George Young, Baron Young of Cookham

The Right Honourable The Lord Young of Cookham CHPC
Official portrait, 2020
Lord-in-waiting Government Whip
In office 25 July 2016 – 29 August 2019
Prime Minister	Theresa May Boris Johnson
Preceded by	The Earl of Courtown
Succeeded by	The Baroness Sater
Chief Whip of the House of Commons Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury
In office 19 October 2012 – 14 July 2014
Prime Minister	David Cameron
Preceded by	Andrew Mitchell
Succeeded by	Michael Gove
Leader of the House of Commons Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal
In office 12 May 2010 – 4 September 2012
Prime Minister	David Cameron
Preceded by	Harriet Harman
Succeeded by	Andrew Lansley
Chairman of the Standards and Privileges Committee
In office 18 July 2001 – 8 September 2009
Preceded by	Robert Sheldon
Succeeded by	David Curry
Ministerial offices 1979-97 Secretary of State for Transport In office 5 July 1995 – 2 May 1997 Prime Minister John Major Preceded by Brian Mawhinney Succeeded by John Prescott Financial Secretary to the Treasury In office 11 July 1994 – 5 July 1995 Prime Minister John Major Preceded by Stephen Dorrell Succeeded by Michael Jack Minister of State for Housing In office 28 November 1990 – 11 July 1994 Prime Minister John Major Preceded by Michael Spicer Succeeded by The Viscount Ullswater Comptroller of the Household In office 14 July 1990 – 28 November 1990 Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher Preceded by Alastair Goodlad Succeeded by David Lightbown Parliamentary Under-Secretary of Statefor the Environment In office 15 September 1981 – 10 September 1986 Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher Preceded by Geoffrey Finsberg Succeeded by Christopher Chope Parliamentary Under-Secretary of Statefor Health and Social Security In office 7 May 1979 – 15 September 1981 Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher Preceded by Eric Deakins Succeeded by Geoffrey Finsberg
Shadow CabinetOffices 1997-2000, 2009-2010 Shadow Leader of the House of Commons In office 8 September 2009 – 11 May 2010 Leader David Cameron Preceded by Alan Duncan Succeeded by Rosie Winterton In office 1 June 1998 – 26 September 2000 Leader William Hague Preceded by Gillian Shephard Succeeded by Angela Browning Shadow Secretary of State for Defence In office 11 June 1997 – 1 June 1998 Leader William Hague Preceded by David Clark Succeeded by John Maples
Parliamentary Offices Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal Incumbent Assumed office 12 October 2015 Life Peerage Member of Parliament forNorth West Hampshire In office 1 May 1997 – 30 March 2015 Preceded by Sir David Mitchell Succeeded by Kit Malthouse Member of Parliament forEaling Acton Acton(1974–1983) In office 28 February 1974 – 8 April 1997 Preceded by Nigel Spearing Succeeded by Constituency abolished
Personal details
Born	(1941-07-16)16 July 1941 Oxford, England,UK
Political party	Conservative
Spouse	Aurelia Nemon-Stuart ​ ​ (m.1964)​
Children	4
Alma mater	Christ Church, Oxford University of Surrey

George Samuel Knatchbull Young, Baron Young of Cookham,CH,PC(born 16 July 1941), known asSir George Young, 6th Baronetfrom 1960 to 2015, is a BritishConservative Partypolitician who served as aMember of Parliament(MP) from1974to2015,having representedEaling Actonfrom 1974 to 1997 andNorth West Hampshirefrom1997.He has served inCabineton three occasions: asSecretary of State for Transportfrom 1995 to 1997; as theLeader of the House of CommonsandLord Privy Sealfrom 2010 to 2012;and asChief Whipof theHouse of Commonsfrom 2012 to 2014.

He stood down from the Commonsat the 2015 electionand was created alife peer,asBaron Young of Cookham,ofCookhamin the Royal County of Berkshire,on 29 September 2015.He sits on the Conservative benches in theHouse of Lords,where he served as a junior whip from July 2016 to August 2019.Youngresignedfrom this position on 29 August in protest at Prime MinisterBoris Johnson's decision to prorogue parliament. He served as a minister under five conservative Prime ministers (Margaret Thatcher,John Major,David Cameron,Theresa MayandBoris Johnson).

