The Lord Soames of Fletching | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2017 | |
| Shadow Secretary of State for Defence | |
| In office 6 November 2003 – 10 May 2005 | |
| Leader | Michael Howard |
| Preceded by | Bernard Jenkin |
| Succeeded by | The Marquess of Lothian |
| Minister of State for the Armed Forces | |
| In office 20 July 1994 – 2 May 1997 | |
| Prime Minister | John Major |
| Preceded by | Jeremy Hanley |
| Succeeded by | John Reid |
| Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food | |
| In office 14 April 1992 – 20 July 1994 | |
| Prime Minister | John Major |
| Preceded by | David Maclean |
| Succeeded by | Angela Browning |
| Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal | |
| Assumed office 28 October 2022 Life peerage | |
| Member of Parliament | |
| In office 9 June 1983 – 6 November 2019 | |
| Preceded by | Peter Hordern |
| Succeeded by | Mims Davies |
| Constituency | Crawley (1983–1997) Mid Sussex (1997–2019) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Arthur Nicholas Winston Soames (1948-02-12)12 February 1948 (age 77) |
| Political party | Conservative[a] |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 3 |
| Parent(s) | Christopher Soames Mary Churchill |
| Relatives | Winston Churchill (grandfather) Emma Soames (sister) Rupert Soames (brother) |
| Education | Eton College |
| Alma mater | Mons Officer Cadet School |
| Website | Official website |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | United Kingdom |
| Branch/service | British Army |
| Years of service | 1967–1975 |
| Rank | Second lieutenant |
| Unit | 11th Hussars Royal Hussars |
| |
Arthur Nicholas Winston Soames, Baron Soames of Fletching,PC (born 12 February 1948) is a BritishConservative Party politician who served as theMember of Parliament (MP) forMid Sussex from1997 to2019, having previously served as the MP forCrawley from1983 to 1997.
Soames wasMinister of State for the Armed Forces from 1994 to 1997 in the government ofJohn Major. He had thewhip removed on 3 September 2019, for voting against the government, before it was restored on 29 October. His main political interests aredefence,international relations,rural affairs andindustry. He is a grandson of former prime ministerWinston Churchill.
Soames was born in 1948 inCroydon,Surrey, the eldest son of SirChristopher Soames and DameMary (née Spencer-Churchill) Soames. He is a grandson of the former BritishPrime MinisterWinston Churchill, and a grandnephew ofLady Baden-Powell, World Chief Guide, the wife of the founder of theScout movement,Lord Baden-Powell. IndustrialistRupert Soames is Soames's brother, and journalistEmma Soames is a sister.
Simon Hoggart, writing inThe Guardian, related an anecdote of Soames' childhood: "He gave me the true version of what I had always suspected was an apocryphal story. In or around 1953, when Soames was five, he didn't know how important his grandfather was until someone told him. So he walked up to the old man's bedroom, managed to get past the valets and the secretaries, and found him sitting up in bed.'Is it true, grandpapa, that you are the greatest man in the world?' he asked.'Yes, I am,' said Churchill. 'Now bugger off.'"[1]
After attendingSt. Aubyns Preparatory School in Sussex, Soames received hissecondary education atEton College. Later he studied atMons Officer Cadet School before being commissioned into the11th Hussars on 5 August 1967 on a Short Service Commission before serving inWest Germany and Britain with the 11th Hussars and later theRoyal Hussars.[2] Soames was transferred toRegular Army Reserve of Officers on 9 March 1970 before resigning his commission on 5 August 1975.[3][4]
In 1970, he was appointedequerry toCharles, Prince of Wales (now Charles III); he has remained a close friend of the King ever since,[5] and publicly criticisedDiana, Princess of Wales, during the couple's estrangement. When Diana first accused the Prince of Wales ofadultery withCamilla Parker Bowles, Soames told theBBC that the accusation, and Diana's fear of being slandered by her husband's courtiers, stemmed merely from Diana's mental illness, and "the advanced stages ofparanoia".[6] Charles later admitted his adultery and Soames apologised.
In 1972, he left Kensington Palace and the army to work as astockbroker. In 1974, he became a personal assistant; first toSir James Goldsmith and then in 1976 toUnited States SenatorMark Hatfield, whose employ he left in 1978 to become adirector of Bland Welch,Lloyd's Brokers. Between 1979 and 1981, he was an assistant director of the Sedgwick Group.[citation needed] He foughtCentral Dunbartonshire in Scotland in1979, whereLabour'sHugh McCartney defeated him by 12,003 votes.
