Alan Gordon Barraclough Haselhurst, Baron Haselhurst,PC (born 23 June 1937), is a former BritishConservative Party politician who served asMember of Parliament (MP) forSaffron Walden from 1977 to 2017, having previously representedMiddleton and Prestwich from 1970 to February 1974.^[1][2] Haselhurst wasChairman of Ways and Means from 14 May 1997 to 8 June 2010,^[3] and laterChairman of theCommonwealth Parliamentary Association between 2011 and 2014.

The Right Honourable The Lord Haselhurst PC
Official portrait, 2022
Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal
In office 3 July 2018 – 20 December 2024
Chairman of theCommonwealth Parliamentary Association
In office 27 July 2011 – October 2014
Deputy	Nafisa Shah
Preceded by	Shafie Apdal
Succeeded by	Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury
Chairman of the Administration Committee
In office 27 July 2010 – 30 March 2015
Preceded by	Frank Doran
Succeeded by	Sir Paul Beresford
Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons Chairman of Ways and Means
In office 14 May 1997 – 8 June 2010
Speaker	Betty Boothroyd Michael Martin John Bercow
First Deputy	Michael Martin Sylvia Heal Nigel Evans
Second Deputy	Michael Lord Dawn Primarolo
Preceded by	Michael Morris
Succeeded by	Lindsay Hoyle
Member of Parliament forSaffron Walden
In office 8 July 1977 – 3 May 2017
Preceded by	Sir Peter Kirk
Succeeded by	Kemi Badenoch
Member of Parliament forMiddleton and Prestwich
In office 18 June 1970 – 8 February 1974
Preceded by	Denis Coe
Succeeded by	Jim Callaghan
Personal details
Born	(1937-06-23)23 June 1937 (age 87) South Elmsall,West Riding of Yorkshire, England
Political party	Conservative
Spouse	Angela Bailey ​ (m. 1977)​
Children	2 sons, 1 daughter
Alma mater	Oriel College, Oxford
Occupation	Politician
Website	www.siralanhaselhurst.net

The oldest Conservative Member of Parliament to stand down at the2017 general election,^[4] being succeeded as MP for Saffron Walden byKemi Badenoch, he was created aLife Peer on 22 June 2018,^[5] taking hisseat in theHouse of Lords asBaron Haselhurst.^[6]

Haselhurst was born atSouth Elmsall, nearHemsworth,Yorkshire, and educated atKing Edward's School, Birmingham, thenCheltenham College inGloucestershire, before going up toOriel College, Oxford.

Elected President of theOxford University Conservative Association in 1958, for two years,^[7] he also served as Secretary and Treasurer of theOxford Union from 1959. Before his election toparliament, Haselhurst worked in management in thechemicals industry and became an unremunerated director when his father's pharmacy was incorporated.

Haselhurst was theelection agent toRobin [Lord] Balniel, Conservative MP forHertford, at both the1964 and1966 general elections. Haselhurst was elected Chairman of theNational Young Conservatives in 1964, serving for two years, later becoming Chairman of the Commonwealth Youth Exchange Council (1978–81).^[8]

Haselhurst was elected to theHouse of Commons at the1970 general election for theLancashire seat ofMiddleton and Prestwich, defeating the sittingLabour MPDenis Coe by 1,042 votes. In parliament, he briefly served from 1973 asParliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to theHome SecretaryRobert Carr, before losing hisseat inFebruary 1974. Haselhurst lost the seat to Labour by only 517 votes; he then served as the Chairman of theManchesterYouth and Community Service^[9] from 1974 until 1977 upon re-entering theCommons; the Conservative MP for theEssexseat ofSaffron Walden,Sir Peter Kirk, died on 17 April 1977. Selected to contest the resultingby-election on 7 July, Haselhurst retained the seat for the Conservatives with an increased majority of 12,437, and was returned to Parliament as its MP at every subsequent election until his retirement in 2017.

Following the Conservatives' return to power at the1979 general election, Haselhurst was appointed as PPS to theSecretary of State for Education and ScienceMark Carlisle serving for two years from 1979. He served on theEuropean Legislation Select Committee for fifteen years from 1982, and was a member of theTransport Select Committee from 1992 to 1997. He was given the privilege of asking the first question inMargaret Thatcher's finalPrime Minister's Questions on 27 November 1990.^[10]

Following the1997 general election, Haselhurst was electedChairman of Ways and Means (Deputy Speaker), remaining in post under successive SpeakersBetty Boothroyd,Michael Martin, andJohn Bercow until May 2010. Haselhurst was a nominated candidate tosucceed Michael Martin after Martin's resignation as Commons Speaker on 19 May 2009. However, Haselhurst was among those who became embroiled in theMPs' expenses controversy being highlighted byThe Daily Telegraph for claiming £12,000 in gardening expenses over four years, in the sum of £249 every month,^[11] despite naïvely taking advice from the Fees Office to simplify the submission of his expenses in this way;^[12] he made endeavours to wipe the slate clean by refunding these gardening expenses "out of respect to his constituents",^[13] withdrawing from theCommons Speakership election having received 66 votes in the first round of voting, and 57 in the second.^[14]

