Norman Fowler, Baron Fowler
Peter Norman Fowler, Baron Fowler Kt PC (born 2 February 1938) is a British politician who served as a member of both Margaret Thatcher and John Major's ministries during the 1980s and 1990s. He was elected Lord Speaker in September 2016.
After serving as Shadow Minister of Transport, Fowler was appointed Minister of Transport in 1979, being responsible for making seat belts compulsory. Later, as Secretary of State for Health and Social Services, he drew public attention to the dangers of AIDS. He resigned from the cabinet as Employment Secretary, and was knighted in 1990.
Fowler was Chairman of the Conservative Party from 1992 to 1994, Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Transport and the Regions from 1997 to 1998, and Shadow Home Secretary from 1998 to 1999. In 2001, he was created a Conservative Life Peer. He renounced party political allegiance upon taking office as Lord Speaker.
Early life
The son of Norman Frederick Fowler and Katherine (née Baker), he was educated at King Edward VI Grammar School in Chelmsford, Essex;[1] after which he did National Service as a second lieutenant in the Essex Regiment. Whilst studying at Trinity Hall, Cambridge (BA Economics & Law 1961), he was Chairman of the Cambridge University Conservative Association in Michaelmas 1960, in which term he entertained both the Prime Minister Harold Macmillan and Home Secretary (and de facto Deputy Prime Minister, although he did not hold the title until 1962) Rab Butler. He then became a journalist, and worked on The Times.
Member of Parliament
Fowler was elected for Nottingham South in 1970; after the seat was abolished, he switched to Sutton Coldfield at the February 1974 election.
In opposition
During the mid-1970s, Fowler was Shadow Minister of Transport. In April 1976, he was photographed outside the Palace of Westminster having just taken delivery of his third four-cylinder MG MGB GT – he had reportedly rejected the idea of buying a V8 version on account of the cost.[2]
In government
Upon Margaret Thatcher becoming Prime Minister in 1979, she did not immediately appoint Fowler to her Cabinet, explaining: "we were short of one place. As a result, Norman Fowler, as Minister of State at Transport, was not able to be an official member of the Cabinet, although he attended all our meetings."[3]
As Secretary of State for Transport, Fowler drove through Lord Nugent's 1981 bill to make seat belts compulsory, a law that came into force in 1983.[4][5]
As Secretary of State for Health and Social Security in 1986, Fowler implemented the first official drive to educate the British public to the dangers of AIDS. Edwina Currie (Health) and John Major (Social Security) both served under him as junior ministers.
Backbenches, retirement and Shadow Cabinet
Fowler later resigned from the Cabinet as Employment Secretary in January 1990; he later claimed that he was the first politician to cite "to spend more time with my [his] family" as his reason for leaving office, a phrase that has been reused by many others as a reason for a resignation and is often treated as a euphemism.[6]
Following his resignation from the frontbench, Fowler was knighted in 1990.[7]
Fowler then returned twice to front-line politics, first as Chairman of the Conservative Party (as a backbencher in Parliament) from 1992 to 1994, during which time he oversaw the parliamentary boundary changes of the early 1990s; then on the Conservative front bench as Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Transport and the Regions (1997–98) and finally as Shadow Home Secretary (1998–99).
In 2001, he stepped down as a Member of Parliament.
House of Lords
After standing down from the House of Commons, he entered the House of Lords, sitting on the Conservative benches as Baron Fowler, of Sutton Coldfield, in the County of West Midlands.[8]
In 2003, Lord Fowler proposed that the European Union should appoint a high-level coordinator with ambassadorial rank to deal with the AIDS epidemic.[9]
In 2006, he chaired a House of Lords select committee which criticised the use of the television licence fee, which is used to fund the BBC.
His book A Political Suicide (Politico's Publishing ISBN 978-1-84275-227-2) was published in 2008, and was shortlisted for the Channel 4 Political Book of the Year Award.
In May 2013, Fowler gave his support to legislation aiming to extend marriage rights to same-sex couples, stating: "Parliament should value people equally in the law, and that enabling same-sex couples to marry removes the current inequity."[10]
He was elected as Lord Speaker in 2016.[11] He is the third person and first man to hold the office since it was established by the Constitutional Reform Act 2005. Lord Fowler has stated that he favours reducing the House of Lords to 600 members.[12]
On 19 March 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic he announced that he would be withdrawing from Westminster and working from home, with deputy speakers taking over his role in the House of Lords but returned in July to continue his role. [13]
Work in industry
Lord Fowler has been deeply involved in industry, having served on the board of directors of several companies. He is non-executive chairman of Aggregate Industries plc.[14] He is a member of the National Union of Journalists.[15]
See also
References
- Dod's Parliamentary Companion 2005, 173rd edition, London, 2004, p.581.
- "News: An MG for Shadow Minister". Autocar. Vol. 144 (nbr 4146). 24 April 1976. p. 27.
- Margaret Thatcher, The Downing Street Years (HarperCollins, 1993), p. 29.
- "Seat belt law introduction recalled by Lord Fowler". BBC News. 21 May 2011. Archived from the original on 7 October 2016. Retrieved 1 July 2011.
- "RoSPA History - How Belting Up Became Law". Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents. Archived from the original on 15 July 2011. Retrieved 1 July 2011.
- Norman Fowler (5 July 2008). "Family first". Guardian Unlimited. Archived from the original on 21 February 2017. Retrieved 29 September 2008.
- "No. 52026". The London Gazette. 23 January 1990. p. 973.
- "No. 56266". The London Gazette. 6 July 2001. p. 1.
- Michael White (21 February 2003). "Europe should appoint Aids envoy, peer says". Guardian Unlimited. Archived from the original on 4 December 2004. Retrieved 13 April 2008.
- "Conservative Lord Fowler: If Parliament values people equally, it must make same-sex marriage legal". Archived from the original on 17 May 2013. Retrieved 7 September 2016.
- "Lord Fowler elected as new Lord Speaker". UK Parliament. 13 June 2016. Archived from the original on 9 February 2018. Retrieved 13 June 2016.
- "House of Lords size should be cut by 200 peers, Lords Speaker says". 6 September 2016. Archived from the original on 17 September 2016. Retrieved 7 September 2016.
- "Lord Speaker announces withdrawal from Parliament amid coronavirus outbreak". Politics Home. Retrieved 19 March 2020.
- "The board at Aggregate Industries". www.aggregate.com. Archived from the original on 5 December 2011. Retrieved 7 September 2016.
- "Freelance May00: Freedom of Information: your task". www.londonfreelance.org. Archived from the original on 19 July 2011. Retrieved 7 September 2016.
External links
- Official website of the Lord Speaker
- Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Norman Fowler
- "Europe should appoint Aids envoy, peer says" - a Guardian article by Michael White, dated 21 February 2003
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
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| Preceded by George Perry |
Member of Parliament for Nottingham South 1970–1974 |
Constituency abolished |
| Preceded by Geoffrey Lloyd |
Member of Parliament for Sutton Coldfield 1974–2001 |
Succeeded by Andrew Mitchell |
| Preceded by The Baroness D'Souza |
Lord Speaker 2016–present |
Incumbent |
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| Preceded by Bill Rodgers as Secretary of State for Transport |
Minister of State for Transport 1979–1981 |
Succeeded by Himself as Secretary of State for Transport |
| Preceded by Himself as Minister of State for Transport |
Secretary of State for Transport 1981 |
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Secretary of State for Health and Social Services 1981–1987 |
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Secretary of State for Employment 1987–1990 |
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