Early life

Young was born inOxfordin 1941 into a prominent English family, the elder son of Sir George Peregrine "Gerry" Young, 5th BaronetCMGand Elisabeth Knatchbull-Hugessen. His paternal ancestors and cousins include Admiral SirGeorge Young,an admiral in the Royal Navy and father of the first Baronet; civil servant SirWilliam Mackworth Young;colonial governors SirHubert Winthrop Youngand SirMark Aitchison Young;mountaineerGeoffrey Winthrop Young,andHilton Young, 1st Baron Kennet.Sir Brian Young (1922–2017), director-general of theIndependent Television Authority,was his cousin.

Young's father was a diplomat who met Elisabeth while serving inBeijing(where her father,Sir Hughe Knatchbull-Hugessen,wasBritish Ambassador). He had saved his future wife's life during an aerial shooting attack in 1937.Upon his father's death in 1960, George succeeded to thebaronetcycreated in 1813.Young is a great-great-grandson ofFrederick Lygon, 6th Earl Beauchamp.

Education and early career

Young was educated atSt. Aubyns Preparatory Schoolin Rottingdean,Eton College,andChrist Church, Oxford,where he readPhilosophy, Politics and Economics,graduating in 1963 (and later proceeding toMA). He was active in student politics while atOxford,holding various offices in theOxford University Conservative Associationand being elected to the Standing Committee of theOxford Union.

After graduating, he worked for a while at the merchant bankHill Samuel,and then at theNational Economic Development Officefrom 1966 to 1967.He then spent two years as KoblerResearch Fellowat theUniversity of Surrey,where he completed anMPhil.From 1969 to 1974, Young was an economic advisor to the Post Office Corporation.

Career in local politics

Young was elected as a councillor in theLondon Borough of Lambethfrom 1968 to 1971 together with his wife and also the future British Prime MinisterJohn Major.He represented the ward of Clapham Town, and served on the Housing Committee. He and other Lambeth councillors worked as refuse collectors at weekends during a strike.Young lost his seat on Lambeth Council in 1971.

In1970,Young was elected to theGreater London Council(GLC) as one of four members for theEaling.He served on the GLC from 1970 to 1973, where he was vice-chairman of the Strategic Planning Authority. He did not seek re-election to the GLC in 1973, having been selected as the Conservative candidate for theActonconstituency.He was later one of the local government ministers who abolished the GLC in 1986.

Parliamentary career

Member of Parliament

Young was elected to parliament at theFebruary 1974 general electionas MP forActonwith a majority of 1,300, defeating the sittingLabour PartyMP,Nigel Spearing(who was returned to Parliament a few weeks later after winning aby-electioninNewham South). Young was re-elected as MP for Acton at theOctober 1974 general electionwith a majority of 808. He continued to represent Acton (renamedEaling Actonin 1983) for the next 23 years, until the seat was abolished inboundary changes.He was selected for the safe Conservative seat ofNorth West Hampshireprior to the1997 general electionto replace the retiring MPSir David Mitchell(the father ofAndrew Mitchellwhom Young would, in 2012, succeed as Chief Whip). Young was elected with a majority of 11,551, and served as the MP for North West Hampshire until his retirement in 2015.

Posts

From 1976 to 1979 Young served as an oppositionwhip.When the Conservative Party won the1979 general election,he was appointedParliamentary Under-Secretary of Stateat theDepartment of Health and Social Security.From 1981 to 1986, Young served as the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the department for the Environment.

On the backbenches from 1986 to 1990, Young was among the leaders of the rebellion within the Conservative Party against the implementation of thepoll tax.Shortly before leaving office in 1990, Prime MinisterMargaret Thatcherbrought Young back into government as a whip (Comptroller of the Household) as part of her attempts to reunite the party.

WhenJohn Majorbecame Prime Minister in November 1990, he gave Young the role of Minister for Housing and Planning. Shortly after, during an interview forBBC Radio 4'sTodayprogramme in June 1991, Young described the homeless as "the people you step over when you come out of the opera".In 1992 when asked during parliamentary discussions of theArmley Asbestos Disasterfor financial assistance in surveying local housing in the Armley area for residual asbestos, Young responded that the government would not provide financial assistance to the home owners or the council to pay for decontamination as this "would not be a justifiable use of public funds".

