Michael Howard

For other people named Michael Howard, seeMichael Howard (disambiguation).

Michael Howard, Baron Howard of LympneCHPCKC(bornMichael Hecht;7 July 1941)is a British politician who wasLeader of the Conservative PartyandLeader of the Oppositionfrom November 2003 to December 2005. He previously held cabinet positions in the governments ofMargaret ThatcherandJohn Major,includingSecretary of State for Employment,Secretary of State for the EnvironmentandHome Secretary.

The Right Honourable The Lord Howard of Lympne CHPCKC
Official portrait, 2023
Leader of the Opposition
In office 6 November 2003 – 6 December 2005
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Prime Minister	Tony Blair
Preceded by	Iain Duncan Smith
Succeeded by	David Cameron
Leader of the Conservative Party
In office 6 November 2003 – 6 December 2005
Preceded by	Iain Duncan Smith
Succeeded by	David Cameron
Home Secretary
In office 27 May 1993 – 2 May 1997
Prime Minister	John Major
Preceded by	Kenneth Clarke
Succeeded by	Jack Straw
Secretary of State for the Environment
In office 11 April 1992 – 27 May 1993
Prime Minister	John Major
Preceded by	Michael Heseltine
Succeeded by	John Gummer
Secretary of State for Employment
In office 3 January 1990 – 11 April 1992
Prime Minister	Margaret Thatcher John Major
Preceded by	Norman Fowler
Succeeded by	Gillian Shephard
Junior ministerial offices Minister of State for Housing In office 25 July 1989 – 3 January 1990 Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher Preceded by The Earl of Caithness Succeeded by Michael Spicer Minister of State for the Environment In office 25 July 1988 – 25 July 1989 Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher Preceded by The Earl of Caithness Succeeded by David Trippier Minister of State for Local Government In office 13 June 1987 – 25 July 1988 Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher Preceded by Rhodes Boyson Succeeded by John Gummer
Shadow cabinetoffices Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer In office 18 September 2001 – 6 November 2003 Leader Iain Duncan Smith Preceded by Michael Portillo Succeeded by Oliver Letwin Shadow Foreign Secretary In office 11 June 1997 – 15 June 1999 Leader William Hague Preceded by John Major Succeeded by John Maples Shadow Home Secretary In office 2 May 1997 – 11 June 1997 Leader John Major Preceded by Jack Straw Succeeded by Brian Mawhinney Shadow Constitutional Affairs Spokesperson In office 2 May 1997 – 11 June 1997 Serving withWilliam Hague Leader John Major Preceded by Position established Succeeded by Michael Ancram
Parliamentary offices Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal Life peerage 20 July 2010 Member of Parliament forFolkestone and Hythe In office 9 June 1983 – 12 April 2010 Preceded by Albert Costain Succeeded by Damian Collins
Personal details
Born	Michael Hecht (1941-07-07)7 July 1941 Gorseinon,Swansea,Wales
Political party	Conservative
Other political affiliations	Labour(1961)
Spouse	Sandra Paul ​ (m.1975)​
Children	2
Alma mater	Peterhouse, Cambridge(MA,LLB) Inns of Court School of Law

Howard was born inSwanseato a Jewish family, his father fromRomaniaand his mother fromWales.He studied atPeterhouse, Cambridge,following which he joined theYoung Conservatives.In 1964, he was called to the Bar and became aQueen's Counselin 1982. He first became a Member of Parliament at the1983 general election,representing the constituency ofFolkestone and Hythe.This quickly led to his promotion and Howard became Minister for Local Government in 1987. Under the premiership of John Major, he served as Secretary of State for Employment (1990–1992), Secretary of State for the Environment (1992–1993) and Home Secretary (1993–1997).

Following the Conservative Party's landslide defeat at the1997 general election,he unsuccessfully contested the leadership, and subsequently held the posts ofShadow Foreign Secretary(1997–1999) andShadow Chancellor of the Exchequer(2001–2003). In November 2003, following the Conservative Party's vote of no confidence inIain Duncan Smith,Howard was elected to the leadership unopposed.

