Nicholas Ridley, Baron Ridley of Liddesdale
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- For the 16th Century English cleric and martyr, see Nicholas Ridley (martyr).
| The Right Honourable Nicholas Ridley Baron Ridley of Liddesdale, PC |
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| In office 24 July 1989 – 28 November 1990 |
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| Prime Minister | Margaret Thatcher |
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| Preceded by | David Young |
| Succeeded by | Peter Lilley |
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| In office 21 May 1986 – 24 July 1989 |
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| Preceded by | Kenneth Baker |
| Succeeded by | Chris Patten |
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| In office 11 June 1983 – 21 May 1986 |
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| Preceded by | Tom King |
| Succeeded by | John Moore |
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| In office 14 September 1981 – 11 June 1983 |
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| Preceded by | Nigel Lawson |
| Succeeded by | John Moore |
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| Born | 17 February 1929 Northumberland, England |
| Died | March 4, 1993 (aged 64) Carlisle, Cumbria, England |
| Political party | Conservative |
Nicholas Ridley, Baron Ridley of Liddesdale, PC (17 February 1929 – 4 March 1993) was a British Conservative Party politician and government minister.
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[edit] Early Life
Nicholas Ridley was the grandson of architect Edwin Lutyens, and is the father of Jane Ridley, Reader in History at the University of Buckingham. He is also the uncle of scientist and broadcaster Matt Ridley. Ridley was educated at Eton College and Balliol College, Oxford.
During his Eton days, Nicholas Ridley's fag had been Tam Dalyell, later Labour MP for West Lothian. After a meeting of strong words, Ridley was reported to say "he was my fag at Eton, I wish I had beaten him more!"
He became a civil engineer and company director. He served as secretary of the Canning Club, a councillor on Castle Ward Rural District Council and a member of the executive committee of the National Trust.
[edit] Member of Parliament
At the 1955 general election, Ridley unsuccessfully contested the safe Labour seat of Blyth. He was elected Member of Parliament (MP) for Cirencester and Tewkesbury at the 1959 election.
He was appointed as Parliamentary Private Secretary in 1962, and from 1964 he was a Select Committee member before joining the front bench.
He was a strong supporter in the Party of Margaret Thatcher. In 1973, he formed the Selsdon Group, which was opposed to the abandonment of the radical 1970 manifesto by Edward Heath. The members of the group were seen as disloyal at the time but their ideas came to dominate the Thatcher years.
[edit] In government
When the Conservatives were returned to office at the 1979 general election, Ridley was appointed to the new Conservative government as Minister of State at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office responsible for the Falkand Islands. His first visit to the Islands was in July 1979, after which the Foreign Office considered the options, given that the idea of 'Fortress Falklands' was deemed unfeasible on the grounds of cost - Britain could not afford to maintain a sufficiently powerful military presence on the Islands to deter an invasion.
Instead, Nicholas Ridley was sent back to the Islands in November 1980 to try to persuade Islanders to accept a proposal for 'leaseback' whereby nominal sovereignty would be given to Argentina but British administration would be maintained for a fixed number of years until the final handover. Islanders were unconvinced and Parliament gave the proposals a hostile reception, pointing out that British peoples should not be handed over against their will to such an unsavoury regime as the Argentine junta. In the face of this opposition the Conservative government once again reiterated that the Islanders' wishes were 'paramount'.
In February 1981, with the support of the Islands' Councillors, the British government met with Argentine representatives in New York but the British proposal for a sovereignty freeze was rejected by the junta. British intelligence reports continued to suggest that Argentina would invade the Islands only if it was convinced there was no prospect of eventual transfer of sovereignty.
Ridley advised that leaseback remained the only feasible solution and recommended that Britain initiate an education campaign to persuade Islanders, but this proposal was rejected by Lord Carrington who felt that any attempt to put pressure on Islanders would be counter-productive. However, the cumulative effect of stalled sovereignty negotiations, the British Nationality Act 1981 (which would deprive many Islanders of their rights as full British citizens), the announced withdrawal of HMS Endurance, the shelving of plans to rebuild the Royal Marine barracks at Moody Brook, and the proposed closure of the British Antarctic Survey base at Grytviken on South Georgia, was to convince Argentina that Britain had no future interest in the Islands.
