Peter Brooke

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Peter Leonard Brooke, Baron Brooke of Sutton Mandeville, CH, PC (born March 3, 1934), is a British politician, a former Conservative Cabinet member, and former Member of Parliament for the Cities of London and Westminster.

He is the son of Henry Brooke, Baron Brooke of Cumnor, a former Home Secretary and Barbara Brooke, Baroness Brooke of Ystradfellte. He was educated at Marlborough College, a famous boys' independent school in the town of Marlborough in Wiltshire, and at Balliol College, Oxford (when he was President of the Oxford Union), and Harvard Business School. After leaving university he worked as a headhunter and was Chairman of Spencer Stuart.

He was elected as Conservative MP for the City of London and Westminster in 1977. He was sworn of the Privy Council in 1988. He was made Chairman of the Conservative Party in 1987, and was made Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in 1989. He remained in this position until the reshuffle after the 1992 UK general election. He caused controversy when he appeared on The Late Late Show the day after an IRA bombing and sang the song Oh My Darling, Clementine.

After the 1992 general election he stood down and became a backbench MP, but later that year became Secretary of State for National Heritage until 1994.

He stepped down as an MP at the 2001 general election and was made a life peer as Baron Brooke of Sutton Mandeville, of Sutton Mandeville in the County of Wiltshire in October 2001. He is Chairman of the Association of Conservative Peers. He was appointed Companion of Honour, as his father had been, in 1992.

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Christopher Tugendhat	Member of Parliament for the City of London and Westminster South 1977–1997	Succeeded by (constituency renamed)
Preceded by (new constituency)	Member of Parliament for the Cities of London and Westminster 1997–2001	Succeeded by Mark Field
Political offices
Preceded by Norman Tebbit	Chairman of the Conservative Party 1987–1989	Succeeded by Kenneth Baker
Preceded by Kenneth Clarke	Paymaster-General 1987–1989	Succeeded by The Earl of Caithness
Preceded by Tom King	Secretary of State for Northern Ireland 1989–1992	Succeeded by Sir Patrick Mayhew
Preceded by David Mellor	Secretary of State for National Heritage 1992–1994	Succeeded by Stephen Dorrell