Norman St John-Stevas, Baron St John of Fawsley

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Norman Anthony Francis St John-Stevas, Baron St John of Fawsley, PC, FRSL (born May 18, 1929), is a British Conservative politician, author, Constitutional Expert and barrister. His surname was compounded from his father's (Stevas) and mother's (St John-O'Connor) surnames.

Education:

He was educated at Ratcliffe College, Leicester, than going on to read law (gaining a 1st Class degree with honours) at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, while there he became President of the Cambridge Union (1950) and won the Whitlock Prize. (MA). He also studied at Christ Church, Oxford where ge gained a (MA BCL), while at Oxford he became Secretary of the Oxford Union. London (PhD) and Yale University (JSD). He also studied briefly for the Roman Catholic Priesthood at the Venerable English College in Rome. He was called to the Bar of the Middle Temple in 1952.

He was elected Member of Parliament for Chelmsford, Essex in 1964 and held the seat until 1987. He served as Minister of State for the Arts twice, and from 1979 to 1981 was Leader of the House of Commons and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.

It was while he occupied the post of Leader of the House of Commons that he was largely credited with the creation of the now famous or infamous House of Commons' select committees which enabled backbench MPs to hold ministers to account, they are still in force and still very much a force to be reckoned with.

In early 1981, he became the first of the Tory 'wets' to be dismissed from the Cabinet by the Prime Minister Mrs Thatcher (ahead of the major reshuffle in September of that year). He had been critical of her approach. For many years he was a member of the Bow Group.

He stood down from the House of Commons during the General Election of 1987, following this he was elevated to the House of Lords as a life peer with the title Baron St John of Fawsley, of Preston Capes in the County of Northamptonshire.

He was Chairman of the Royal Fine Arts Commission from 1985 to 1999, and Master of Emmanuel College, Cambridge from 1991 to 1996. He is a Patron of the Society of King Charles the Martyr, and Grand Bailiff for England and Wales of the Military and Hospitaller Order of St Lazarus.

He has never married. He is fond of cats. His marked reverence for the Royal Family prompted Francis Wheen to dub him Lord Cringe on All Foursly.

[edit] Bibliography:

By Norman St John Stevas

"Before the Sunset Fades: An Autobiography", Harper Collins (2007)- Forthcoming autobiography

"The Two cities", Farrar Straus & Giroux (1984)

"Agonising Choice: Birth Control, Religeon and Law", Eyre & Spottiswoode, London (1971)

"Bagehot's Historical Essays", New York University Press (1966)

"Law and Morals"Hawthorn Books, New York (1964)

"The Right to Life", Holt, Rinehart & Winston (1963)

"Life, Death And The Law", Indiana University Press, (1961)

"Walter Bagehot A study of his life & thought together with a selection from his political writings", University of Indiana Press(1959)

Edited by Norman St John Stevas

Bagehot, Walter, St John Stevas, Norman (Editor):"The Collected Works of Walter Bagehot: Volumes 1- 15', The Economist/ Harvard University Press(1965- 1986)

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Sir Hubert Ashton	Member of Parliament for Chelmsford 1964 – 1987	Succeeded by Simon Burns
Political offices
Preceded by Harold Lever	Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster 1979 – 1981	Succeeded by Francis Pym
Preceded by Michael Foot	Leader of the House of Commons 1979 – 1981	Succeeded by Francis Pym
Preceded by The Lord Donaldson of Kingsbridge	Minister of State for the Arts 1979 – 1981	Succeeded by Paul Channon
Preceded by The Viscount Eccles	Minister of State for the Arts 1973 – 1974	Succeeded by Hugh Jenkins