At the2005 general election,the Conservatives gained 33 new seats in Parliament, including five from the Liberal Democrats; but this still gave them only 198 seats to Labour's 355. Following the election, Howard resigned as Leader of the Conservative Party and was succeeded byDavid Cameron.Howard did not contest his seat of Folkestone and Hythe in the2010 general electionand entered theHouse of Lordsas Baron Howard of Lympne. Prior toBrexit,he was supportive of the Eurosceptic pressure groupLeave Means Leave.

Early life

Howard was born Michael Hecht in Gorseinon, Swansea, son of Bernat Hecht (died 1966), who was born in Romania and came to Britain in 1939,and Hilda (néeKershion), who had lived in Wales from the age of six months where her father was a draper inLlanelli.She was a cousin of the Landy family who had helped Bernat Hecht come to Britain.Both of Howard's parents were from Jewish families.Howard's grandmother was murdered atAuschwitz.

Bernat Hecht was a synagogue cantor who worked for his wife's family drapery business, later establishing himself as a prominent local businessman, owning three shops in Llanelli.When Howard was six, his parents became naturalised as British subjects and the family name was changed to Howard.

Howard passed hiseleven-plusexam in 1952 and then attendedLlanelli Boys' Grammar School.He joined the Young Conservatives at age 15. He gained a place at Peterhouse, Cambridge, where he was President of theCambridge Unionin 1962.After taking a 2:1 in the first part of the economicstripos,he switched to law and graduated with a 2:2 in 1962.

Howard was one of a cluster of Conservative students at Cambridge University around this time, sometimes referred to as the "Cambridge Mafia",many of whom held high government office under Margaret Thatcher and John Major (see:Cambridge University Conservative Association).According toKenneth Clarke,Howard briefly defected to theLabour Partyin 1961 in protest against the former's invitation toOswald Mosleyto speak to the CUCA. He had rejoined the Conservatives by the next year.

Howard was called to the Bar at theInner Templein 1964 and specialised in employment and planning law. He continued his career at the Bar, becoming a practising Queen's Counsel in 1982 (unlike some barrister-MPs who were awarded the title as an honorific despite no longer practising at the Bar).

In the late 1960s Howard gained promotion within theBow Group,becoming Chairman in April 1970. At the Conservative Party conference in October 1970, he made a notable speech commending the government for attempting to curbtrade unionpower and also called for state aid to strikers' families to be reduced or stopped altogether, a policy which the Thatcher government pursued over a decade later.

In the 1970s, Howard was a leading advocate of British membership of theCommon Market (EEC)and served on the board of the cross-partyBritain in Europegroup.

Marriage

In 1975, Howard marriedSandra Paul.They have a son, born in 1976, and a daughter, born in 1977.

Member of Parliament

At the1966and1970 general elections,Howard unsuccessfully contested the safeLabourseat ofLiverpool Edge Hill,reinforcing his strong support forLiverpool F.C.which he has held since childhood.

In June 1982, Howard was selected to contest the constituency of Folkestone and Hythe inKentafter the sitting Conservative MP, SirAlbert Costain,decided to retire. Howard won the seat at the 1983 general election.

In Government

Howard gained quick promotion, becomingParliamentary Under-Secretary of Stateat theDepartment of Trade and Industryin 1985 with responsibility for regulating the financial dealings of the City of London. This junior post became very important, as he oversaw theBig Bangintroduction of new technology in 1986. Following the1987 general election,he became Minister for Local Government. Following a proposal from backbench MPDavid Wilshire,he accepted the amendment which would becomeSection 28(prohibiting local governments from the "promotion" of homosexuality) and defended its inclusion.