Young then served asFinancial Secretary to the Treasuryfrom 1994 to 1995, and in Cabinet asSecretary of State for Transportfrom 1995 to 1997. He was appointed aprivy counsellorin 1993. Following the Conservative Party's defeat in 1997, Young was appointedShadow Defence Secretaryby the new party leader,William Hague.In 1998, Young became Shadow Leader of the House of Commons. In 1999, he was given additional responsibilities as Spokesman for Constitutional Affairs. He was a member of the Modernisation Select Committee and of theHouse of Commons Commissionfrom 1998 to 2000.

Young resigned from theShadow Cabinetin September 2000 in order to stand for election asSpeaker of the House of Commons.Fourteen MPs put their names forward to succeed the retiringBetty Boothroyd,and many observers considered Young to be the favourite. He had support from both the Conservative and Labour leadership; however, many backbench MPs, particularly those from the Labour Party (who held a large majority in the House at the time), viewed Young as someone who had too recently been a member of his party'sfront benchteam and was thus not sufficiently in touch with ordinary MPs. In the end, Young was not elected as Speaker, the members of the House choosing instead Labour MPMichael Martin.

From 2000 to 2009, Young remained on the backbenches. He was elected chairman of the House of CommonsCommittee on Standards and Privilegesin 2001, and was re-elected to that role in 2005.

Young stood again for the position of Speaker of the House of Commons in 2009, finishing second in the ballot of MPs to fellow Conservative MPJohn Bercow.In the first ever secret ballot of MPs to choose the new Speaker, Bercow defeated Young in the final round of voting by a margin of 322 to 271.

On 8 September 2009, Conservative party leaderDavid Cameronappointed Young to the front bench again, taking up his former role of Shadow Leader of the House of Commons, replacingAlan Duncanwho had held the post since January 2009. He becameLeader of the House of CommonsandLord Privy Sealon 12 May 2010 after the Conservative Party formed a coalition government with theLiberal Democratsfollowing the2010 general election.In this role, he attended Cabinet meetings, but not as a full member.

Young left government in thereshuffle of September 2012,and David Cameron recommended his appointment as aMember of the Order of the Companions of Honour.However, his return to the backbenches was short-lived, as followingAndrew Mitchell's resignation asChief Whipthe following month, Cameron chose Young to replace him.

Young is Patron of theTory Reform Groupand theAll-Party Parliamentary Groupon Cycling.

Official portrait, 2010

In October 2012 it was reported that Young supported a new group of Conservative MPs established to reconnect the Tories with working class voters. The Blue Collar Conservatism group aims to develop policies to attract "aspirational" voters on average incomes whose support is "vital" to winning a Commons majority.

On 29 November 2013 Young announced he would stand down as an MP at the2015 general election.He again retired from the cabinet at the2014 reshuffle,replaced as Chief Whip byMichael Gove.Gove described Young as 'distinguished' and 'honourable'.

Tower block housing

Young was a vocal critic oftower block housing,saying in 1974: "Nearly all local authorities have now stopped building this type of accommodation, as it is generally recognized they provide an inadequate environment for those who have to live in them. But it is no consolation to the many thousands who will have to live on these estates for the foreseeable future to know that the mistake will not recur."One measure proposed by Young was to make grants and subsidies available to minimize "some of the disadvantages of living on estates containing tower blocks."He described tower block housing as "an economic and social disaster" and said he would "like an assurance that loan sanction would not be given for any more."

Domestic violence

In February 1975 Young was appointed to the newly formedselect committeeon Violence in the Family. The committee's terms of reference were "To consider the extent, nature and causes of the problems of families where there is violence between the partners or where children suffer non-accidental injury: and to make recommendations."The committee issued an interim report in September 1975 and was instrumental in setting up several government research reports into domestic violence.In 1976 he sponsored the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Bill which allowed victims of rape to remain anonymous.

Cycling

In 1982 Young and his children appeared on aBritish Railposter alongsideJimmy Savileto promote new measures to allow people to take their bicycles on trains more easily.Young had made a critical speech in Parliament about the provisions for cyclists to take their bikes on trains, and when British Rail implemented new measures they invited Young to appear on the publicity poster. An ever-enthusiastic cyclist, the British media nicknamed Young the "Bicycling Baronet".

