Norman St John-Stevas, Baron St John of Fawsley

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Norman Anthony Francis St John-Stevas, Baron St John of Fawsley , PC , FRSL (born May 18, 1929 in Kensington , London , † March 2, 2012 in London) was a British politician ( Conservative Party ), author , lawyer and barrister . From 1979 to 1981 he was Leader of the House of Commons in the government of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher . He was a MP for the Chelmsford constituency from 1964 to 1987 and became a Life Peer in 1987 . His surname is made up of the surnames of his father (Stevas) and his mother (St John-O'Connor).

life and career

He was born the only son of an engineer and director and his wife Kitty St John O'Connor. His birth certificate mentions Norman Panayea St John as his name . St John-Stevas attended two independent schools , St Joseph's Salesian School in Burwash , East Sussex and then Ratcliffe College in Leicester .

As a pupil or student he was active with the Young Conservatives , the youth organization of the Conservative Party at the time . At Cambridge University he studied at the College Fitzwilliam Jura . He graduated with First Class Honors and won the Whitlock Prize . In 1950 he was President of the Cambridge Union Society .

St John-Stevas also studied at Oxford University , where he met Michael Heseltine in 1951. In 1952, he received the Blackstone and Harmsworth Scholarship. He graduated from Christ Church with a Bachelor of Civil Law (BCL) and was Secretary of the Oxford Union . He received a PhD from the University of London and a Doctor of Juridicial Science (JSD) from Yale University .

He also briefly studied for the priesthood of the Catholic Church at the Pontifical English College in Rome , but was not ordained.

In 1952 he was admitted to the Middle Temple Bar Association. However, he never practiced as a lawyer.

St John-Stevas was a lecturer ( Lecturer ) at the University of Southampton (1952 to 1953) and at King's College London from 1953 to 1956. He then moved to Oxford University to be a tutor in law at Christ Church College (1953 to 1955) and at Merton College (1955-1957). In 1959 he worked for the newspaper The Economist , where he was a legal and political correspondent. In the USA he was a lecturer and in 1969 was visiting professor at the University of California . He served as legal advisor to the AP Herbert Book Censorship Committee from 1954 to 1959 .

Membership in the House of Commons

He first ran as a candidate in the Dagenham constituency in 1951 , then was elected to the House of Commons in the 1964 general election for the Chelmsford constituency in Essex . He held this seat until the general election in 1987 , to which he did not run again.

St John-Stevas declined in 1968 as a devout Catholic, the Divorce Reform Bill of Leo Abse , anyway 1967, the Abortion Bill of David Steel from. He also supported the defusing of the laws on criminal liability for homosexuality at an early stage . He campaigned for grammar schools and the maintenance of academic standards.

In the later stage the government of Edward Heath St John Stevas was Parliamentary Under Secretary of State ( Parliamentary Under Secretary of State ) to the Ministry of Education and Science ( Department of Education and Science ), where at that time Margaret Thatcher was Minister and 1973-1974 Arts Minister ( Minister for the Arts ).

Following the defeat of the Heath government, St John-Stevas was a member of the Shadow Cabinet from 1974 to 1979 , Shadow Speaker for Education from 1975 to 1978, and Shadow Leader of the House of Commons from 1978 to 1979.

When the Conservative Party returned to power after the 1979 general election , St John-Stevas was again Minister of Art from 1979 to 1981, as well as Leader of the House of Commons and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster . He also became a member of the Privy Council in 1979 . In his role as Leader of the House, St John-Stevas is largely credited with establishing the system of select committees. These committees enable backbenchers to oversee ministers and exercise significant influence in parliament.

In his role as Minister of Art, he defended his tight budget against interference by the Ministry of Finance. In 1980 he introduced the National Heritage Act , which provided for an endowment fund for the preservation of national works of art. St John-Stevas also supported business development.

In early 1981, St John-Stevas was the first of the Tory Wets to leave Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's cabinet. He had previously called it TINA , as an abbreviation for its There Is No Alternative rhetoric. His resignation caused a surprise; However, he had previously been asked to leave the cabinet, but should continue to be responsible for the arts as a minister without cabinet rank.

He was a long-time member of the Bow Group .

