Nicholas Edwards, Baron Crickhowell

Roger Nicholas Edwards, Baron Crickhowell, PC (born 25 February 1934) is a British Conservative Party politician and a former Secretary of State for Wales.^[1]

Early life and political career

Educated at Westminster School and Trinity College, Cambridge, he was a director of William Brandt's insurance brokers and a director of National & Grindlays Bank Ltd. He left insurance to take Desmond Donnelly's old seat of Pembroke and served as Secretary of State for Wales in Margaret Thatcher's first and second administrations.

At the 1970 general election, he was elected to the House of Commons as Member of Parliament for Pembrokeshire, which he represented until his retirement at the 1987 general election. From 1975 to 1979, he was Opposition Spokesman for Welsh Affairs (in other words, the Shadow Secretary of State for Wales). When Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister in 1979, Edwards was appointed Secretary of State for Wales. He served in that position until 1987, when he was given a life peerage as Baron Crickhowell, of Pont Esgob in the Black Mountains and County of Powys.

Later career

Lord Crickhowell was the sole chairman of the National Rivers Authority (NRA) from its inception in 1989 until its merger into the newly created Environment Agency in 1996. Although his was a direct political appointment from the Conservative government, Lord Crickhowell showed commitment to the principles of the NRA and the legislation that it enforced. He spoke in favour of the natural environment and supporting strong enforcement action against major corporate polluters.

During the 1990s Lord Crickhowell became a leading figure in the campaign for a permanent home for the Welsh National Opera in Cardiff. When the plans were rejected by the Government in 1995, he launched a public attack on his former Conservative colleagues.

Lord Crickhowell currently sits in the House of Lords as a life peer. He has been associated with many British institutions, including the University of Wales, Cardiff (now Cardiff University), at which he served as president and became an honorary fellow. He received an honorary LL.D. from the University of Glamorgan.

References

External links

• The Baron Crickhowell (Burke's Peerage)
• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Nicholas Edwards