service in Conservative administrations. His father, the sixth Marquess was a Conservative MP and President of the Monday Club.[2]

Like the four preceding Marquesses, Gascoyne-Cecil was educated at Eton and Oxford (Christ Church).[3]

Member of Parliament

Gascoyne-Cecil was elected MP for Dorset South in 1979.[4]

John Major had also applied for the Conservative candidacy in the constituency, and recounts the following experience:

I reached the second round of interviews and was waiting with the others for my ordeal when I saw the selection committee rise respectfully as a well-built young man with dark hair entered the room. One of the other candidates scowled: 'That's Lord Cranborne - he owns the constituency.' That was not quite true, although he certainly owned a lot of land.[5]

On entering the Commons, Gascoyne-Cecil joined the "blue chip" group of backbench MPs.[6] According toJohn Major, this was the most prestigious of the dining clubs formed by the 1979 Conservative intake, and Gascoyne-Cecil was a leading member.[7]

Afghanistan

According to the Independent, Gascoyne-Cecil spent part of his time as an MP in Afghanistan:

He decided to offer his freelance services to the mujahedin, then resisting a Soviet puppet regime, when he found himself crouching in shallow trenches as Russian bombs rained down on him.[8]

House of Lords

Gascoyne-Cecil entered the Lords in 1992 as Baron Cecil.[9] He was awarded a life peerage in 1999 to allow him to sit in the reformed Lords. In November 2001, he announced he was taking a leave of absence from the Lords in protest at new rules on registration of interests.[10]

Affiliations

See Also

External Resources

References

  1. ↑ Tom O'Sullivan The Young Elite 1-10, The Guardian, 12 March 2000.
  2. ↑ Anthony Seldon, The Saturday Profile Viscount Cranborne, Conservative Peer: The last true blue blood, Independent, 21 November 1998.
  3. ↑ Anthony Seldon, The Saturday Profile Viscount Cranborne, Conservative Peer: The last true blue blood, Independent, 21 November 1998.
  4. ↑ Anthony Seldon, The Saturday Profile Viscount Cranborne, Conservative Peer: The last true blue blood, Independent, 21 November 1998.
  5. ↑ John Major, John Major - The Autobiography, Harper Collins, 2000, p.57.
  6. ↑ Anthony Seldon, The Saturday Profile Viscount Cranborne, Conservative Peer: The last true blue blood, Independent, 21 November 1998.
  7. ↑ John Major, John Major - The Autobiography, Harper Collins, 2000, p.57.
  8. ↑ Anthony Seldon, The Saturday Profile Viscount Cranborne, Conservative Peer: The last true blue blood, Independent, 21 November 1998.
  9. ↑ Anthony Seldon, The Saturday Profile Viscount Cranborne, Conservative Peer: The last true blue blood, Independent, 21 November 1998.
  10. ↑ Nicholas Watt, Angry Cranborne quits 'enfeebled' Lords, Guardian, 3 November 2001.
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