Howard guided the 1988 Local Government Finance Act through the House of Commons. The act brought in Margaret Thatcher's new system of local taxation, officially known as theCommunity Chargebut almost universally nicknamed the "poll tax". Howard personally supported the tax and won Thatcher's respect for minimising the rebellion against it within the Conservative Party. After a period as Minister for Water and Planning in 1988–89, during which he was responsible for implementingwater privatisationin England and Wales, Howard was promoted to the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Employment in January 1990 following the resignation ofNorman Fowler.He subsequently guided through legislation abolishing theclosed shop,and campaigned vigorously for Thatcher in the first ballot of the1990 Conservative leadership election,although he told her a day before she resigned that he felt she was not going to win and that John Major was better placed to defeatMichael Heseltine.

He retained his Cabinet post under John Major and campaigned against trade union power during the1992 general electioncampaign. His work in the campaign led to his appointment as Secretary of State for the Environment in the reshuffle following the election. In this capacity he encouraged the United States to participate in theEarth Summitin Rio de Janeiro, but shortly afterwards he was appointed Home Secretary in a 1993 reshuffle precipitated by the sacking ofNorman Lamontas Chancellor.

Home Secretary

As Home Secretary he pursued a tough approach to crime, summed up in his sound bite, "prison works". During his tenure as Home Secretary, recorded crime fell by 16.8%.In 2010 Howard claimed a 45% decrease in crime since a 1993 study by Home Office criminologist Roger Tarling proved that prison worked though the prison population rose from 42,000 to nearly 85,000. Ken Clarke disagreed, pointing to a 60% recidivism rate amongst newly released prisoners and hinting that factors such as better household and vehicle security and better policing could be influencing crime rates, not just the incapacitation effect of removing offenders to prison.

Howard repeatedly clashed with judges and prison reformers as he sought to clamp down on crime through a series of 'tough' measures, such as reducing theright to silenceof defendants in their police interviews and at their trials as part of 1994'sCriminal Justice and Public Order Act.Howard voted for the reintroduction of thedeath penaltyfor the killing of police officers on duty and for murders carried out with firearms in 1983 and 1990.In 1993, he changed his mind and became opposed to the reintroduction of the death penalty and voted against it again in February 1994.

In 1993, following themurder of James Bulger,two eleven-year-old boys were convicted of his murder and sentenced to be detainedat Her Majesty's pleasure,with a recommended a minimum term of eight years.Lord Taylor of Gosforth,theLord Chief Justice,ordered that the two boys should serve a minimum of ten years.The editors ofThe Sunnewspaper handed a petition bearing nearly 280,000 signatures to Howard, in a bid to increase the time spent by both boys in custody.This campaign was successful, and the boys were kept in custody for a minimum of fifteen years,meaning that they would not be considered for release until February 2008, by which time they would be 25 years of age.

A formerMaster of the Rolls,Lord Donaldson,criticised Howard's intervention, describing the increased tariff as "institutionalised vengeance... [by] a politician playing to the gallery".The increased minimum term was overturned in 1997 by theHouse of Lords,which ruled it was substantivelyultra vires,and therefore "unlawful", for the Home Secretary to decide on minimum sentences for young offenders.TheHigh CourtandEuropean Court of Human Rightshave since ruled that, though Parliament may set minimum and maximum terms for individual categories of crime, it is the responsibility of the trial judge, with the benefit of all the evidence and argument from both prosecution and defence counsel, to determine the minimum term in individual criminal cases.

Controversies

Howard's reputation was damaged on 13 May 1997 when a critical inquiry into a series of prison escapes was published. Howard denied responsibility for thePrison Service's operations and laid the blame with Director GeneralDerek Lewis,who was sacked.Lewis sued the Home Office forwrongful dismissaland alleged that Howard had regularly interfered with the service's operations, citing an instance in which Howard put "extreme and unjustified pressure" on him to suspend the governor ofParkhurst Prison(threatening to overrule him if he did not).In a television interview onNewsnight,Jeremy Paxmanasked Howard whether he had in fact threatened to overrule Lewis, posing the question "Did you threaten to overrule him?" twelve times. Howard repeatedly said that he "did not instruct him", ignoring the "threaten" part of the question.Paxman asked him again in another interview in 2004. Howard responded: "Oh come on, Jeremy, are you really going back over that again? As it happens, I didn't. Are you satisfied now?" Secret Home Office papers partially vindicated Howard, but show that Howard asked a top civil servant if he had the power to overrule Lewis.

