Alexander Fermor-Hesketh, 3rd Baron Hesketh

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Thomas Alexander Fermor-Hesketh, 3rd Baron Hesketh , KBE , PC (born October 28, 1950 ), is a British nobleman, politician of the UK Independence Party , former racing stable owner and former motorcycle manufacturer . He became known as the owner of the Formula 1 / Formula 3 racing team Hesketh Racing , which was active from 1972 to 1978. He then tried his hand at building motorcycles at his company Hesketh Motorcycles plc., But ultimately failed. As a result, he was involved in other, rather unsuccessful deals. In 2006 he sold the Easton Neston family mansion in Towcester , Northamptonshire , with the lands, all furniture and family portraits. Easton Neston is the only building by the English Baroque architect Nicholas Hawksmoor that has survived to this day .

youth

At the age of 4, Hesketh succeeded his father Frederick Fermor Hesketh as Baron Hesketh when he died on October 6, 1955 at the age of 39.

He received his education at Ampleforth College in Yorkshire . His first job was with the stockbroker Dean Witter, Inc. in San Francisco . He later returned to England to take care of the family's business.

Family life

Hesketh married the Hon. Claire Georgina Watson on May 21, 1977 , daughter of Joseph Rupert Eric Robert Watson, Baron Manton , and Mary Hallinan . You have three children:

  • Hon. Flora Mary Fermor-Hesketh (* 1981 )
  • Hon. Sophia Christian Fermor-Hesketh (* 1984 )
  • Hon. Frederick Hatton Fermor-Hesketh (born October 13, 1988 )

The children of Lord Hesketh use the name Hesketh as a family name.

Political career

Hesketh, unlike his childhood ancestors, a nobleman, automatically became a member of the House of Lords . But he did not was active politically until Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher after the IRA - bomb attack on them on 12 October 1984 in Brighton met. Thatcher visited Easton-Neston and Hesketh mentioned that he did not use his seat in the House of Lords. He later said: “Mrs. Thatcher asked me if I was doing my duties in the House of Lords and when I answered no she said, 'You must. It is your duty and I expect you to attend the sessions. '"Since then, Lord Hesketh has worked under Thatcher, whom he described as" the most extraordinary person I have ever worked with. " From 1989 to 1990 he was parliamentary undersecretary in the Ministry of the Environment and from 1990 to 1991 Minister of State in the Ministry of Trade and Industry .

On May 22, 1991 he became Captain of the Honorable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms ( Parliamentary Secretary of Government in the House of Lords) under the next Prime Minister, John Major . He held this position until September 16, 1993. In this role he was involved in the Local Government Finance Act 1992 , which introduced local taxes, and the European Communities (Amendment) Act 1993 , which ratified the Maastricht Treaty.

In 2003, Lord Hesketh became Treasurer of the Conservative Party, but gave up this position in 2006 due to his own financial difficulties. He was also on the board of directors of the Conservative Party Foundation .

On October 10, 2011 Lord Hesketh moved to the UK Independence Party . This was in response to then Prime Minister David Cameron's announcement that he would hold a referendum on UK membership of the EU .

Working life

Known for his passion for car racing, Lord Hesketh founded Hesketh Racing in 1972 , whose involvement in Formula 1 from 1973 to 1978 is well known. The team was famous for its enthusiastic and patriotic approach to the sport and for rejecting sponsorship money. From 1973 to 1975 the team had a number of successes with the British driver James Hunt . B. a victory at the Dutch Grand Prix in 1975. Lord Hesketh was later President of the British Racing Drivers' Club from 1993 to 2000 .

Lord Hesketh founded Hesketh Motorcycles plc. In 1982 a modern factory in Daventry was built from scratch to build the Hesketh V 1000 motorcycle . But there were a number of problems. The bikes were too heavy, made worse by the high seat height, and they were unreliable. Bad press coverage, the not fully developed motorcycle, the underfunding of the company and the collapsing motorcycle market led to bankruptcy after only 139 units were built . In 1983 Lord Hesketh formed a new company called Hesleydon Ltd to build a revised V 1000 with full fairing. The new machine was called Vampire and was primarily intended for export. However, it inherited too many shortcomings from the V 1000, and so this company too went bankrupt in 1984 after building just 40 motorcycles.

In 1994 Lord Hesketh participated in the development of British Mediterranean Airways (BMED). He became managing director of the new airline and held that post until 2007, when BMED was acquired by British Midland International Airways (BMI) for £ 30m . Today, Hesketh is the “independent director” of Air Astana , the national airline of Kazakhstan .

On October 6, 1993, Lord Hesketh joined the board of directors of the Babcock International Group and on April 26, 1996 became a non-executive vice chairman. In November 2010, he was forced to resign after a statement in the Daily Telegraph on the new Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers of the Royal Navy . He had announced that he thought this project would make the country a laughing stock.

Honors

In 1997 Lord Hesketh was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE).

Web links

Commons : Alexander Fermor-Hesketh, 3rd Baron Hesketh  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b The Good Lord: A Profile of Alexander Hesketh . Retrieved October 26, 2008.
  2. ↑ a b c d The Peerage . Archived from the original on December 10, 2008. Retrieved December 16, 2014.
  3. ↑ a b Lord Hesketh . Retrieved November 11, 2010.
  4. ↑ Sophia Hesketh . The Tatler List. Retrieved December 16, 2014.
  5. ↑ Lord Hesketh . In: The Observer . February 3, 2002. Retrieved December 16, 2014.
  6. ↑ European Communities (Amendment) Act 1993 . Office of Public Sector. Retrieved December 16, 2014.
  7. ↑ Lord Hesketh . Archived from the original on October 12, 2011. Retrieved October 10, 2011.
  8. ^ The Board of Directors . Air Astana ( memento of September 9, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ). Retrieved December 16, 2014.
  9. ↑ Babcock's Lord Hesketh resigns amid carrier row . BBC News. Retrieved December 16, 2014.
predecessor Office successor
Frederick Fermor Hesketh Baron Hesketh
1955-present 		current title holder
personal data
SURNAME Hesketh, Alexander Fermor-
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British nobleman, politician, racing stable owner and motorcycle manufacturer
DATE OF BIRTH October 28, 1950