As a backbencher, he was loyal to Thatcher. However, he was still critical of their economic policy. As a one-nation conservative, he oriented himself more to Benjamin Disraeli than to Milton Friedman .

Membership in the House of Lords

St John-Stevas was on 19 October 1987 Life peer as Baron St John of Fawsley of Preston Capes in the Northamptonshire appointed. He gave his inaugural address at the House of Lords (probably) on December 2, 1987.

In the late 1980s he spoke out on Anglo- Irish relations, architecture and the Victoria and Albert Museum . In the 1990s he spoke on the human rights situation in Romania , on UNESCO , and several times on South Africa and Hong Kong . St John-Stevas spoke about Zimbabwe , human rights in China , the monarchy and the death of Margaret, Countess of Snowdon in the 2000s .

He became known as a defender of the House of Lords and campaigned against currents that want to abolish hereditary peerages , such as Tony Benn . St John-Stevas even suggested that more such titles should be created.

In the period from 2001 onwards, St John-Stevas was regularly present on meeting days. He last spoke up on October 21, 2011. He last took part in a vote on December 12, 2011.

Later career

He from 1985 to 1999 Chairman ( Chairman ) of the Royal Fine Art Commission . His tenure was overshadowed by controversy. There was hope that his appointment would enliven the commission and make it more popular. Instead, the commission acted as advocates of its own views and preferences (especially at the annual Building of the Year Award ). St John-Stevas decorated his office with paintings from national collections; Documents were presented in red boxes and he was served by a chauffeur and former civil servant. This was criticized in a government report by Sir Geoffrey Chipperfield . His personal behavior led to disputes over the London Eye .

His term as Master of Emmanuel College of Cambridge University from 1991 to 1996 was also controversial. He built a new conference center (the Queen's Building ); the cost was £ 8 million and was driven up by St John-Steva's operation to reopen the quarry at Ketton in Rutland to use limestone from the same source from which the college's Wren Chapel was built. He maintained his connection with the college and used it several times for events of the Royal Fine Art Commission Trust . During his tenure, he was often absent from London , which was irritating. Contrary to expectations, he was appointed for a third term in 1995.

A donation from Mohamed Al-Fayed of £ 250,000 to Emmanuel College and its Master's Lodge has led to public criticism . In return, he received a lifelong honorary membership and a Harrods Room was named in his honor in college . He was also accused of spending too much time with a small group of young men who mostly attended public schools ; these would supposedly be favored by introducing members of the royal family to society and introducing them to leaders in the industry.

Other offices

In 1983 he became Vice-President of the Theaters Advisory Council .

St John-Stevas was a member of the Trustee of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra . He was since 2010 consultant for arts, cultural and constitutional issues in British Sky Broadcasting for the Chairman ( Chairman ) James Murdoch and chief executive Jeremy Darroch . Since 1991 he has been a non-executive director there . The jury for the Booker Prize , he was chairman ( Chairman ).

He was also the author and editor of several books. He was editor of the collected works of the Victorian constitutional theorist Walter Bagehot . St John-Stevas was considered an expert on constitutional law and constitutional history .

Honors

He was honored with several awards in the 1950s. In 1953 he was awarded the Blackstone Prize , in 1957 he received the Yorke Prize from Cambridge University, was a Fellow of the Yale Law School in 1958 and was awarded the Fulbright Award .

In 1963 he became a Knight of the Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem (KSLJ). He was awarded the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic in 1965. St John-Stevas became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1966 . In 1980 he became an officer in the Order of Saint John .

Personal

St John-Stevas was a prominent Catholic . He was patron ( saint ) of the Society of King Charles the Martyr and Grand Bailiff for England and Wales of the Military and Hospitaller of the Lazarus Order . He was known for his many personal preferences, including covering his hand like a pope, falling into Latin while speaking , and deliberately mispronouncing modern words. He was considered a loyal monarchist and was in close contact with the royal family . Therefore, he was seen several times as a commentator on television. Shortly after his admission to the House of Lords , photos of him appeared in Hello! magazines that featured him in purple slippers lounging in the bedroom of his parsonage in Northampton ; in the background was a signed photo of Margaret, Countess of Snowdon . All personal notes were written in purple ink and after being admitted there he only used official letterheads from the House of Lords. He lived in Westminister .

