Peter Bruce Lilley, Baron Lilley,[1]PC(born 23 August 1943) is a British politician andlife peerwho served as a cabinet minister in the governments ofMargaret ThatcherandJohn Major.A member of theConservative Party,he wasMember of Parliament(MP)Hitchin and Harpendenfrom 1997 to 2017 and, prior to boundary changes,St Albansfrom 1983.
The Lord Lilley | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Official portrait, 2022 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Deputy Leader of the Conservative Party | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 2 June 1998 – 15 June 1999 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Leader | William Hague | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Michael Heseltine[a] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Michael Ancram[b] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Secretary of State for Social Security | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 11 April 1992 – 2 May 1997 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Prime Minister | John Major | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Tony Newton | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Harriet Harman | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Secretary of State for Trade and Industry President of the Board of Trade | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 14 July 1990 – 11 April 1992 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Prime Minister | Margaret Thatcher John Major | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Nicholas Ridley | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Michael Heseltine | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 23 August 1943 Hayes,Kent, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Political party | Conservative | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spouse | Gail Ansell | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alma mater | Clare College, Cambridge(BA) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born inKent,Lilley studied economics atClare College, Cambridge.He served as Trade and Industry Secretary from July 1990 to April 1992. As Social Security Secretary from April 1992 to May 1997, he introducedIncapacity Benefit.
On 26 April 2017, he announced his retirement as an MP.[2]He has been a long-term critic of theEuropean Unionand backedBrexitin the2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum.Lilley has since been supportive of the Eurosceptic pressure groupLeave Means Leave.[3]In May 2018, he was nominated for a peerage in theHouse of Lords.[4]
Early life
editLilley, whose father was a personnel officer for theBBC,was born atHayesinKent.[5]He was educated atDulwich CollegeandClare College, Cambridge,where he studied natural sciences before switching to economics.[5][6]His Cambridge contemporaries includedKenneth Clarke,Michael HowardandNorman Lamont,a group later known as theCambridge Mafia.
Before he entered Parliament he was an energy analyst at the City of London stockbroker W. Greenwell & Co.[5]He was the chairman of the Conservativethink tanktheBow Groupfrom 1973 to 1975.[7]
InOctober 1974he stood as a candidate in the safeLabourseat ofTottenhamand was defeated by the defending MPNorman Atkinson.He later said "I fought Tottenham, and Tottenham fought back."[8]
Parliamentary career
editFollowing his election in 1983 as MP forSt Albans,a generally safe Conservative seat, he served as Parliamentary Private Secretary toNigel Lawson,then asEconomic Secretary to the TreasuryandFinancial Secretary to the Treasurybefore joining the Cabinet asSecretary of State for Trade and Industryto replaceNicholas Ridleyin mid-1990 after the latter was forced to resign over an anti-German remark.
Initially regarded as a right wingThatcherloyalist, he privately told her her career was finished after she failed to win outright in the first round ballot of a leadership challenge, and subsequently urged her ultimate successorJohn Majorto stand for election to succeed her.[5]Following the1992 general electionhe becameSecretary of State for Social Security.[9]
Social Security Secretary
editIn 1992,John Majormade Lilley the secretary of state at theDepartment of Social Securityat a time when the number of claimants of sickness benefits was growing rapidly. Shortly after his appointment, Lilley entertained the Conservative Party's annual conference by outlining his plan to "close down the something for nothing society", delivered in the form of a pastiche of the Lord High Executioner's "little list" song fromThe MikadobyGilbert and Sullivan:[10]
- I've got a little list / Of benefit offenders who I'll soon be rooting out / And who never would be missed / They never would be missed. /
- There's those who make up bogus claims / In half a dozen names / And councillors who draw the dole / To run left-wing campaigns / They never would be missed / They never would be missed. /
- There's young ladies who get pregnant just to jump the housing queue / And dads who won't support the kids / of ladies they have... kissed / And I haven't even mentioned all those sponging socialists / I've got them on my list / And they'll none of them be missed / They'll none of them be missed.
