Peter Thorneycroft

The Lord Thorneycroft
The Right Honourable; The Lord Thorneycroft; CH PC
Chancellor of the Exchequer
	In office; 13 January 1957 – 6 January 1958
Prime Minister	Harold Macmillan
Preceded by	Harold Macmillan
Succeeded by	Derick Heathcoat-Amory
Chairman of the Conservative Party
	In office; 11 February 1975 – 14 September 1981
Leader	Margaret Thatcher
Preceded by	William Whitelaw
Succeeded by	Cecil Parkinson
Secretary of State for Defence
	In office; 13 July 1962 – 16 October 1964
Prime Minister	Harold Macmillan; Alec Douglas-Home
Preceded by	Harold Watkinson
Succeeded by	Denis Healey
Minister of Aviation
	In office; 27 July 1960 – 13 July 1962
Prime Minister	Harold Macmillan
Preceded by	Duncan Sandys
Succeeded by	Julian Amery
President of the Board of Trade
	In office; 30 October 1951 – 13 January 1957
Prime Minister	Winston Churchill; Anthony Eden
Preceded by	Hartley Shawcross
Succeeded by	David Eccles
Member of the House of Lords; Lord Temporal
	In office; 4 December 1967 – 4 June 1994; Life Peerage
Member of Parliament; for Monmouth
	In office; 30 October 1945 – 31 March 1966
Preceded by	Leslie Pym
Succeeded by	Donald Anderson
Member of Parliament; for Stafford
	In office; 9 June 1938 – 5 July 1945
Preceded by	William Ormsby-Gore
Succeeded by	Stephen Swingler
Shadow Cabinet positions
Shadow Home Secretary
	In office; 4 August 1965 – 13 April 1966
Leader	Edward Heath
Shadowing	Frank Soskice; Roy Jenkins
Preceded by	Edward Boyle
Succeeded by	Quintin Hogg
Shadow Secretary of State for Defence
	In office; 16 October 1964 – 4 August 1965
Leader	Alec Douglas-Home
Shadowing	Denis Healey
Preceded by	Denis Healey
Succeeded by	Enoch Powell
Personal details
Born	26 July 1909; Dunston, United Kingdom
Died	4 June 1994 (aged 84); London, United Kingdom
Political party	Conservative
Alma mater	Royal Military Academy, Woolwich; City Law School

George Edward Peter Thorneycroft, Baron Thorneycroft, CH, PC (26 July 1909 – 4 June 1994) was a British Conservative Party politician. He served as Chancellor of the Exchequer between 1957 and 1958.

Early life

Born in Dunston, Staffordshire, Thorneycroft was educated at Eton and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. He was commissioned into the Royal Artillery as a second lieutenant on 29 August 1929 but resigned his commission on 1 July 1931.^[1]^[2] In 1933, he was called to the bar for the Inner Temple.

Political career

He entered Parliament in the Stafford by-election, 1938, for the borough of Stafford. He was re-commissioned into the Royal Artillery in his previous rank on 30 August 1939.^[3] During World War II, he served with the Royal Artillery and the general staff. Along with other members of the Tory Reform Committee, Thorneycroft pressed his party to support the Beveridge Report.

He served in the Conservative caretaker Government 1945 as Parliamentary Secretary at the Ministry of War Transport. In the 1945 general election, he lost his seat to his Labour opponent, Stephen Swingler, but he returned in the Monmouth by-election, 1945 for Monmouth a few months later.^[4]

Throughout the late 1940s Thorneycroft worked assiduously to refurbish the Conservative Party after its disastrous defeat in the 1945 general election. His opposition to the Anglo-American loan in the Commons earned him a reputation as a parliamentary debater, and when the Conservatives returned to power after the general election of 1951, he was appointed President of the Board of Trade. He was instrumental in persuading the government in 1954 to abandon the party's support for protectionism and accept the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.^[5]

Chancellorship and resignation

Thorneycroft's support for Harold Macmillan in Macmillan's successful 1957 leadership contest for the premiership led to his appointment as Chancellor of the Exchequer,^[6] one of the most senior positions in the government. He resigned in 1958, along with two junior Treasury Ministers, Enoch Powell and Nigel Birch, because of increased government expenditure. Macmillan, himself a former chancellor, made a famous and much-quoted remark that the resignations were merely "little local difficulties". (In reality, Macmillan was deeply concerned about the possible effects of Thorneycroft's resignation.)

