Humphrey Atkins

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Humphrey Edward Gregory Atkins, Baron Colnbrook KCMG PC (* 12. August 1922 in Amersham , Buckinghamshire , England ; † 4. October 1996 ) was a British politician of the Conservative Party .

biography

After attending Wellington College in Berkshire , he joined the Royal Navy in 1940 and did his military service there until 1948 . He then entered a linoleum - factory worked before he became director of an agency for financial services.

In the general election on 26 May 1955 he was a candidate of the Conservative Party for the first time as a deputy in the lower house ( House of Commons ) selected and represented there first until 1970 the constituency Merton and Morden . Afterwards he was a member of parliament for the constituency Spelthorne between 1970 and 1987 .

Between 1967 and 1970 he was first Whip the conservative faction in the lower house and then until 1973 Treasurer of the Royal Household ( Treasurer of the Royal Household ). His first experience in the cabinet as “junior minister” was in the capacity of Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury from 1973 to 1974 in the cabinet of Prime Minister Edward Heath .

At the same time he was Chief Whip and thus Parliamentary Managing Director of the Tories' lower house fraction and held this position until 1979.

After the Conservatives' victory in the general election of May 3, 1979 , Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher appointed him Northern Ireland Minister in their first cabinet and held this office until September 14, 1981. During his term of office, the Irish hunger strike fell in 1980/81 at the end of Northern Ireland Conflict . Here, ten detainees who came IRA killed, including Bobby Sands , who just four weeks before his death May 5, 1981 at a by-election ( by-election ) in the constituency of Fermanagh and South Tyrone himself was elected deputy in the lower house, his mandate but could not start because of the prison sentence. Atkins commented on the situation at the time with the words:

"If Mr. Sands persisted in his wish to commit suicide, that was his choice. The Government would not force medical treatment upon him. "(" If Mr. Sands persists in his suicide plan, that is his choice. The government will not provide life support medical treatment. ")

As part of a government reshuffle Atkins was then in September 1981 Lord Privy Seal ( Lord Privy Seal ) and held this office until April 7 1,982th In this function he was also the spokesman for the ruling faction in the House of Commons for Foreign Affairs and Affairs of the Commonwealth of Nations . So he was quasi a representative of Foreign Secretary Peter Carington, 6th Baron Carrington , since this was a member of the House of Lords. After the Argentine invasion of the Falkland Islands in 1982 , he and Lord Carrington took responsibility for errors in the State Department and resigned with this, which meant the end of his government career.

In 1983 he was considered the favorite of Prime Minister Thatcher to succeed George Thomas as Speaker of the House of Commons. However, the previous deputy spokesman Bernard Weatherill was elected as the new speaker against Thatcher's will. Atkins was then awarded the knighthood of Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George , so that from then on he carried the title of Sir .

After retiring from the House, he was on 16 October 1987 as a Life Peer with the title Baron Colnbrook , of Waltham St Lawrence in the County of Berkshire in the nobility raised and belonged until his death in the upper house ( House of Lords ) on.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ 1. Thatcher's cabinet 1979 (BBC NEWS)
  2. ^ Provos The IRA & Sinn Féin, pp. 242–243
personal data
SURNAME Atkins, Humphrey
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Atkins, Humphrey Edward Gregory, Baron Colnbrook (full name); Atkins, Sir Humphrey
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British Conservative Party politician, Member of the House of Commons
DATE OF BIRTH August 12, 1922
PLACE OF BIRTH Amersham , Buckinghamshire , England
DATE OF DEATH 4th October 1996