Geoffrey Rippon

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(Aubrey) Geoffrey Frederick Rippon, Baron Rippon of Hexham, PC, (May 28, 1924 - Jan 28, 1997) was a British Conservative politician. He was Chairman of the European-Atlantic Group.

Educated at King's School, Taunton, and Brasenose College, Oxford where he was president of the University Conservative Association, he was called to the Bar in 1948. He was Mayor of Surbiton 1951-52 and a member of the London County Council from 1952. After unsuccessfully contesting the seat of Shoreditch and Finsbury in both 1950 and 1951, he became MP for Norwich South in 1955. In 1964 he switched to the constituency of Hexham in Northumberland and remained MP there until retiring in 1987.

In 1970 he became Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster under Edward Heath, and being in favour of the Common Market was given the responsibility of negotiating Britain's entry into it. In 1972 he moved to become Secretary of State for the Environment.

Rippon was at one time a prominent member of the Conservative Monday Club, for whom he authored a booklet entitled Right Angle, and was guest-of-honour at their Annual Dinner in 1970. The Club was, however, divided on the EEC (European Community) issue, and at their conference in October 1971 members moved and carried a resolution opposing Britain's entry.

He was created a life peer in 1987, as Baron Rippon of Hexham, of Hesleyside in the County of Northumberland.

[edit] References

  • Copping, Robert, The Story of The Monday Club - The First Decade, (Foreword by George Pole), Current Affairs Information Service, Ilford, Essex, April 1972, (P/B).
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Henry Strauss
Member of Parliament for Norwich South
19551964
Succeeded by
Christopher Norwood
Preceded by
Rupert Speir
Member of Parliament for Hexham
19641987
Succeeded by
Alan Amos
Political offices
Preceded by
Tony Benn
Minister of Technology
1970
Succeeded by
John Davies
Preceded by
Anthony Barber
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
1970–1972
Succeeded by
John Davies
Preceded by
Peter Walker
Secretary of State for the Environment
1972–1974
Succeeded by
Anthony Crosland
Preceded by
Sir Alec Douglas-Home
Shadow Foreign Secretary
1974–1975
Succeeded by
Reginald Maudling