The Lord Herbert of South Downs | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2025 | |
| Minister of State for Policing and Criminal Justice | |
| In office 13 May 2010 – 4 September 2012 | |
| Prime Minister | David Cameron |
| Preceded by | David Hanson[a] |
| Succeeded by | Damian Green |
| Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs | |
| In office 19 January 2009 – 11 May 2010 | |
| Leader | David Cameron |
| Preceded by | Peter Ainsworth |
| Succeeded by | Hilary Benn |
| Shadow Secretary of State for Justice | |
| In office 2 July 2007 – 19 January 2009 | |
| Leader | David Cameron |
| Preceded by | Oliver Heald |
| Succeeded by | Dominic Grieve |
| Member of the House of Lords | |
| Life peerage 1 September 2020 | |
| Member of Parliament forArundel and South Downs | |
| In office 5 May 2005 – 6 November 2019 | |
| Preceded by | Howard Flight |
| Succeeded by | Andrew Griffith |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Nicholas Le Quesne Herbert (1963-04-07)7 April 1963 (age 62) Cambridge, England |
| Party | Conservative |
| Domestic partner | Jason Eades |
| Alma mater | Magdalene College, Cambridge |
| Website | Official website |
Nicholas Le Quesne Herbert, Baron Herbert of South Downs,CBE, PC (born 7 April 1963) is a BritishConservative Party politician and was the Member of Parliament (MP) forArundel and South Downs from 2005 to 2019. He wasMinister of State for Police and Criminal Justice, with his time split between theHome Office and theMinistry of Justice, from 2010 to 2012.[1] On 5 November 2019 he announced his decision not to stand for re-election in the2019 general election.[2] On 31 July 2020 Prime MinisterBoris Johnson announced that Herbert would enter theHouse of Lords.[3]
Herbert was educated atHaileybury andMagdalene College, Cambridge, where he studied law andland economy. After Cambridge, he worked for theConservative Research Department on the Rural & Environmental bureau. He went on to be appointed as the director ofpublic affairs at theBritish Field Sports Society in 1990 and remained in that position for six years, from which he helped to form the Countryside Movement, which later became theCountryside Alliance.[4]
He joined Business for Sterling in 1998 as its chief executive where he led the launch of theNo Campaign against adopting theEuro currency, and hired a youngDominic Cummings as campaign director, giving Cummings his first job in politics. The campaign succeeded in retainingpound sterling, forcing the (pro-Euro) Prime Minister,Tony Blair, to keep to hisChancellor of the ExchequerGordon Brown'sfive economic tests. It was also instrumental in persuading the Conservative Party to include a "save the pound" pledge in their manifesto for the2001 general election.
Following this, in 2001 Herbert andAndrew Haldenby founded thethink tankReform, which argued that improving public services need not require increasing taxation and public spending. Herbert was Reform's first director.[5]
Herbert unsuccessfully contested theNorthumberland seat ofBerwick-upon-Tweed at the1997 general election where he finished in third place some 8,951 votes behind the veteranLiberal Democrat MPAlan Beith.
His selection to contest the safely ConservativeWest Sussex seat ofArundel and South Downs at the2005 general election did not come about without incident. The sitting Conservative MP,Howard Flight, had been forced to resign as a vice chairman of the party and had thewhip removed byMichael Howard in 2005 after he had told aConservative Way Forward meeting that the Conservatives would have to make more cuts than they were promising.[6] With no whip, he was not considered as an approvedcandidate and, despite protest and the local association refusing to select a new candidate, he finally resigned just a month before the election.[7] Herbert was then selected as the new Conservative candidate, ahead of future MPsAnne Marie Morris andLaura Sandys, despite Herbert writing an article inThe Spectator that the vice-president of the Arundel and South Downs Conservatives had felt was much more radical than Flight's rhetoric.[8][9] In hisSpectator article, Herbert had argued in favour of privatising the NHS and the education system.[10] He was elected as the Conservative MP for Arundel and South Downs at the 2005 general election, holding the seat with a slightly reduced majority of 11,309. He made hismaiden speech on 6 June 2005.[11]
Following his election to Parliament, Herbert joined theHome Affairs Select Committee. AfterDavid Cameron became leader of the Conservative Party, Herbert was appointed as a Shadow Minister forhome affairs on 16 December 2005. This meant he had to leave the Home Affairs Select Committee. In July 2007, he joined theShadow Cabinet for the new position of ShadowSecretary of State for Justice, shadowing veteran Labour ministerJack Straw.[12] On 19 January 2009 he was made ShadowSecretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
On theCoalition forming betweenthe Conservatives andLiberal Democrats in May 2010, Herbert was appointed as aMinister of State at theHome Office withresponsibility for policing and at theMinistry of Justice with responsibility for criminal justice. Herbert was appointed aPrivy Counsellor on 9 June 2010.[13]
As police minister, Herbert opposed the introduction of rules prohibiting undercover police officers from entering into sexual relationships with people they are monitoring.[14][15] He also championed the introduction of electedPolice and Crime Commissioners to replacepolice authorities.[16]
Herbert decided to step down from Government at the time ofDavid Cameron's first major reshuffle in September 2012.[17][18][19]
Herbert formed, and co-chaired, the All Party Parliamentary Group on Global TB, and in 2014 launched the Global TB Caucus which he co-chairs with South Africa's Health Minister,Aaron Motsoaledi, initiating the Barcelona Declaration with a speech to the World Lung Conference.[20]
In 2014 he launched GovernUp, a cross-party project which aims to promote government reform.[21] He authoredWhy Vote Conservative 2015? ahead of the general election that year.[22]
Herbert supported the legalisation ofsame-sex marriage, launching the Freedom to Marry campaign in 2012 ahead of the successfulMarriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013.[23] In June 2015, Herbert helped to launch, and became the first chair, of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Global LGBT Rights.[24]
In January 2016, Herbert launched Conservatives for Reform in Europe, a campaign to remain in theEuropean Union, subject to the Prime Minister's renegotiations. He was opposed toBrexit prior to the2016 referendum.[25]
In October 2019, Herbert rejoined theCountryside Alliance, of which he was a founder, as chairman.[26]
In November 2019, Herbert announced his resignation as MP in order to focus on his other campaign roles on rural issues, central governance reform, combatting tuberculosis and securing LGBT rights worldwide.[27]
In the morning of 1 September 2020 he was createdBaron Herbert of South Downs, of Arundel in the County of West Sussex.[28][29] Lord Herbert made his maiden speech on 1 October 2020, a month after entering the Lords.
From January 2021, Herbert was appointed Chair ofCollege of Policing.[30]
In May 2021, he was appointed the UK's Special Envoy on LGBT Rights.[31]
Herbert has enjoyedfox hunting since his childhood, spending 14 years as master of the Newmarket Beagles. Prior to that he was master of the Trinity Foot Beagles and also hunted with the Essex Foxhounds and followed the Cambridgeshire Harriers.[4][32]
Herbert joined his long-term partner, Jason Eades, incivil partnership in early January 2009. They have been in a relationship since 1999.[19]
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forArundel and South Downs 2005–2019 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Shadow Secretary of State for Justice 2007–2009 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 2009–2010 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded byas Minister of State forSecurity, Counterterrorism, Crime and Policing | Minister of State for Policing and Criminal Justice 2010–2012 | Succeeded by |
| Orders of precedence in the United Kingdom | ||
| Preceded by | Gentlemen Baron Herbert of South Downs | Succeeded by |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