Shortly after the 1997Newsnightinterview,Ann Widdecombe,his former minister of state at the Home Office, made a statement in the House of Commons about the dismissal of Derek Lewis and remarked of Howard that there is "something of the night" about him.This much quoted comment is thought to have contributed to the failure of his 1997 bid for the Conservative Party leadership, including by Howard and Widdecombe and led to him being caricatured as a vampire, in part due to his Romanian ancestry.Such characterisations caused discontent among some members of Britain's Jewish community.

In 1996 Howard, as Home Secretary, ordered the release ofJohn Haaseand Paul Bennett withroyal pardonsafter 10 months of their 18-year prison sentences for heroin smuggling, after they had provided information leading to the seizure of firearms. In 2008 Haase and Bennett were convicted of having set up the weapons finds to earn them their release, and sentenced to 20 and 22 years in prison respectively.

First attempt to win party leadership

Following the1997 resignationof John Major, Howard andWilliam Hagueran on the same ticket, with Howard as leader and Hague as Deputy Leader and Party Chairman. The day after they agreed this, Hague decided to run on his own. Howard also stood but his campaign was marred by attacks on his record as Home Secretary.

Howard came in last out of five candidates with the support of only 23 MPs in the first round of polling for the leadership election. He then withdrew from the race and endorsed the eventual winner, William Hague. Howard served as Shadow Foreign Secretary for the next two years but retired from theShadow cabinetin 1999, though continued as a backbench MP.

Leader of the Opposition

See also:Shadow Cabinet of Michael Howard

Following the Conservative defeat at the2001 general election,Howard was recalled to frontline politics when the Conservative Party's new leader,Iain Duncan Smith,appointed him Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer. His performances in the post won him much praise; indeed, under his guidance, the Conservatives decided to debate the economy on an 'Opposition Day' for the first time in several years. After Duncan Smith was removed from the leadership, Howard was elected unopposed as leader of the party in November 2003.

As leader, he faced much less discontent within the party than any of his three predecessors and was seen as a steady hand. He avoided repeating such managerial missteps as Duncan Smith's firing ofDavid Davisas Conservative Party Chairman and imposed discipline quickly and firmly: for example, he removed the party whip fromAnn Wintertonafter she joked about 23 Chinese migrants' deaths. In the lead up to the 2005 election campaign, Howard continued to impose strong party discipline, controversially forcing the deselection of at least four candidates.Danny Krugerwas made to resign inSedgefieldafter he said that the Conservatives "plan to introduce a period of creative destruction in the public services". He was later selected and elected as the Conservative MP forDevizesin2019.Robert Oulds and Adrian Hilton were successively sacked as candidates forSlough–Oulds after he was photographed with a number of firearms and dubbed a "Tory gun nut" byThe Sun;and Hilton after a piece he wrote forThe Spectatorin 2003 came to public attention, in which he claimed that "a Catholic EU will inevitably result in the subjugation of Britain's Protestant ethos to Roman Catholic social, political and religious teaching".Most prominently, incumbent MP and then-Deputy Chairman of the Conservative PartyHoward Flightwas deselected inArundel and South Downs,for a speech at aConservative Way Forwardmeeting that suggested that the Conservatives would make much greater spending cuts than they promised in their manifesto, if they won the election.

In February 2004, Howard called on then-Prime MinisterTony Blairto resign over the Iraq War, for failing to ask "basic questions" regardingWMDclaims and misleading Parliament.In July, the Conservative leader stated that he would not have voted for the motion that authorised the Iraq War had he known the quality of intelligence information on which the WMD claims were based. At the same time, he said he still believed in the Iraq invasion was right because "the prize of a stable Iraq was worth striving for".However, Howard's criticism of Blair was not received favourably in Washington, D.C., where President of the United StatesGeorge W. Bushrefused to meet him. Bush's advisorKarl Rovereportedly told Howard, "you can forget about meeting the president. Don't bother coming."