From 1981 to 1983 Ridley was the Financial Secretary to the Treasury. After the 1983 election, Ridley - always regarded by Margaret Thatcher as "one of us" - was a beneficiary of her move to cull the Tory wets and joined her cabinet as Secretary of State for Transport. In that role he played a major part in making preparations for a possible coal strike, which proved an important factor in deciding the outcome of the UK miners' strike (1984-1985). Ridley had long been acutely aware of the threat the trade unions could pose to the execution of Conservative policies and, in the wake of the Heath government's union difficulties, had authored the Ridley Plan, which set out means of dealing with the trade unions and was a prototype for later developments. The Thatcher government attached considerable importance to being properly prepared for a major miners' strike and backed down from a confrontation with the miners in its first Parliament. By the time that the miners did strike, in March 1984, considerable efforts had been made in stockpiling coal at power stations, ensuring the availability of non-unionised transport workers and ensuring the availability of oil-fired generation plant.
Never far from controversy, he had to apologise, following the sinking of the Channel ferry, the Herald of Free Enterprise in 1987, for remarking that he would not be pursuing a particular policy "with the Bow Doors Open" (The ship had capsized, with loss of 193 lives, as a result of sailing with its Bow Doors open).
As Secretary of State for the Environment from 1987 to 1989, he is credited with popularising the phrase NIMBY or Not In My Back Yard for those who as a reflex opposed any building development. It was soon revealed that Ridley opposed a low cost housing development near a village where he owned a property. More importantly, he was the Cabinet Minister responsible for the introduction of the Community Charge or poll tax, a policy that brought a standing ovation at the Conservative Party conference at which it was announced, but which turned out to be a policy that mired the Thatcher government in controversy.
On 14 July 1990 he was forced to resign as Secretary of State for Trade and Industry after an interview published in The Spectator. He had described the proposed Economic and Monetary Union as "a German racket designed to take over the whole of Europe" and said that giving up sovereignty to Europe was as bad as giving it up to Adolf Hitler. The interview was illustrated with a cartoon depicting Ridley adding a Hitler moustache to a poster of the German Chancellor Helmut Kohl. While Ridley was not one of the most powerful government members, he was regarded as a Thatcherite loyalist and his departure was a significant break in their ranks. Margaret Thatcher herself had to resign four months later. Some commentators point to Ridley's resignation, its manner, and the European issue at its core, as leading indicators for the next decade of Conservative Party politics.
[edit] Retirement and Death
On 28 July 1992, he was created a life peer as Baron Ridley of Liddesdale, of Willimontswick in the County of Northumberland. An unrepentant chain smoker for much of his life, Ridley died of lung cancer relatively soon after his elevation to the House of Lords. During a media launch event for an anti-litter campaign with Margaret Thatcher, Ridley was seen during the whole event with a cigarette in his mouth. Ridley's puppet on Spitting Image always had a cigarette in its mouth.
At the 1996 Nicholas Ridley Memorial Lecture, Lady Thatcher said of Ridley:
- "Free-market economics was always Nick's passion. And he had a longer, better pedigree in that respect than most Thatcherites—or indeed I may add—than Thatcher herself. His first vote against a Conservative Government bailing out nationalised industries was in 1961. To be so right, so early on, is not to have seen the light—it is to have lit it.... He would have been a superb Chancellor."[1]
[edit] Trivia
Nicholas Ridley was a keen water colour artist, and photographer - he even took the cover photograph for the 1960s rock group the Swinging Blue Jeans first album.
[edit] Notes
[edit] Offices held
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
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| Preceded by William Morrison |
Member of Parliament for Cirencester and Tewkesbury 1959–1992 |
Succeeded by Geoffrey Clifton-Brown |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by Nigel Lawson |
Financial Secretary to the Treasury 1981–1983 |
Succeeded by John Moore |
| Preceded by Tom King |
Secretary of State for Transport 1983–1986 |
Succeeded by John Moore |
| Preceded by Kenneth Baker |
Secretary of State for the Environment 1986–1989 |
Succeeded by Chris Patten |
| Preceded by Lord Young |
Secretary of State for Trade and Industry 1989–1990 |
Succeeded by Peter Lilley |