In retrospect, Thorneycroft questioned the wisdom of his resignation, saying that "we probably made our stand too early."

Later political career

Thorneycroft returned to the Cabinet in 1960, when he was appointed Minister of Aviation by Macmillan. In 1964 he was promoted to be Secretary of State for Defence. As Secretary of State for Defence, Thorneycroft played a pivotal role in the Sunda Straits Crisis, first supporting and then opposing the passage of the aircraft carrier HMS Victorious through the Indonesian-claimed Sunda Strait during the height of the Indonesia-Malaysia confrontation in August and September 1964.^[7]

After the Government was defeated in 1964, Thorneycroft first served as Shadow Secretary of State for Defence under Alec Douglas-Home, before being made Shadow Home Secretary by Edward Heath the next year. Thorneycroft lost his seat at the 1966 general election, and was raised to the peerage as a life peer as Baron Thorneycroft, of Dunston in the County of Stafford on 4 December 1967.^[8]

Later life

Thorneycroft was a strong supporter of Margaret Thatcher's monetarist policies, and she made him Chairman of the Conservative Party in 1975. He held the position until 1981.

He was notable as an amateur watercolourist and held exhibitions. Winston Churchill, when told of Thorneycroft's interest, had said, "Every minister must have his vice. Painting shall be yours".^[4]

He was appointed to the Order of the Companions of Honour (CH) in the 1980 New Year Honours.^[9]

Family

His grandfather was the Victorian Colonel Thomas Thorneycroft, a Wolverhampton industrialist, eccentric, landowner and well-known Conservative; he was asked to stand for election by Benjamin Disraeli. Colonel Thorneycroft owned various houses in Staffordshire and Shropshire including Tettenhall Towers and Tong Castle.

His great-grandfather was George Benjamin Thorneycroft, an ironfounder, JP, Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Staffordshire and first Mayor of Wolverhampton. His grandfather's cousin was John Isaac Thorneycroft who founded Vosper Thorneycroft. A second cousin was Siegfried Sassoon. A third cousin was Willie Whitelaw. Another second cousin was the novelist Ellen Thorneycroft Fowler. His great uncle was Lord Wolverhampton.

After his first marriage, to Sheila Wells Page, and divorce, he married Carla, Contessa Roberti (later known as Lady Thorneycroft, DBE) in 1949. He had a son by his first wife and a daughter by his second wife.

Styles of address

1909–1938: Mr Peter Thorneycroft
1938–1951: Mr Peter Thorneycroft MP
1951–1966: The Rt Hon. Peter Thorneycroft MP
1966–1967: The Rt Hon. Peter Thorneycroft
1967–1980: The Rt Hon. The Lord Thorneycroft PC
1980–1994: The Rt Hon. The Lord Thorneycroft CH PC

References

↑ "No. 33530". The London Gazette. 30 August 1929. p. 5644.
↑ "No. 33731". The London Gazette. 30 June 1931. p. 4246.
↑ "No. 34660". The London Gazette. 29 August 1939. p. 5920.
1 2 Howarth, Alan (6 June 1994). "Obituary: Lord Thorneycroft". The Independent. London. Retrieved 22 May 2010.
↑ Robert Shepard, "Theorneycroft, (George Edward) Peter", in The Oxford Companion to Twentieth-Century British Politics (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002), p. 642
↑ "No. 40981". The London Gazette. 22 January 1957. p. 501.
↑ Easter, David (2012). Britain and the Confrontation with Indonesia, 1960–66. I.B.Tauris, p. 100.
↑ "No. 44469". The London Gazette. 5 December 1967. p. 13287.
↑ "No. 48059". The London Gazette (Supplement). 8 January 1980. p. 298.

External links

Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Peter Thorneycroft
Brief biography and list of Thorneycroft documents held at Southampton University
Review of Peter Thorneycroft biography by Stanley Crooks at Southampton University, October 2007
Publisher's blurb for the Crooks biography of Thorneycroft
Two portraits of Peter Thorneycroft at the National Portrait Gallery, one being a photograph by Cecil Beaton