Howard was named 2003 Parliamentarian of the Year byThe Spectatorand Zurich UK. This was in recognition of his performance at the dispatch box in his previous role as Shadow Chancellor. However, twelve months after he became party leader, neither his personal popularity nor his party's with the public had risen appreciably in opinion polls from several years before.

Howard was part of discussions forBritish Airwaysto resume flights to Pakistan in 2003, this was until their final departure in 2008 the only European airline serving the nation.

Further Newsnight treatment

In November 2004,Newsnightagain concentrated on Howard with coverage of a campaign trip to Cornwall and an interview with Jeremy Paxman. The piece, which purported to show that members of the public could not identify Howard and that those who recognised him did not support him, was the subject of an official complaint from the Conservative Party. The complaint argued that theNewsnightteam spoke only to people who held opinions against either Michael Howard or the Conservatives and that Paxman's style was bullying and unnecessarily aggressive. In this programme, Paxman also returned tohis question from 1997.Howard returned briefly toNewsnighton Jeremy Paxman's final episode on 18 June 2014 for a cameo.

2005 general election

At the 2005 general election, Howard's Conservative Party suffered a third consecutive defeat, although the Conservatives gained 33 seats (including five from theLiberal Democrats) and Labour's majority shrank from 167 to 66. The Conservatives were left with 198 seats to Labour's 355. The Conservative share of the national vote increased by 0.6% from 2001 and 1.6% from 1997. The party ended with 32.4% of the total votes cast, which was within 3% of Labour on 35.2%.

The day after the election, Howard stated in a speech in the newly gained Conservative seat inPutneythat he would not lead the party into the next general election as, already aged 63, he would be "too old" by that stage, and that he would stand down "sooner rather than later", following a revision of the Conservative leadership electoral process. Despite Labour winning a third term in government, Howard described the election as "the beginning of a recovery" for the Conservative Party following Labour's landslide victories in 1997 and 2001.

Howard's own constituency of Folkestone and Hythe had been heavily targeted by the Liberal Democrats as the most sought after prize of their failed "decapitation" strategy of seeking to gain seats from prominent Conservatives. Yet Howard almost doubled his majority to 11,680, while the Liberal Democrats saw their vote fall.

Criticism of 2005 campaign

During the 2005 general election campaign, Howard was criticised by some commentators for conducting a campaign which addressed the issues ofimmigration,asylum seekers,andtravellers.Othersnoted that the continued media coverage of such issues created most of the controversy and that Howard merely defended his views when questioned at unrelated policy launches.

Some evidence suggested that the public generally supported policies proposed by the Conservative Party when they were not told which party had proposed them, indicating that the party still had an image problem. Conservative John Major's 30% lead in 1992 amongst the sought afterABC1voters (professionals) had all but disappeared by 2005.

The campaign focus on immigration may have been influenced by Howard's election adviserLynton Crosby,who had run similar tactics in Australian elections earlier.Crosby was later re-hired by the Conservative Party to run their successful campaign in the2008 London mayoral election.

Resignation

Despite his impending resignation following the 2005 general election, Howard performed a substantial reshuffle of the party's front bench in which several rising star MPs were given their first shadow portfolios, includingGeorge OsborneandDavid Cameron.This move cleared the way for David Cameron (who had worked for Howard as a Special Advisor when the latter was Home Secretary) to run for the Conservative Party leadership.

The reforms to the party's election process took several months and Howard remained in his position for six months following the election. During that period, he enjoyed a fairly pressure-free time, often making joking comparisons between himself andTony Blair,both of whom had declared they would not stand at the next general election. He also oversaw Blair's first parliamentary defeat, when the Conservative Party, the Liberal Democrats and sufficientLabour Partyrebels voted againstgovernment proposals to extend to 90 days the period that terror suspects could be held for without charge.Howard stood down as Leader in December 2005 and was replaced by David Cameron.

