British politician and barrister
Douglas Martin Hogg, 3rd Viscount Hailsham, Baron Hailsham of Kettlethorpe
PC
KC
(born 5 February 1945), is a
British politician
and
barrister
. A member of the
Conservative Party
, he served in
John Major’s second government
as
Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food
from 1995 to 1997, and was a
Member of Parliament
(MP) from
1979
to
2010
.
The Daily Telegraph
in 2009 exposed Hogg for claiming upwards of £2,000 of taxpayers' money for the purposes of "cleaning the
moat
" of his country estate,
Kettlethorpe Hall
; thus he became one of the most prominent illustrations used by the media to portray the extent of the
parliamentary expenses scandal
, although it later emerged that Hogg had been encouraged by the House of Commons Fees Office (
Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority
's precursor) to submit equivalent
en bloc
expenses "so as to reduce admin". As a result of the negative publicity, Hogg did not seek re-election at the
2010 general election
.
Aside from his hereditary peerage, he was made a
life peer
in the 2015 Dissolution Honours allowing him a seat in the
House of Lords
. As a
member of the House of Lords
he is
styled
Viscount Hailsham
by parliamentary custom, the
family title
to which he succeeded in 2001.
[1]
Early life
[
edit
]
Douglas Hogg, elder son of
Lord Hailsham of St Marylebone
and former
Lord Chancellor
, inherited
the viscountcy
on 12 October 2001 upon the death of his father who had
disclaimed that title for life in 1963
, but who later accepted a life peerage in 1970; he is the grandson of
Douglas Hogg
, formerly Lord Chancellor and Lord President of the Council until 1938.
[
citation needed
]
He was educated at
Sunningdale School
[2]
followed by
Eton College
and
Christ Church, Oxford
. He served as the
President of the Oxford Union
in Michaelmas Term 1965, graduating with a degree in History in 1966.
[3]
He was
called to the Bar
in 1968, after which he practised as a barrister. He became a
Queen's Counsel
in 1990. His younger sister,
Mary Hogg
, a barrister, was later appointed a
High Court judge
assigned to the
Family Division
.
Member of Parliament
[
edit
]
The Hon. Douglas Hogg was elected as a Member of Parliament at the
1979 general election
for the
Lincolnshire
seat of
Grantham
, following the retirement of the sitting Conservative MP
Joseph Godber
.
The Grantham seat was abolished at the
1997 general election
; however, Hogg stood and was returned as MP for
Sleaford and North Hykeham
in 1997.
In government
[
edit
]
In
Parliament
, Hogg served as a member of the
Agriculture, Fisheries and Food
Select committee
from 1979, until his appointment as
Parliamentary Private Secretary
(PPS) to the
Chief Secretary to the Treasury
,
Leon Brittan
in 1982.
Hogg became a junior member of the Government of Prime Minister
Margaret Thatcher
following the
1983 general election
, when he served as a
Whip
for a year. He rejoined HM Government in 1986 when he was appointed as a
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State
at the
Home Office
, and was promoted in 1989 to
Minister of State
at the
Department of Trade and Industry
.
Hogg was moved in 1990 under the leadership of Prime Minister
John Major
to the
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
, becoming a member of the
Privy Council
in 1992. He joined Major's Cabinet as the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in 1995, serving in that capacity during the
BSE
crisis for which he received much criticism
[4]
and remaining in post until the election of
Tony Blair
's Labour Government in 1997.
On 3 March 1997, a disgruntled farmer from
Anglesey
, Louis Hayward, drove six hours from his farm to Kettlethorpe Hall in order to dump three tonnes of pig manure outside Hogg's house.
Following the
1997 general election
, Hogg was appointed a member of the Home Affairs Select Committee for a year and was a
backbencher
Member of Parliament until 2010. The
House of Lords Act 1999
removed the automatic right of
hereditary peers
to a seat in the
House of Lords
, so when his father died in 2001 (being
heir apparent
to the
peerage
), he was not required (as would previously have been the case) to resign from the House of Commons and remained an
MP
until retiring in 2010.
Stevens Enquiry
[
edit
]
In the report of his
enquiry
concerning collusion in Northern Ireland between loyalist paramilitaries and the security forces, under "Other Matters concerning Collusion", a section of
Sir John Stevens
' report reads:
- "2.17 My Enquiry team also investigated an allegation that senior
Royal Ulster Constabulary
officers briefed the
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department
, the Rt Hon Douglas Hogg QC MP, that 'some solicitors were unduly sympathetic to the cause of the IRA'. Mr Hogg repeated this view [their expressed concerns] during a debate on the Prevention of Terrorism legislation in the House of Commons. Within a few weeks
Patrick Finucane
was murdered. Mr Hogg's comments about solicitors' support for terrorism made on 17 January 1989 aroused controversy. To the extent that they were based on information passed by the RUC, they were not justifiable and the Enquiry [Inquiry] concludes that the Minister was compromised."