The speech was well received by party members and tabloid newspapers but some commentators "saw his performance as symbolic of a party out of touch with some of society's most vulnerable people".Spitting Imagedepicted him as a commandant at a Nazi concentration camp and commentatorMark LawsonofThe Independentsaid that if Lilley stayed as Secretary of State for Social Security, it would be "equivalent toMary Whitehousebecoming madam of a brothel ".[11]
In 1995, Lilley introducedIncapacity Benefitin the hope of checking the rise in sickness benefit claims. Unlike its predecessor, Invalidity Benefit, this new welfare payment came with a medical test that gauged claimants' ability to work. Nevertheless, the number of claimants and the cost to the taxpayer continued to rise.[12]
Lilley was among the front bench Conservative ministers who threatened to join theMaastricht Rebelsin voting against his government over the signing of theMaastricht Treaty.When asked why Lilley and two of his colleagues had not been sacked from their front bench positions, Major replied "We don't want another three more of the bastards out there"[13]
Conference song
editLilley reprised his lampooning of some people drawing benefits from the National Insurance scheme – the overall number of which had grown rapidly on his watch – by singing to the Conservative Party's annual conference after it had lost the general election in 1997. He changed the words of "Land of Hope and Glory"to create a song" Land ofChattering Classes",in condemnation of the purported abandonment ofBritish valuesand history byTony Blair'sNew Labour.Lilley joked that a Labour version of Land and Hope and Glory had been "leaked" to him. He said, "They call it 'Land of Pseudo Tories' and it goes like this:
"Land of chattering classes, no more pageantry / Darlings, raise your glasses, to brave modernity / Who needs Nelson or Churchill? The past is so passé / Britain's now about Britpop and the River Café / God, this place is so frumpy, let's be more like LA!"
After cheers from the conference, he continued: "Not to be outdone, [Chancellor]Gordon Brownhas tried to trump his neighbour [Mr Blair] with a new version of Rule Britannia ":"
"Cool Britannia,where saving costs you more / Unless, likeGeoffrey Robinson,your Trust's offshore! "
In opposition
editHe contested the1997 Conservative Party leadership election,placing fourth in a field of five, ahead ofMichael Howard.In opposition, he held the post ofShadow Chancellor of the Exchequerfrom 1997 to 1998 and was Deputy Leader of the Conservative Party from 1998 to 1999.[14]In June 1999, Conservative Party leaderWilliam Haguesacked Lilley as part of a Shadow Cabinet reshuffle. The cause was Lilley'sRab ButlerMemorial Lecture, in which he suggested the party distance itself from Thatcher'sfree marketideology.[15]
Lilley is known for being an advocate of marijuana legalisation.[16]In 2001, Lilley provoked some controversy in his party and Britain more widely by calling forcannabisto be legalised in aSocial Market Foundationpamphlet.[17]
Lilley produced a report for the Bow Group in 2005 that was highly critical of Government plans to introducenational identity cards.[18]
WhenDavid Cameronwaselected leader of the Conservatives in December 2005,Lilley was appointed Chairman of the Globalisation and Global Poverty policy group as part of Cameron's extensive 18-month policy review.
Climate change
editIn November 2012, it was reported[19]that Lilley had been selected by the Conservative Party to join the House of Commons Select Committee on Climate Change. Lilley was at that time vice chairman and senior independent non-executive director ofTethys Petroleumand had received options to buy over $400,000 of shares at a price above their then market value. He resigned from the board in 2014 without exercising those options. He was seen by some as being unsuitable for the position because of this role and a perceived conflict of interest.[20]He was one of only five MPs to oppose theClimate Change Act 2008.[21]Further scrutiny came from the highlighting byPrivate Eyethat Lilley had previously lobbied then climate change ministerEd Milibandwith letters requesting the 'cost of global warming'.[19]
Queen's Speech amendment
editOn 19 May 2016, Lilley, backed by other Eurosceptic Tory MPs as well as the other parties proposed a rebel amendment to theQueen's Speech,over fears that the US-EU pact would lead to the privatisation of the NHS by paving the way for American health providers in the UK.[22]Lilley said that theInvestor state dispute settlementprovision in TTIP would grant American multinationals the right to sue the British government over any regulations which affected their profits, and questioned why the British government had not tried to exclude the NHS from TTIP.
The UK government ultimately agreed to amend theQueen's Speechto commit to explicitly protecting the NHS from the terms of the future trade deal.[23]
Lilley had earlier committed to supporting withdrawal from the EU during the referendum campaign.[24]
Common Sense Group
editFollowing an interim report on the connections betweencolonialismand properties now in the care of theNational Trust,including links withhistoric slavery,Lilley was among the signatories of a letter toThe Telegraphin November 2020 from the "Common Sense Group"of Conservative Parliamentarians. The letter accused the National Trust of being" coloured bycultural Marxistdogma, colloquially known as the 'wokeagenda' ".[25]
Personal life
editHe married Gail Ansell, a dress designer turned artist, on 24 May 1979.[5]The couple have no children.[5]Lilley has a holiday home in France.
