George Samuel Knatchbull Young, Baron Young of Cookham,CH, PC (born 16 July 1941), known asSir George Young, 6th Baronet from 1960 to 2015, is a BritishConservative Party politician who served as aMember of Parliament (MP) from1974 to2015, having representedEaling Acton from 1974 to 1997 andNorth West Hampshire from1997. He has served inCabinet on three occasions: asSecretary of State for Transport from 1995 to 1997; as theLeader of the House of Commons andLord Privy Seal from 2010 to 2012;[1] and asConservativeChief Whip from 2012 to 2014.
He stood down from the Commonsat the 2015 election and was created alife peer,[2] asBaron Young of Cookham,ofCookham in the Royal County of Berkshire, on 29 September 2015.[3] He sits on the Conservative benches in theHouse of Lords, where he served as a junior whip from July 2016 to August 2019.[4] Youngresigned from 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 May andBoris Johnson).
Young was born on 16 July 1941 inOxford into a prominent English family, the elder son ofSir George Peregrine "Gerry" Young, 5th BaronetCMG and 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 Young and 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.[5][6]
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.[7] Upon his father's death in 1960, George succeeded to thebaronetcy created in 1813.[5] Young is a great-great-grandson ofFrederick Lygon, 6th Earl Beauchamp.
Young was educated atSt. Aubyns Preparatory School in 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 Association and 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 Office from 1966 to 1967.[8] He then spent two years as KoblerResearch Fellow at theUniversity of Surrey, where he completed anMPhil.[8] From 1969 to 1974, Young was an economic advisor to the Post Office Corporation.[9]
Young was elected as a councillor in theLondon Borough of Lambeth from 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.[10] 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.[11] 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 theActon constituency.[12][13] He was later one of the local government ministers who abolished the GLC in 1986.
Young was elected to parliament at theFebruary 1974 general election as MP forActon with a majority of 1,300, defeating the sittingLabour Party MP,Nigel Spearing (who was returned to Parliament a few weeks later after winning aby-election inNewham South). Young was re-elected as MP for Acton at theOctober 1974 general election with a majority of 808. He continued to represent Acton (renamedEaling Acton in 1983) for the next 23 years, until the seat was abolished inboundary changes. He was selected for the safe Conservative seat ofNorth West Hampshire prior to the1997 general election to replace the retiring MPSir David Mitchell (the father ofAndrew Mitchell whom 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.[14]
From 1976 to 1979 Young served as an oppositionwhip.[15][16] When the Conservative Party won the1979 general election, he was appointedParliamentary under-secretary of state at theDepartment of Health and Social Security.[17] 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.[18] Shortly before leaving office in 1990, Prime MinisterMargaret Thatcher brought Young back into government as a whip (Comptroller of the Household) as part of her attempts to reunite the party.
WhenJohn Major became prime minister in November 1990, he gave Young the role of Minister for Housing and Planning. Shortly after, during an interview forBBC Radio 4'sToday programme in June 1991, Young described the homeless as "the people you step over when you come out of the opera".[19][20] In 1992 when asked during parliamentary discussions of theArmley Asbestos Disaster for 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 Treasury from 1994 to 1995, and in Cabinet asSecretary of State for Transport from 1995 to 1997. He was appointed aprivy counsellor in 1993. Following the Conservative Party's defeat in 1997, Young was appointedShadow Defence Secretary by 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 Commission from 1998 to 2000.
Young resigned from theShadow cabinet in 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 bench team 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.[21]
From 2000 to 2009, Young remained on the backbenches. He was elected chairman of the House of CommonsCommittee on Standards and Privileges in 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.[22] 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.[23][24]
On 8 September 2009, Conservative party leaderDavid Cameron appointed Young to the front bench again, taking up his former role of Shadow Leader of the House of Commons, replacingAlan Duncan who had held the post since January 2009. He becameLeader of the House of Commons andLord Privy Seal on 12 May 2010 after the Conservative Party formed a coalition government with theLiberal Democrats following 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.[25][26] However, his return to the backbenches was short-lived, as followingAndrew Mitchell's resignation asChief Whip the following month, Cameron chose Young to replace him.[27]
Young is Patron of theTory Reform Group and theAll-Party Parliamentary Group on Cycling.[28][29]
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.[30]
On 29 November 2013 Young announced he would stand down as an MP at the2015 general election.[31] He again retired from the cabinet at the2014 reshuffle, replaced as Chief Whip byMichael Gove.[32] Gove described Young as 'distinguished' and 'honourable'.[32]
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."[33] 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."[34] 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."[35]
In February 1975 Young was appointed to the newly formedselect committee on 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."[36] The committee issued an interim report in September 1975 and was instrumental in setting up several government research reports into domestic violence.[37] In 1976 he sponsored the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Bill which allowed victims of rape to remain anonymous.[38]
In 1982 Young and his children appeared on aBritish Rail poster alongsideJimmy Savile to promote new measures to allow people to take their bicycles on trains more easily.[20] 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".
Young was created alife peer asBaron Young of Cookham, ofCookham in theCounty ofBerkshire, on 29 September 2015. He sits on theConservative benches of theHouse of Lords.
In July 2016, he was appointed asLord in Waiting (i.e. government whip).[39] In September 2016, he was named to serve as Treasury spokesman in the House of Lords.[40] On 29 August 2019, Youngresigned as a whip in the House of Lords in protest at Prime MinisterBoris Johnson's decision tosuspend parliament.[41]
Young succeeded as 6th baronet in 1960 and married Aurelia Nemon-Stuart, daughter of the sculptorOscar Nemon, at Oxford in 1964.[42] 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 apparent to the familybaronetcy.[5] The family grew up inCookham, attending Holy Trinity Primary School in Cookham andFurze Platt secondary school in Maidenhead.[43]
Lord Young supports the west London football clubQueens Park Rangers (QPR)[44] and has served as achurchwarden and a member of adiocesan synod in theChurch of England.[45]
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| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forActon 1974–1983 | Constituency abolished |
| New constituency | Member of Parliament forEaling Acton 1983–1997 | |
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forNorth West Hampshire 1997–2015 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Comptroller of the Household 1990 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Financial Secretary to the Treasury 1994–1995 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Secretary of State for Transport 1995–1997 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Shadow Secretary of State for Transport 1997 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Shadow Secretary of State for Defence 1997–1998 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Shadow Leader of the House of Commons 1998–2000 | Succeeded by |
| Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster 1998–2000 | ||
| Preceded by | Shadow Leader of the House of Commons 2009–2010 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Leader of the House of Commons 2010–2012 | Succeeded by |
| Lord Privy Seal 2010–2012 | ||
| Preceded by | Chief Whip of theHouse of Commons 2012–2014 | Succeeded by |
| Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury 2012–2014 | ||
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Conservative Chief Whip of theHouse of Commons 2012–2014 | Succeeded by |
| Baronetage of the United Kingdom | ||
| Preceded by Gerry Young | Baronet (of Formosa Place) 1960–present | Incumbent |
| Orders of precedence in the United Kingdom | ||
| Preceded by | Gentlemen Baron Young of Cookham | Followed by |
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| Cabinet Members |
| _(St_Edwards_Crown).svg) |
|---|---|---|
| Also attended meetings | ||
| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