[5]
Expenses
[
edit
]
Hogg claimed near maximum
Additional Costs Allowance
in the
2001
and
2005
UK Parliaments
.
[6]
In 2009, during the
row over MPs' expenses
,
The Daily Telegraph
alleged that Hogg had submitted and was paid a claim form including more than £2,000 for the
moat
around his country estate,
Kettlethorpe Hall
,
[7]
to be cleared.
[8]
The taxpayer helped meet the cost of a full-time housekeeper. Other allegations included expenses for work done to Hogg's stables and for his piano to be tuned.
[9]
He generously spent or perhaps somewhat overspent on his farm and home office: Hogg agreed a deal with the expenses office simply to have one twelfth of the second homes allowance paid into his bank account every month.
[7]
In his defence, Hogg resolutely claimed he had not claimed for moat cleaning, and that the items were a list of all expenses incurred during house works, most of which were not paid for by the taxpayer. Hogg responded to the newspaper's claims by saying he had agreed the claims with the Fees Office, and therefore hoped and believed that they would comply with the rules and the "spirit of the rules" as advised.
[10]
In saying that his claims complied with both the spirit and letter of the rules,
[11]
Hogg said he had issued, in the interests of transparency, full lists of all his expenditure on the property but these were never meant to be the record of a claim.
[12]
On 14 May, Hogg agreed to repay the £2,200 cost of clearing the moat, after an order from the party leadership. He maintained he had not claimed the money, but agreed it had not been "positively excluded" from paperwork submitted to the Commons Fees Office.
[13]
Following the scandal, Hogg announced on 19 May 2009 that he would not stand at the following general election.
[14]
House of Lords
[
edit
]
Prime Minister
David Cameron
put Hailsham forward for a
life barony
to be included in the
2011 New Year Honours
, but
House of Lords Appointments Commission
advised against the appointment.
[15]
In 2013, Hailsham
stood for election
to the
House of Lords
seat made vacant by the death of
the 13th Earl Ferrers
, losing to
the 5th Viscount Ridley
.
[16]
Months later, he stood for the
hereditary peers
' vacancy to the 90-elected such seats in the
House of Lords
, following the death of
Hugh Mackay, 14th Lord Reay
, when
Lord Borwick
was elected.
[17]
On 12 October 2015, he was created a life peer as
Baron Hailsham of Kettlethorpe
, of Kettlethorpe in the County of Lincolnshire
,
[18]
enabling him to sit in the
House of Lords
.
In film and fiction
[
edit
]
In February 2010 he was played by
Geoffrey Beevers
in the television film
On Expenses
.
Marriage and children
[
edit
]
Hogg married Hon.
Sarah Boyd-Carpenter
, daughter of
John, Baron Boyd-Carpenter
, on 6 June 1968 in
Westminster
. They have two children:
[
citation needed
]
As his wife was created a life peer as
Baroness Hogg
in 1995, the Hailshams are among the few couples both of whom hold
noble titles
in their own right.
[
citation needed
]
Arms
[
edit
]
Coat of arms of Douglas Hogg
|
- Notes
- The
arms
granted to the
1st Viscount Hailsham KG
[19]
- Crest
- Out of an Eastern Crown Argent an Oak-tree fructed Proper pendant therefrom an Escutcheon Azure charged with a Dexter arm embowed in armour the hand grasping an Arrow in bend sinister the point downwards also Proper.
- Escutcheon
- Argent three Boars' Heads erased Azure langued Gules between two Flaunches also Azure each charged with a Crescent of the Field.
- Supporters
- On either side a Ram Argent armed and unglued Or gorged with a Baron's Coronet the dexter supporting a representation of the Lord High Chancellor's Mace the sinister a representation of the Lord High Chancellor's Purse with the initials of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II Proper
- Motto
- Dat Gloria Vires
(Glory gives strength)
|
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Dissolution Peerages 2015"
.
Gov.uk
. Retrieved
27 August
2015
.
- ^
"Old Boys News"
.
School Notes
. Sunningdale School: 7. 2015
. Retrieved
16 August
2022
.