Haselhurst chose not to seek re-election as a Commons Deputy Speaker after the2010 general election, since, by convention, the Chairman of Ways and Means should come from a different party affiliation than that of theSpeaker, he would only have been eligible to stand for First Deputy Chairman, junior to his previous office. Nevertheless, his fellow parliamentarians entrusted him to continue asInterim Deputy Speaker chairing debates in the House of Commons during the period between theState Opening of Parliament and its election of newDeputy Speakers. On 27 July 2010, Haselhurst was elected Chairman of the House of CommonsAdministration Committee,^[15][16] having been defeated in the election for Chairman of theBackbench Business Committee byNatascha Engel.^[17]

In July 2010, Haselhurst becameChairman of theUKCommonwealth Parliamentary Association then, in the following year at theCommonwealth Parliamentary Conference at London in July 2011, being elected Chairman of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association'sExecutive Committee,^[18] serving until October 2014, and overseeing parliamentary procedure throughout theCommonwealth. He succeeded the MalaysianDatuk Seri HajiShafie Apdal; the previous British parliamentarian elected to this post had beenSir Colin Shepherd in 1996.^[19]

Reselected as the Conservative Party candidate for the next election at a meeting of the local party association on 13 February 2014, Haselhurst was again returned to Parliament at the2015 general election.^[20]

A staunch opponent ofBrexit at the2016 referendum,^[21] in April 2017, Haselhurst announced that he would not be contesting the2017 general election, having initially indicated his intention to stand. About his change of mind he commented: "I feel now that my initial instinctive response was premature... I have begun to recognize that it might test the friendship and goodwill of so many people whose support I have enjoyed if I sought to do so for a further five years!"^[22]

A supporter of community-based projects he was for a time aDirector ofTurning Point, a charity working withsocially-excludedyoung people. Aeurophile and ally ofKenneth Clarke, Lord Haselhurst has for a long time been regarded as aone-nation Conservative.

Nominated for elevation to thepeerage on 18 May 2018,^[23] he was created byLetters Patent on 22 June,Baron Haselhurst,of Saffron Walden in the County of Essex,^[24] before beingintroduced to the Upper House to sit on the Conservative benches.

Lord Haselhurst retired from active politics in theHouse of Lords on 20 December 2024.^[2]

•  UK Baron (2018)
•  Knight Bachelor (1995)

Married to Angela Margaret Bailey on 16 April 1977, Lord and Lady Haselhurst live in Essex, having two sons and a daughter.^[25]

Knighted in 1995,^[26] Haselhurst was sworn of thePrivy Council in 1999.^[27]

Having served as Secretary to theAll-Party Parliamentary Group onCricket and as a Council Member ofEssex County Cricket Club from 1996 to 2008, Lord Haselhurst is also a member ofMarylebone Cricket Club and well known for his writings about theOutcasts Cricket Club.^[28]

• Occasionally Cricket: The Unpredictable Performances of the Outcasts CC by Alan Haselhurst, 1999, Queen Anne PressISBN 1-85291-622-2
• Eventually Cricket by Alan Haselhurst, 2001, Queen Anne PressISBN 1-85291-637-0
• Incidentally Cricket by Alan Haselhurst, 2003, Queen Anne PressISBN 1-85291-655-9
• Accidentally Cricket by Alan Haselhurst, 2009, The Professional & Higher PartnershipISBN 978-1-907076-00-8
• Unusually Cricket by Alan Haselhurst, 2010, The Professional & Higher PartnershipISBN 978-1-907076-01-5
• Fatally Cricket by Alan Haselhurst, 2013, The Professional & Higher PartnershipISBN 978-1-907076-75-6
• Politically Cricket by Alan Haselhurst, 2016, The Professional & Higher PartnershipISBN 978-1-907076-90-9.

• "The Lord Haselhurst".Official site. Alex Fuller. Archived fromthe original on 13 June 2018. Retrieved2 March 2020.
• "The Rt Hon Sir Alan Haselhurst, MP".Debrett's People of Today.Debrett's. Archived fromthe original on 9 July 2011. Retrieved2 March 2020.
• Profile atParliament of the United Kingdom
• Contributions in Parliament atHansard
• Contributions in Parliament atHansard 1803–2005
• Voting record atPublic Whip
• Record in Parliament atTheyWorkForYou
• "Sir Alan Haselhurst – Member of Parliament for Saffron Walden". Conservative Party. Archived fromthe original on 17 August 2011. Retrieved2 March 2020.
• "Rt Hon. Sir Alan Haselhurst, MP". Commonwealth Parliamentary Association. Archived fromthe original on 4 January 2012. Retrieved2 March 2020.