Soames was elected as the MP forCrawley at the1983 general election. He sat for Crawley until the1997 general election (whenLabour defeated the Conservatives in Crawley). In the 1997 election, he retained the constituency ofMid Sussex for the Conservatives afterTim Renton stood down at the election, and Soames remained the seat's MP from then until Parliament was dissolved in November 2019.
He served as aParliamentary secretary at theMinistry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food between 1992 and 1994, asMinister of State for the Armed Forces at theMinistry of Defence under Prime MinisterJohn Major between 1994 and 1997, and later as theShadowSecretary of State for Defence from 2003 to 2005.
In 2002 he was appointed to the parliamentary committee considering the futureHunting Act 2004 that banned hunting with dogs, a policy which he opposed.[7][8]
On 9 May 2005, shortly afterMichael Howard announced his intention to resign as leader of the Conservative Party, Soames resigned from the shadow cabinet.[citation needed]
WithFrank Field he is a co-chairman of the Cross-Party Group on Balanced Migration,[9] and has advocated in parliament[10] and in the media that immigration to and emigration from the UK should be brought into balance.[11] In parliament he has also spoken in favour of the introduction of a nationalidentity card scheme[12] and advocated them in the national media.[13]
Soames was opposed toBrexit prior to the2016 EU membership referendum.[14] In an interview before the referendum he described himself as aOne Nation Tory on the soft right of the party, and compared Brexiteers to 'a growling Alsatian that must be kicked really hard in the balls'.[15]
In April 2019, Soames condemned the United States forrecognizing Israel's 1981annexation of theGolan Heights. Soames said it was "a matter of the greatest regret that our allies, the United States, are in clear contravention ofUN Resolution 497", adding that "annexation of territory is prohibited under international law."[16]
Soames endorsedRory Stewart during the2019 Conservative leadership election.[17]
According to the bookWomen in Parliament published in 2005, Soames has been named as the most prolific source of vulgar and sexist comments in the Houses of Parliament, with several female MPs stating that he has made vulgar comments to them. Soames regarded the claims as 'nonsense'.[18]Barbara Follett said in 2007 that Soames was the worst of the sexist MPs in parliament.[19]
On 31 January 2017, Soames made 'woofing' noises atTasmina Ahmed-Sheikh when she was asking the foreign secretary,Boris Johnson, a question in the House of Commons. Ahmed-Sheikh called apoint of order to bring thespeaker's attention to the noises.[20]John Bercow, the speaker, described the noises as "discourteous and that expression should not be used", and Soames was asked to apologise.[21] He did so, saying he was only offering her a "friendly canine salute" in reply to her "snapped" question.[20]
On 3 September 2019, Soames joined 20 other rebel Conservative MPs to vote against the Conservative government ofBoris Johnson and pass a motion allowing backbenchers to take control of the House of Commons timetable in order to pass a bill to stop ano-deal exit from the EU without parliamentary approval. Effectively, they helped block Johnson's Brexit plan from proceeding on 31 October.[22] Subsequently, all 21 were advised that they had lost the Conservative whip,[23] expelling them as Conservative MPs, requiring them to sit as independents.[24][25] If Soames had decided to stand for re-election in a future election, the party would have blocked his selection as a Conservative candidate.[26]
Soames announced that he would not be standing in the2019 general election.[27] On 29 October,Boris Johnson restored the whip for him and 9 other MPs.[28]
After theWorld Central Kitchen aid convoy attack that killed seven aid workers in April 2024, he called for the British government to stop selling weapons to Israel.[29] He also urged the government torecognise Palestine as a sovereign state based on the 1967 borders and described the UK as a "midwife at the birth of Israel".[30]
In one edition ofThe Mark Thomas Comedy Product,Mark Thomas investigated the practice of avoiding inheritance tax by declaring art, furniture, homes and land available for public viewing. After discovering that Soames was claiming tax relief on a "three-tier mahogany buffet with partially reeded slender balustrade upright supports" on this basis, but without making any arrangements for the furniture to be inspected by the public, Thomas invented a 'National Soames Day' on which hundreds of people made appointments to see the furniture.[31][32] In 2015, Thomas toldThe Independent's Adam Jacques: "I try to find the good in my enemies. It's not unusual to be able to get on with people despite what they are doing being awful. The only person I have met who I considered to be without any redeeming features was [...] Nicholas Soames. [...] He was such a pantomime baddie."[32]
Soames was chairman[33][34] of the private security contractorAegis Defence Services which was bought[35] in 2015 byGardaWorld, for whom he now acts as a member of the International Advisory Board. Aegis had a series of contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars to provide guards to protect US military bases in Iraq from 2004 onwards. From 2011, the company broadened its recruitment to take in African countries, having previously employed people from the UK, the US and Nepal.