House of Lords

Official portrait, 2018

Young was created alife peerasBaron Young of Cookham,ofCookhamin theCountyofBerkshire,on 29 September 2015. He sits on theConservativebenches of theHouse of Lords.

In July 2016, he was appointed asLord in Waiting(i.e. government whip).In September 2016, he was named to serve as Treasury spokesman in the House of Lords.On 29 August 2019, Youngresigned as a whipin the House of Lords in protest at Prime Minister Boris Johnson's decision tosuspend parliament.

Personal and family life

Young succeeded as 6th baronet in 1960 and married Aurelia Nemon-Stuart, daughter of the sculptorOscar Nemon,at Oxford in 1964. They have four children: Sophia (b. 23 May 1965), George (b. 11 October 1966), Hugo Patrick (b. 23 September 1970) and Camilla (b. 1975). His elder son,the Hon.George "Gerry" Young, isheir apparentto the familybaronetcy.The family grew up inCookham,attending Holy Trinity Primary School in Cookham andFurze Plattsecondary school in Maidenhead.

Lord Young supports the west London football clubQueens Park Rangers (QPR)and has served as achurchwardenand a member of adiocesan synodin theChurch of England.

Titles, honours, styles and arms

Styles

• 1941–1960: Mr George Young
• 1960–1974:SirGeorge YoungBt
• 1974–1993: Sir George YoungBtMP
• 1993–2012:The Rt HonSir George YoungBtMP
• 2012–2015: The Rt Hon Sir George YoungBtCHMP
• 2015: The Rt Hon Sir George YoungBtCH
• 2015–present: The Rt Hon The Lord Young of CookhamCHPC

Honours

• Baron
• Baronet
• Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour

Arms

Coat of arms of George Young, Baron Young of Cookham

Crest A demi-unicorn couped ermine maned armed and hoofed or gorged with a naval crown azure supporting an anchor sable Helm That of aBaron Escutcheon Per fess sable and argent in chief two lions rampant guardant and in base an anchor with cable, all counterchanged Motto Be right and persist Other elements Member of the Order of the Companions of Honourinsignia appended Symbolism The anchors and naval crown are in honour of Royal Navy officer SirGeorge Young,Admiral of theWhite Squadron,and his son, the first baronet, a commander in the Royal Navy.

Ancestry

Ancestors of George Young, Baron Young of Cookham

16.Sir George Young, 2nd Baronet 8.Sir George Young, 3rd Baronet 17. Susan Mackworth-Praed 4.Sir George Young, 4th Baronet 18. Evory Kennedy 9. Alice Eacy Kennedy 19. Alicia Hamilton 2.Sir George Young, 5th Baronet 20. Rev. Peregrine Ilbert 10.Sir Courtenay Ilbert 21. Rose Ann Owen 5. Jessie Helen Ilbert 22. Charles Bradley 11. Jessie Bradley 23. Anne Marian George 1.George Young, Baron Young of Cookham 24.Sir Edward Knatchbull, 9th Baronet 12. Rev. Reginald Knatchbull-Hugessen 25. Fanny Catherine Knight 6.Sir Hughe Knatchbull-Hugessen 26.Sir Alexander Montgomery, 3rd Baronet 13. Rachel Mary Montgomery 27. Caroline Rose Campbell 3. Elisabeth Knatchbull-Hugessen 28. Henry Perkins Wolrige 14.Sir Robert Gilmour, 1st Baronet 29. Ann Gordon 7. Mary Gilmour 30.Frederick Lygon, 6th Earl Beauchamp 15.Lady Susan Lygon 31.Lady Mary Stanhope

See also

• Young baronetsof Formosa Place
• Sustrans

External links

• Sir George Young Bt MPArchived15 June 2017 at theWayback Machine– Official constituency website
• George Young's channelonYouTube
• Profile,parliament.uk. Accessed 24 December 2022.
• Profile: George Young,bbc.co.uk. Accessed 24 December 2022.Archived6 January 2007 at theWayback Machine,BBC News,30 March 2006.
• Cycling Group APPG,SourceWatch.org. Accessed 24 December 2022.
• Profile,Burkespeeerage.com. Accessed 24 December 2022.
• The Rt Hon. The Lord Young of Cookham CH,debretts.com. Accessed 24 December 2022.