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by William Ormsby-Gore	Member of Parliament for Stafford 1938–1945	Succeeded by Stephen Swingler
Preceded by Leslie Pym	Member of Parliament for Monmouth 1945–1966	Succeeded by Donald Anderson
Political offices
Preceded by Hartley Shawcross	President of the Board of Trade 1951–1957	Succeeded by David Eccles
Preceded by Harold Macmillan	Chancellor of the Exchequer 1957–1958	Succeeded by Derick Heathcoat-Amory
Preceded by Duncan Sandys	Minister of Aviation 1960–1962	Succeeded by Julian Amery
Preceded by Harold Watkinson	Secretary of State for Defence 1962–1964	Succeeded by Denis Healey
Preceded by Denis Healey	Shadow Secretary of State for Defence 1964–1965	Succeeded by Enoch Powell
Preceded by Edward Boyle	Shadow Home Secretary 1965–1966	Succeeded by Quintin Hogg
Party political offices
Preceded by Willie Whitelaw	Chair of the Conservative Party 1975–1981	Succeeded by Cecil Parkinson

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[1] "No. 33530". The London Gazette. 30 August 1929. p. 5644.

[2] "No. 33731". The London Gazette. 30 June 1931. p. 4246.

[3] "No. 34660". The London Gazette. 29 August 1939. p. 5920.

[inder-4] 1 2 Howarth, Alan (6 June 1994). "Obituary: Lord Thorneycroft". The Independent. London. Retrieved 22 May 2010.

[5] Robert Shepard, "Theorneycroft, (George Edward) Peter", in The Oxford Companion to Twentieth-Century British Politics (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002), p. 642

[6] "No. 40981". The London Gazette. 22 January 1957. p. 501.

[7] Easter, David (2012). Britain and the Confrontation with Indonesia, 1960–66. I.B.Tauris, p. 100.

[8] "No. 44469". The London Gazette. 5 December 1967. p. 13287.

[9] "No. 48059". The London Gazette (Supplement). 8 January 1980. p. 298.

Chancellors of the Exchequer
of England	Eustace of Fauconberg Maunsell Leicester Westminster Chishull W. Giffard G. Giffard Chishull de la Leye Willoughby Benstead Sandale Hotham Stanton Harvington Wodehouse Stratford Ashby Ashton Barnham Somer Somerset Browne Witham Thwaites Witham Fowler Catesby Lovell Berners Cromwell Baker Sackville Mildmay Fortescue Dunbar Caesar Greville Portland Barrett Cottington Colepeper Hyde Ashley Duncombe Ernle Delamer Hampden Montagu Smith Boyle
of Great Britain	Boyle Smith Harley Benson Wyndham Onslow Walpole Stanhope Aislabie Pratt Walpole Sandys Pelham Lee Bilson-Legge Lyttelton Bilson-Legge Mansfield Bilson-Legge Barrington Dashwood Grenville Dowdeswell Townshend North Cavendish Pitt Cavendish Pitt Addington Pitt Ellenborough Petty Perceval Vansittart
of the United Kingdom	Vansittart Robinson Canning Tenterden Herries Goulburn Althorp Denman Peel Spring Rice Baring Goulburn Wood Disraeli Gladstone Lewis Disraeli Gladstone Disraeli Hunt Lowe Gladstone Northcote Gladstone Childers Hicks Beach Harcourt R. Churchill Goschen Harcourt Hicks Beach Ritchie A. Chamberlain Asquith Lloyd George McKenna Law A. Chamberlain Horne Baldwin N. Chamberlain Snowden W. Churchill Snowden N. Chamberlain Simon Wood Anderson Dalton Cripps Gaitskell Butler Macmillan Thorneycroft Heathcoat-Amory Lloyd Maudling Callaghan Jenkins Macleod Barber Healey Howe Lawson Major Lamont Clarke Brown Darling Osborne Hammond
Italic: Interim Chancellor of the Exchequer, as Lord Chief Justice

Defence Secretaries of the United Kingdom
Minister for Co-ordination of Defence	Sir Thomas Inskip The Lord Chatfield
Ministers for Defence	Winston Churchill Clement Attlee A. V. Alexander Manny Shinwell Winston Churchill The Earl Alexander of Tunis Harold Macmillan Selwyn Lloyd Sir Walter Monckton Anthony Head Duncan Sandys Harold Watkinson Peter Thorneycroft
Secretaries of State for Defence	Peter Thorneycroft Denis Healey The Lord Carrington Ian Gilmour Roy Mason Fred Mulley Francis Pym John Nott Michael Heseltine George Younger Tom King Malcolm Rifkind Michael Portillo George Robertson Geoff Hoon John Reid Des Browne John Hutton Bob Ainsworth Liam Fox Philip Hammond Michael Fallon Gavin Williamson