Contract documents say that the soldiers from Sierra Leone were paid $16 (£11) a day. A documentary,The Child Soldier's New Job, broadcast in Denmark, alleges that the estimated 2,500 Sierra Leonean personnel who were recruited by Aegis and other private security companies to work in Iraq included former child soldiers.[36]
He was a director of the liquidated company Framlington Second Dual Trust plc.[37]
Soames is listed as a director of The Amber Foundation.[38]
He was invited to ride in the King's procession at Royal Ascot 2023.[39]
Soames also has a position as a senior advisor at Francis Maude Associates, a consultancy set up byFrancis Maude.[40]
He was an honorary colonel of the C (Kent and Sharpshooters Yeomanry) SquadronThe Royal Yeomanry until 5 October 2023.[41]
Mid Sussex Conservative Constituency Association has received over £1 million in donations, with Soames receiving well over £100,000 fromprivate military company Aegis Defence Services Ltd from 2010 onwards.[42] US multinational professional services, risk management and insurance brokerage firm Marsh & McLennan Companies Inc has given Soames £518,069 since 2010 in remunerations for his services as an MP.[43] Soames has also received private donations from a variety of people, including £5,749 from Majlis As Shura, £10,000 from David Rowland, and £20,000 from Ann R. Said.[44]
In October 2017, Soames was criticised by Labour MPKate Hoey following a meeting withPresidentRobert Mugabe while visitingZimbabwe.[45] Zimbabwean media reported that the visit was "part of a private initiative of friends of Zimbabwe in the British establishment" to normalise relations between the two countries.[46] Hoey, chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Zimbabwe, said that Soames' visit "pander[ed] to the vanity of a wily and ruthless dictator. [...] You can't have a private visit which is then front page of the newspapers in Zimbabwe."[45] In response, Soames maintained that he had met Mugabe in a personal capacity, rather than as a representative of Her Majesty's Government. He said that his father,Lord Soames, who had overseenSouthern Rhodesia's transition to independence as Zimbabwe, would not have forgiven him if he had not tried to meet the President.[45]
It was announced on 14 October 2022, that as part of the2022 Political Honours, Soames would be appointed a life peer.[47] On 28 October 2022, he was createdBaron Soames of Fletching,of Fletching in the County of East Sussex.[48][49]
Soames has been married twice. On 4 June 1981, he married Catherine Weatherall (b. 1956) (sister ofPercy Weatherall and Isobel,Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne) atSt Margaret's, Westminster.The Prince of Wales served as best man and the wedding was attended byThe Queen Mother,Princess Margaret andLady Diana Spencer.[50] They had one son before divorcing in 1988:
His second marriage was on 21 December 1993 to Serena Smith (a niece ofThe Duchess of Grafton and daughter ofSir John Smith). They have two children:
His brother,Rupert Soames, is the CEO of outsourcing companySerco.
On 15 May 2008, Soames pleaded guilty to riding aquad bike on a public road without motor insurance. Since he had several previous offences on his licence, he was disqualified from driving for two months, fined £200, and ordered to pay a £15victim surcharge and costs of £35 by magistrates.[52]
In 2012, he was disqualified from driving for a fortnight for speeding at 51 mph in a 30 mph residential area. Soames was also fined £666, plus £85 court costs and a £15 victim surcharge.[53] According toThe Argus, a Sussex paper, it was "the third time he has been caught flouting traffic laws in four years".[54]
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On 13 July 2011, Soames was sworn of thePrivy Council.[55] This gave him thehonorific prefix "the Right Honourable" for life. He wasknighted in the2014 Birthday Honours for political service.[56][57]  |
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| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| New constituency | Member of Parliament forCrawley 1983–1997 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forMid Sussex 1997–2019 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Minister of State for the Armed Forces 1994–1997 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Shadow Secretary of State for Defence 2003–2005 | Succeeded by |
| Orders of precedence in the United Kingdom | ||
| Preceded by | Gentlemen Baron Soames of Fletching | Followed by |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