Lilley was created aLife Peeron 18 June 2018 taking the title ofBaron Lilley,of Offa in the County ofHertfordshire.[26]
Notes
edit- ^AsDeputy Leader of the Opposition.
- ^Office vacant between 15 June 1999 and 18 September 2001.
References
edit- ^"Lord Lilley – UK Parliament".Parliament.uk. 18 June 2018.
- ^"Peter Lilley the latest MP to step down".ITV News.26 April 2017.Retrieved26 April2017.
- ^"Co-Chairmen – Political Advisory Board – Supporters".Leave Means Leave. Archived fromthe originalon 24 October 2017.Retrieved14 February2018.
- ^Sabbagh, Dan; Perkins, Anne (18 May 2018)."May names nine new Tory peers to bolster party after Brexit defeats".The Guardian.
- ^abcdefLawson, Mark(2 April 1994)."The making of blue Peter: In the last two years, Peter Lilley has shot from obscurity to Euro-baiting stardom at Tory party conferences. Is the minister who begat the Child Support Agency as right as he's painted?".The Independent.Archivedfrom the original on 26 May 2022.Retrieved20 April2018.
- ^"VOTE 2001 | CANDIDATES".BBC News.Retrieved29 June2024.
- ^"Peter Lilley".politics.co.uk.Retrieved31 July2017.
- ^Lilley, Peter."Ministerial Maternity Bill: Committee Stage".Hansard.
- ^"The new Cabinet".The Observer.London. 12 April 1992. p. 1.Retrieved24 June2024– via Newspapers.
- ^"Your favourite Conference Clips".BBC News Online.3 October 2007.Retrieved18 June2010.
- ^"Top ten political reputations made and lost at conference".Total Politics.2 October 2011. Archived fromthe originalon 11 October 2011.Retrieved12 October2012.
- ^House of Commons Research Paper 94/13
- ^Prince, Rosa (3 August 2015)."Peter Lilley: I'm still a 'bastard' but I'm not a troublemaker over Europe".The Daily Telegraph.Retrieved13 June2016.
- ^"Parliamentary career for Lord Lilley".parliament.uk.Retrieved15 May2021.
- ^"Lilley: The fall guy".BBC News.15 June 1999.Retrieved13 October2021.
- ^"'Legalise cannabis' says Lilley ".BBC News.6 July 2001.
- ^"Policy Library"(PDF).policylibrary.Archived fromthe originalon 3 June 2006.Retrieved29 June2024.
- ^[1]Archived19 June 2006 at theWayback Machine
- ^ab"Lilley possible conflict of interest".Private Eye(1326). 2 November 2012.
- ^Hickman, Leo (20 November 2012)."MP Peter Lilley has received more than $400,000 in oil company share options".The Guardian.London.
- ^Eaton, George (11 June 2013)."Why is the right silent over Peter Lilley's links to the oil industry?".newstatesman.Retrieved11 June2013.
- ^EU referendum: 25 Tory rebels plot to vote down Queen's Speech as Labour MP caught calling voter 'horrible racist' on campaign trailL. Hughes,The Daily Telegraph,19 May 2016
- ^TTIP: Government caves in to cross-party alliance of Eurosceptic MPs demanding NHS is protected from controversial dealO. Wright,The Independent,19 May 2016
- ^Lilley, Peter (11 February 2016)."Why even David Cameron cannot convince me to vote to remain in the EU".The Daily Telegraph.Retrieved14 June2016.
- ^"Britain's heroes".Letter to theDaily Telegraph.9 November 2020.Retrieved20 May2022.
{{cite press release}}:CS1 maint: others (link) - ^"No. 62331".The London Gazette.22 June 2018. p. 11112.
External links
edit- The Rt Hon Peter Lilley MPofficial constituency website
- Profileat the Conservative Party
- ProfileatParliament of the United Kingdom
- Contributions in ParliamentatHansard
- Contributions in ParliamentatHansard 1803–2005
- Voting recordatPublic Whip
- Record in ParliamentatTheyWorkForYou
- Peter Lilleyprofile atBBC News,22 October 2002
- BBC article about Lilley's legalise cannabis proposal6 July 2001
- Lilley speaks about his work as Chair of the Globalisation and Global Poverty policy groupClare Politics
- AppearancesonC-SPAN