- ^
OUS (1967).
Rules and Regulations of the Oxford Union Society
(1967 ed.). Oxford:
Oxford Union Society
.
- ^
Wilson, Richard (16 December 1998).
"Minister without a friend"
.
BBC News
. Retrieved
1 November
2006
.
- ^
Stevens Inquiry 3
Archived
10 June 2011 at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
"Douglas Hogg MP"
.
TheyWorkForYou
. mySociety is a project of UK Citizens Online Democracy (UKCOD). UKCOD is a registered charity in England and Wales, no. 1076346
. Retrieved
12 May
2009
.
- ^
a
b
"MPs Expenses Abuse"
.
Daily Mirror
. London. 14 May 2009
. Retrieved
14 May
2009
.
- ^
Summers, Deborah (14 May 2009).
"Andrew MacKay made 'unacceptable' home claims for eight or nine years"
.
The Guardian
. London
. Retrieved
1 May
2010
.
- ^
Winnett, Robert (11 May 2009).
"MPs' expenses: Paying bills for Tory grandees"
.
The Daily Telegraph
. London
. Retrieved
11 May
2009
.
- ^
Prince, Rosa (12 May 2009).
"MPs' expenses: clearing the moat at Douglas Hogg's manor"
.
The Daily Telegraph
. London
. Retrieved
13 May
2009
.
- ^
BBC News
- ^
"Sleaford MP denies he claimed expenses for moat cleaning"
.
Sleaford Standard
.
Sleaford, Lincolnshire
. 12 May 2009
. Retrieved
13 May
2009
.
MP Douglas Hogg has denied newspaper reports that he claimed more than £2,000 in expenses to have the moat at his Lincolnshire home cleaned. ...the Sleaford and North Hykeham MP told
The Standard
: "I have never claimed for the moat, or for the piano tuning - the allegation that I did is incorrect. I never claimed for these and I never received any money. "The work to the stables that
The Telegraph
mentioned was actually for maintenance of security lights which were installed by the Home Office as part of the response to an IRA threat." He said he had issued, in the interests of full transparency, full lists of all his expenditure on the property but these were never meant to be the record of a claim. Mr Hogg said it was clear to the Fees Office that the overall allowable expenses were over the Additional Costs Allowance and that his claim only covered utilities, council tax, building insurance, the alarm system, heating, repairs and maintenance of house and garden and 65% of the cost of a housekeeper to clean and maintain the house and look after it when he and his wife, Baroness Hogg, were away. He said: "It was on this basis and with the express agreement of the Fees Office, in advance and in writing that I was making a monthly claim equal to one-twelfth of the ACA." Mr Hogg added: "I am amongst the lowest claimers in Parliament ? specifically 551st out of 645 MPs in 2007/8. "There is no doubt that our system has lost public confidence and we as parliamentarians have got to accept that we are responsible for having put the system in place and that it is probably flawed. "We got it wrong and need to apologise for that, and I do apologise for it."
- ^
"Tory MP Hogg to repay 'moat cost'
"
.
BBC News
. 14 May 2009
. Retrieved
14 May
2009
.
- ^
"Moat claim MP to quit at election"
.
BBC News
. 19 May 2009
. Retrieved
19 May
2009
.
- ^
Gammell, Caroline (6 March 2011).
"Tory MP who claimed for moat cleaning is denied peerage"
.
The Daily Telegraph
. London.
- ^
"Conservative Hereditary Peers' By-Election, February 2013"
(PDF)
. Retrieved
23 April
2013
.
- ^
www.parliament.uk
- ^
"notice 2417523"
.
The London Gazette
.
- ^
Chesshyre, Hubert (1996),
The Friends of St. George's & Descendants of the Knights of the Garter Annual Review 1996/97
, vol. VII, p. 326
External links
[
edit
]
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- Nicholas Samuel, 5th Viscount Bearsted
- Janric Craig, 3rd Viscount Craigavon
- Robin Bridgeman, 3rd Viscount Bridgeman
- Douglas Hogg, 3rd Viscount Hailsham
- Crispin Joynson-Hicks, 4th Viscount Brentford
- Adrian Buckmaster, 4th Viscount Buckmaster
- Rupert Bathurst, 4th Viscount Bledisloe
- David Pollock, 3rd Viscount Hanworth
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- Timothy Lloyd George, 4th Viscount Tenby
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- Christopher Mills, 3rd Viscount Mills
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Italics
in entries mean the titleholder also holds a previously listed viscountcy of greater precedence
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