Michael Ancram

Lord Lothian (2012)

Michael Andrew Foster Jude Kerr, 13th Marquess of Lothian PC (born July 7, 1945 in London ) is a British politician who is known under the name Michael Ancram (after the courtesy title Earl of Ancram used by him until 1997 ).

biography

The son of Peter Francis Walter Kerr, 12th Marquess of Lothian , studied after attending Ampleforth College at Christ Church College at the University of Oxford and at the University of Edinburgh .

His political career began when he was elected as a candidate of the Conservative Party to the House of Commons in 1974, in which he represented the constituency of Berwickshire and East Lothian until 1979 and then the constituency of Edinburgh South . He has been a member of the House of Commons for the Devizes constituency since 1992 .

Between 1983 and 1987 he served in the government of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher as Parliamentary Secretary of State for the Department for Scotland . In the government of Thatcher's successor, John Major , he was Parliamentary State Secretary in 1993 and then Minister of State in the Ministry for Northern Ireland until 1997 .

In 1998 he was Chairman ( Chairman ) of the Conservative Party. In 2001 he applied as a party leader ( leader ) of the Conservatives, but was defeated by Iain Duncan Smith . This appointed him until 2005 in his shadow cabinet as Minister for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs. He was also in this period, Deputy Opposition Leader ( Deputy Leader of the Opposition ) in the House. Most recently in 2005 he was briefly Minister of Defense in the conservative shadow cabinet.

After the death of his father in 2004 he inherited the title of Marquess of Lothian , but at that time he was no longer a member of the House of Lords. On November 22, 2010, Ancram finally became a member of the House of Lords after he was awarded a Life Peerage with the title Baron Kerr of Monteviot , of Monteviot in Roxburghshire.

Marriage and offspring

He has been married to Lady Theresa Jane Fitzalan-Howard, daughter of the 16th Duke of Norfolk , since 1975 . She is the presumed heiress ( Heiress Presumptive ) of the Scottish nobility title Lord Herries of Terregles . He has three daughters with her:

• Sarah Margaret Kerr (* / † 1976)
• Lady Clare Therese Kerr (* 1979)
• Lady Mary Cecil Kerr (* 1981)

literature

• Una McGovern (Ed.): Chambers Biographical Dictionary. Chambers, Edinburgh 2002, ISBN 0-550-10051-2 , p. 43.

Web links

Commons : Michael Ancram  - collection of images, videos and audio files

predecessor	Office	successor
Peter Kerr	Marquess of Lothian 2004 – present	current owner of the title