Kenneth Baker, Baron Baker of Dorking

Kenneth Baker, Baron Baker of Dorking, 2015

Kenneth Wilfrid Baker, Baron Baker of Dorking , CH , PC (born November 3, 1934 in Newport , Monmouthshire ) is a British Conservative Party politician .

Life

After visiting the Hampton Grammar School and the St. Paul's School in London , he studied history at Magdalen College of Oxford University and graduated in 1958 with a Bachelor of Arts (BA History) from.

From 1968 to 1997 he was a representative of the Conservative Party in the House of Commons , first for the Acton constituency , then from 1970 for St. Marylebone and finally from 1983 for Mole Valley .

His close connection with then Prime Minister Edward Heath led to his becoming his Political Private Secretary in 1974. When Heath was replaced by Margaret Thatcher as chairman of the Conservative Party in 1975 , Baker was not elected to the party executive committee because Thatcher did not consider him to be a follower ("Not one of us").

When Thatcher became Prime Minister herself in 1979, she did not appoint Baker to her cabinet. Baker then wrote her a letter about the importance of information technology, with the result that she appointed him Minister for Information Technology in January 1981. This post gave him the opportunity to promote the widespread use of electronics and computer technology in schools and industry. In September 1984 he was appointed Minister of Local Government and in this capacity led the 1986 abolition of the Greater London Council (GLC) against a counter-campaign, albeit costly, inspired by the Labor Party leader in the GLC, Ken Livingstone , and against the resistance in the upper house ( house of Lords ) a.

He was then from September 2, 1985 to May 21, 1986 as Environment Minister in the cabinet of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. From May 21, 1986 to July 24, 1989, he was Secretary of State for Education and Skills. Baker was Minister of the Interior from November 28, 1990 to April 11, 1992, before he was Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster from July 24, 1989 to November 28, 1990 and was during this time also Chairman ( Chairman ) of the Conservative Party.

Most recently, he was Home Secretary in the government of Prime Minister John Major from 1990 to 1992 .

1997 Baker did not run again and was raised to life peer with the title Baron Baker of Dorking , of Iford in the County of East Sussex.

Fonts

After leaving the government, he wrote his memoirs , which appeared in 1993 under the title The Turbulent Years: My Life in Politics . In addition, Baker published several books on historical subjects:

• The Faber Book of Conservatism (1993)
• George IV : A Life in Caricature (2005)
• George III : A Life in Caricature (2007)

Web links

• rulers.org
• Kenneth Baker in nndb (English)