Retirement

Howard announced on 17 March 2006 that he would stand down as MP for Folkestone and Hythe at the2010 general election. On 13 July 2006 the Conservatives selectedDamian Collinsto stand in his place at that election.

On 19 June 2006 it was reported that Howard would become chairman of Diligence Europe, a private intelligence and risk assessment company founded by formerCIAandMI5members.

On 23 October 2006, Howard said that he had voluntarily been questioned as a potential witness as part of the investigation into theCash-for-Honours scandalrelating to fundraising for the 2005 election campaign. He was not suspected of any criminal activity,was not accused of any criminal activity, and gave evidence purely as a witness in an investigation focusing primarily on the Labour Government's use of the peerages system and their party fundraising.

Howard in 2010

Howard was appointed a Conservativelife peerin the2010 Dissolution Honourswith the title ofBaron Howard of Lympne,ofLympnein the County of Kent.On 20 July 2010, he was formally introduced into theHouse of Lordsby past colleagueNorman Lamont,and attended Questions and debate later that day.

In 2010, David Cameron wanted Howard to join hisConservative-Liberal Democrat coalition,possibly asLord Chancellor,via the House of Lords as part of David Cameron's appeal to rightwing Tories. However, it did not happen, Howard having criticised the government's proposal for a 'rehabilitation revolution'.

Insignia of aMember of the Order of the Companions of Honour,which Howard became in 2011

In February 2011 there was increased speculation that Cameron would reshuffle his cabinet, with Lord Howard brought in to replaceKenneth ClarkeasSecretary of State for Justice.Instead,Chris Graylingwas appointed.

Howard was appointed aMember of the Order of the Companions of Honourin the2011 Birthday Honoursfor public and political services.

A few days afterArticle 50was triggered for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union, Howard was interviewed on 2 April 2017 bySophy Ridgefor her programme onSky News.He compared the post-Brexitsituation of Gibraltar's disputed sovereignty with Spain with the resolution of a similar issue by theFalklands Warin 1982. Howard said he was "absolutely certain"Theresa May"will show the same resolve in standing by the people of Gibraltar" as Margaret Thatcher had done in the South Atlantic. Leading figures from the other parties rejected this viewpoint.A spokesman for Number 10 said such a conflict "isn't going to happen".

In June 2022, Howard called onBoris Johnsonto resign as Prime Minister.

Criticism of Somali business interests

In 2015,Soma Oil & Gas,which Howard chairs, was investigated by theSerious Fraud Office.On 14 December 2016, the SFO closed its investigation of Soma, citing insufficient evidence of corruption.

Charity work

Howard is a keen supporter of the hospice movement and was chairman of Hospice UK from 2010 until 2018.

Arms

Coat of arms of Michael Howard

Crest A demi dragon Gules holding between the claws an ancient ship rigged Or the sails furled Proper. Escutcheon Argent on water barry wavy Azure and Argent in base an ancient ship rigged Gules the sails furled and statant on the fore and aft castles two figures of men respectant Proper habited Azure and each blowing a trumpet Or on a chief Azure a lion passant guardant Or. Supporters On either side a pike Azure. Motto Melior Conatus Quam Spectatio Badge On a billet Azure three trees Or leaved Vert.

See also

• Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet (United Kingdom)

External links

• Michael Howard MPofficial site
• Hansard1803–2005:contributions in Parliament by Michael Howard
• Conservative Party: Michael Howardofficial profile of the Party Leader
• ePolitix – Michael HowardArchived25 May 2005 at theWayback Machineprofile
• Guardian Unlimited Politics – Ask Aristotle: Michael Howard MP
• They Work For You: Michael Howard MP
• The Public Whip – Michael Howard MPvoting record
• BBC News – Michael Howardprofile 17 October 2002
• Michael Howard on NewsnightonYouTube
• Debrett's People of Today
• AppearancesonC-SPAN