St John-Stevas was never married. Most who knew him assumed he was homosexual . He was considered rich and owned a collection of papal memorabilia. These were housed in his home in Knightsbridge, London, along with Queen Victoria's clothing . He also owned a white Rolls-Royce and a white Jaguar .

death

St John-Stevas died on March 2, 2012 at the age of 82 at his home in London after a brief illness.

Publications

author

  • Walter Bagehot A study of his life & thought together with a selection from his political writings , Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1959, ISBN unknown
  • Life, Death And The Law , Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1961, ISBN unknown
  • The Right to Life , Hodder & Stoughton, 1963, ISBN unknown
  • Law and Morals , Hawthorn Books, 1964, ISBN unknown
  • Bagehot's Historical Essays , New York University Press, 1966, ISBN unknown
  • Agonizing Choice: Birth Control, Religion and Law , TBS The Book Service Ltd, 1971, ISBN 978-0-413-27960-6
  • Pope John-Paul II: His Travels and Mission , Faber & Faber, 1982, ISBN 978-0-571-11908-0
  • The Two Cities , Farrar Straus & Giroux, 1984, ISBN unknown
  • Before the Sunset Fades: An Autobiography , HarperCollins, 2007, ISBN 978-0007102198

editor

  • The Collected Works of Walter Bagehot. The Literary Essays Volume One , The Economist, 1965, ISBN unknown
  • The Collected Works of Walter Bagehot. The Literary Essay Volume Two , The Economist, 1965, ISBN unknown
  • The Collected Works of Walter Bagehot. The Historical Essays Volume Three , The Economist, 1968, ISBN unknown
  • The Collected Works of Walter Bagehot. The Historical Essays Volume Four , The Economist, 1968, ISBN unknown
  • The Collected Works of Walter Bagehot. The Historical Essays Volume Five , The Economist, 1974, ISBN unknown
  • The Collected Works of Walter Bagehot. The Political Essays Volume Six , The Economist, 1974, ISBN unknown
  • The Collected Works of Walter Bagehot. The Political Essays Volume Seven , The Economist,?, ISBN unknown
  • The Collected Works of Walter Bagehot. The Political Essays Volume Eight , The Economist, 1974, ISBN unknown
  • The Collected Works of Walter Bagehot. The Political Essays Volume Nine , The Economist,?, ISBN unknown
  • The Collected Works of Walter Bagehot. The Political Essays Volume Ten , The Economist,?, ISBN unknown
  • The Collected Works of Walter Bagehot. The Political Essays Volume Eleven , The Economist,?, ISBN unknown
  • The Collected Works of Walter Bagehot. The Political Essays Volume Twelve , The Economist,?, ISBN unknown
  • The Collected Works of Walter Bagehot. The Political Essays Volume Thirteen , The Economist,?, ISBN unknown
  • The Collected Works of Walter Bagehot. The Political Essays Volume Fourteen , The Economist,?, ISBN unknown
  • The Collected Works of Walter Bagehot. The Political Essays Volume Fifteen , The Economist, 1986, ISBN unknown

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Obituary: Norman St John-Stevas, Cabinet minister under two Tory prime ministers and a stout defender of the Lords Obituary in: The Scotsman of March 6, 2012
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Lord St John of Fawsley obituary Obituary in: The Guardian, March 5, 2012
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Lord St John of Fawsley Obituary in: The Daily Telegraph, March 5, 2012
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Lord St-John of Fawsley: Flamboyant politician who fell foul of Margaret Thatcher Obituary of the Independent dated March 6, 2012
  5. ↑ House of Lords: Members 'expenses Members' expenses on the House of Lords website , accessed March 11, 2012
  6. ↑ The Queens Building (PDF; 581 kB) Technical report on the University of Bath website , accessed on March 12, 2012
  7. ^ Tributes paid to Lord St John of Fawsley's obituary on BBC News, March 5, 2012
personal data
SURNAME St John-Stevas, Norman, Baron St John of Fawsley
ALTERNATIVE NAMES St John Stevas, Norman Anthony Francis, Baron St John of Fawsley (full name); Stevas, Norman
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British Conservative Party politician, Member of the House of Commons
DATE OF BIRTH May 18, 1929
PLACE OF BIRTH Kensington , London
DATE OF DEATH March 2, 2012
Place of death London