From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Douglas Richard Hurd, Baron Hurd of Westwell
(born 8 March 1930) is a
British
Conservative
politician
. He served in the governments of
Margaret Thatcher
and
John Major
from 1979 to 1995.
He was born in the
market town
of
Marlborough
in
Wiltshire
. Hurd first entered Parliament in
February 1974
as MP for the
Mid Oxfordshire
constituency (
Witney
from 1983). His first government post was as
Minister for Europe
from 1979 to 1983 (being that office's inaugural holder) and he served in several Cabinet roles since 1984.
His jobs include
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
(1984?85),
Home Secretary
(1985?89) and
Foreign Secretary
(1989?95). He stood unsuccessfully for the
Conservative Party leadership in 1990
, but retired from frontline politics during a
Cabinet reshuffle
in 1995.
In 1997, Hurd was elevated to the
House of Lords
and is one of the Conservative Party's most senior elder statesmen. He is a
patron
of the
Tory Reform Group
and remains an active figure in public life.