- Nicholas Edwards, Baron Crickhowell
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The Right Honourable
The Lord Crickhowell
PCSecretary of State for Wales In office
4 May 1979 – 13 June 1987Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher Preceded by John Morris Succeeded by Peter Walker Member of Parliament
for PembrokeshireIn office
18 June 1970 – 11 June 1987Preceded by Desmond Donnelly Succeeded by Nicholas Bennett Personal details Born 25 February 1934 Political party Conservative Alma mater Trinity College, Cambridge Roger Nicholas Edwards, Baron Crickhowell, PC (born 25 February 1934) is a British Conservative Party politician and a former Secretary of State for Wales.
Contents
Background
Educated at Westminster School, he was a director of William Brandt's insurance brokers and a director of National & Grindlays Bank Ltd. He left insurance to take Desmond Donnelly's old seat of Pembroke and served as Secretary of State for Wales in Margaret Thatcher's first and second administrations.
Lord Crickhowell currently sits in the House of Lords as a life peer. He has been associated with many British institutions, including the University of Wales, Cardiff (now Cardiff University), at which he served as president and became an honorary fellow. He received an honorary LL.D. from the University of Glamorgan.
Political career
At the 1970 general election, he was elected to the House of Commons as Member of Parliament for Pembrokeshire, which he represented until his retirement at the 1987 general election. From 1975 to 1979, he was Opposition Spokesman for Welsh Affairs (in other words, the Shadow Secretary of State for Wales). When Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister in 1979, Edwards was appointed Secretary of State for Wales. So far, he remains the only Conservative Welsh Secretary elected in a Welsh constituency. He served in that position until 1987, when he was given a life peerage as Baron Crickhowell, of Pont Esgob in the Black Mountains and County of Powys.
National Rivers Authority
Lord Crickhowell was the sole chairman of the National Rivers Authority (NRA) from its inception in 1989 until its merger into the newly created Environment Agency in 1996. Although his was a direct political appointment from the Conservative party who were in power at the time of the establishment of the NRA, Lord Crickhowell showed a courageous commitment to the principles of the NRA and the legislation that it enforced speaking out strongly in favour of the natural environment and supporting strong enforcement action against major corporate polluters.
Welsh National Opera
During the 1990s Lord Crickhowell became a leading figure in the campaign for a permanent home for the Welsh National Opera in Cardiff. When the plans were rejected by the Government in 1995, he launched an angry and public attack on his former Conservative colleagues.
External links
- The Baron Crickhowell (Burke's Peerage)
- Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Nicholas Edwards
Offices Held
Parliament of the United Kingdom Preceded by
Desmond DonnellyMember of Parliament for Pembrokeshire
1970–1987Succeeded by
Nicholas BennettPolitical offices Preceded by
John MorrisSecretary of State for Wales
1979–1987Succeeded by
Peter WalkerSecretaries of State for Wales Wales Office 1964-1970 1970-1974 1974-1979 1979-1997 1997-2010 2010-present - Also Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (2005-2007)
Categories:- 1934 births
- Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge
- British Secretaries of State
- Conservative Party (UK) MPs
- Conservative Party (UK) life peers
- Living people
- Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
- Members of the United Kingdom Parliament for Welsh constituencies
- Old Westminsters
- People associated with Cardiff University
- Secretaries of State for Wales
- UK MPs 1970–1974
- UK MPs 1974
- UK MPs 1974–1979
- UK MPs 1979–1983
- UK MPs 1983–1987
- Welsh politicians
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