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The Lord Amery of Lustleigh | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Julian Amery, 1965 | |
| Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs | |
| In office 5 November 1972 – 4 March 1974 | |
| Prime Minister | Edward Heath |
| Sec. of State | Sir Alec Douglas-Home |
| Preceded by | Joseph Godber |
| Succeeded by | David Ennals Roy Hattersley |
| Minister for Housing and Construction | |
| In office 15 October 1970 – 5 November 1972 | |
| Prime Minister | Edward Heath |
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Succeeded by | Paul Channon |
| Minister of Public Buildings and Works | |
| In office 23 June 1970 – 14 October 1970 | |
| Preceded by | John Silkin |
| Succeeded by | Office abolished |
| Member of Parliament forPreston North | |
| In office 23 February 1950 – 10 March 1966 | |
| Preceded by | Constituency created |
| Succeeded by | Ronald Atkins |
| Member of Parliament forBrighton Pavilion | |
| In office 27 March 1969 – 16 March 1992 | |
| Preceded by | Sir William Teeling |
| Succeeded by | Derek Spencer |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Harold Julian Amery (1919-03-27)27 March 1919 London, England |
| Died | 3 September 1996(1996-09-03) (aged 77) London, England |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 4 |
| Alma mater | Balliol College, Oxford |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | United Kingdom |
| Branch/service | British Army |
| Rank | Captain |
| Battles/wars | Second World War |
Harold Julian Amery, Baron Amery of Lustleigh,PC (27 March 1919 – 3 September 1996) was aBritish Conservative Party politician, who served as aMember of Parliament (MP) for 39 of the 42 years between 1950 and 1992. He was appointed to thePrivy Council in 1960.
Amery was created a life peer upon his retirement from theHouse of Commons in 1992. For three decades, he was a leading figure in theConservative Monday Club. He was the son-in-law of Conservative prime ministerHarold Macmillan. In 1945, his brotherJohn was hanged forhigh treason during theSecond World War.[1]
Amery was born inChelsea, London, on 27 March 1919.[2] His father wasLeo Amery, a British statesman and Conservative politician. He was educated atEaton House,[3]Summer Fields School,Eton College andBalliol College, Oxford. While an undergraduate, he had a brief romance with the future novelistBarbara Pym, who was six years his senior.[4][5]
Before theSecond World War started, Amery was a war correspondent in theSpanish Civil War and later an attaché for the BritishForeign Office in Belgrade. After the war began he joined the RAF as a sergeant in 1940, then was commissioned and transferred to theBritish Army on theGeneral List in 1941, reaching the rank ofcaptain.
He spent 1941–42 in the eastern Mediterranean (the Middle East,Malta,Yugoslavia) and served as liaison officer to theAlbanian Resistance Movement in 1943–44 ("The Musketeers": Captain Julian Amery, MajorDavid Smiley and Lieutenant-ColonelNeil McLean). The following year, Amery went to China to work with GeneralCarton de Wiart, then Prime Minister's personal representative toGeneralissimoChiang Kai-shek. Amery became a close friend of KingZog of Albania and described him as "the cleverest man I have ever met".[6]
Amery won a parliamentary seat in the first general election held after he returned to civilian life, in 1950. He was elected as Conservative MP forPreston North, going on to hold a number of government offices, all in governments led by his father-in-law, now the Prime Minister. He began with two Under-Secretaryships of State: for War (1957–58) and for the Colonies (1958–60).[2] He was promoted toSecretary of State for Air (1960–62), followed by a promotion to the post ofMinister of Aviation (1962–64). In this role and during this two-year period, Amery was involved in the planning stages of what would become the supersonic passenger service known asConcorde.[2]
Amery lost his Preston North seat in 1966, but was re-elected to the Commons in 1969 representingBrighton Pavilion, a seat he would hold until 1992 when he retired.[2] On 8 July 1992, he was created alife peer as Baron Amery ofLustleigh, ofPreston in the County of Lancashire and ofBrighton in the County of East Sussex.[7]
Under theHeath administration, Amery held three ministerial posts:Minister for Public Building and Works (1970), Minister for Housing and Construction (1970–72) and Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (1972–74).[2]
For 30 years, Amery was an active member and later a patron of theConservative Monday Club, where he became friendly with General SirWalter Walker, subsequently writing the foreword for Walker's anti-Soviet book,The Next Domino.
He was guest of honour at the club's annual dinner at theCutlers' Hall in 1963. In 1965, he wrote the foreword for club activistGeoffrey Stewart-Smith's book,No Vision Here. On May Day 1970, he was one of the club's principal speakers at itsLaw and Liberty rally inTrafalgar Square, held in answer to theStop the Seventy Tour campaign, designed to stop the South African cricket tour.
Amery was the Monday Club's guest of honour at its annual dinner held at theSavoy Hotel, London, in January 1974 and again at the dinner at the end of the club's two-day conference inBirmingham in March 1975.
Amery was in favour of entry to theEuropean Common Market and also of thenuclear deterrent. Both caused some discord between himself and his old friendEnoch Powell but for many, he was seen as anarchetypal Conservative from the "God andEmpire" school.[8] In 1948, Amery opposedGATT, arguing that it limitedimperial preference.[9]
In late 1962 Amery made these comments after Egypt sent troops toYemen to prevent an insurrection:
"The prosperity of our people rests really on the oil in thePersian Gulf, the rubber and tin ofMalaya, and the gold, copper andprecious metals of South- and Central Africa. As long as we have access to these; as long as we can realize the investments we have there; as long as we trade with this part of the world, we shall be prosperous. If thecommunists [or anyone else] were to take them over, we would lose the lot. Governments likeColonel Nasser's inEgypt are just as dangerous."[10]
In 1963, Amery took charge ofQuintin Hogg's campaign for leadership of theConservative Party.[11]
In early 1975, he took part in aHouse of Commons debate on theTrades Unions Congress's invitation toAlexander Shelepin, the former SovietKGB chief, to visit Britain. He stated that "more and more people are beginning to look upon the TUC as a Communist-penetrated show and this invitation must strengthen that view."[citation needed]
According toMargaret Thatcher's 1995 memoir,The Path to Power, whenHarold Wilson's Labour government proposeddevolution forScotland in 1976, "Julian Amery andMaurice Macmillan proved effective leaders of the anti-devolution Tory camp."[citation needed]
Although he was Harold Macmillan's son-in-law, he did not defend him when CountNikolai Tolstoy publishedThe Minister and the Massacres in 1986, focusing the ultimate burden of blame sharply on Macmillan for the 1945 Bleiburg repatriations and the Cossack repatriations. Amery stated that the repatriations were "one of the few blots on Harold that I can think of".[12]
On 26 January 1950, he married Catherine Macmillan (19 November 1926 – 27 May 1991), daughter ofHarold Macmillan. The couple had one son and three daughters.[13]
Amery died from heart failure on 3 September 1996, aged 77, at his home inEaton Square, Westminster, London.[2] He is buried with his wife (who predeceased him) at theChurch of St John the Baptist inLustleigh, Devon, along with his fatherLeo Amery.[citation needed]
Excerpt: David Stirling was a close friend of Julian Amery's and together they were determined to find a way to stop Nasser... Stirling and Amery had dinner with the foreign secretary, Alec Douglas Hume, at the White's Club in St. James's. They proposed a plan: a group of SAS men would mount an operation to fight the Egyptians, but they would do it privately
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| New constituency | Member of Parliament forPreston North 1950 –1966 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forBrighton Pavilion 1969 –1992 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies 1958–1960 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Secretary of State for Air 1960–1962 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of Aviation 1962–1964 | Succeeded by |
