Oliver Eden, 8th Baron Henley

The Right Honourable The Lord Henley PC
Minister of State for Crime Prevention and Anti-Social Behaviour Reduction
In office 16 September 2011 – 4 September 2012
Prime Minister	David Cameron
Preceded by	Baroness Browning
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Environment
In office May 2010 – 16 September 2011
Prime Minister	David Cameron
Succeeded by	Lord Taylor of Holbeach
Minister of State for Education
In office 1995–1997
Prime Minister	John Major
Personal details
Born	(1953-11-22) 22 November 1953
Political party	Conservative
Alma mater	University of Durham

Oliver Michael Robert Eden, 8th Baron Henley PC (born 22 November 1953) is a British politician and Conservative member of the House of Lords and served as a Minister of State at the Home Office with responsibility for Crime Prevention and Anti-Social Behaviour Reduction, a role in which he succeeded Lady Browning in September 2011 to September 2012.^[1]

Early life

Lord Henley is the eldest son and fourth child of Michael, the seventh Baron, and Nancy Mary Walton. He was educated at Clifton College. He graduated from Collingwood College, Durham University Bachelor of Arts (BA) in 1975.

Political career

Lord Henley succeeded to the peerage in 1977 upon the death of his father. An Irish peer, he is able to sit in the House of Lords by virtue of a United Kingdom peerage granted to the 3rd Baron Henley, namely Baron Northington.

He served as a House of Lords whip under Margaret Thatcher from 1989 to July 1990. He then moved to become a Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department of Social Security, retaining the position when John Major rose to power and serving until 1993. He was then briefly moved to the Department of Employment, when in 1994 he was again fleetingly moved to the Ministry of Defence. In 1995 he was promoted to Minister of State at the Department for Education and Employment, serving until the Conservative government lost the 1997 general election.

With the passage of the House of Lords Act 1999, Lord Henley along with almost all other hereditary peers lost his automatic right to sit in the House of Lords. He was however elected as one of the 92 hereditary peers to remain in the House of Lords pending completion of House of Lords reform.

After the 6 May 2010 general election, Lord Henley was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) in the Cameron Ministry. He was promoted to Minister of State at the Home Office on 16 September 2011, with special responsibility for crime prevention and anti-social behaviour reduction, replacing Baroness Browning who stepped down for health reasons.^[2]

Titles and styles

• Oliver Eden (1953–1962)
• The Hon. Oliver Eden (1962–1977)
• The Rt. Hon. The Lord Henley (1977–2013)
• The Rt. Hon. The Lord Henley PC (2013–)

References

• Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages – Peerages beginning with "H" (part 3)
• Ministerial posts
• Biography