The Lord Freeman | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Official portrait, 2019 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 26 June 1995 – 2 May 1997 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Prime Minister | John Major | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | David Hunt | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | David Clark | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | Roger Norman Freeman (1942-05-27)27 May 1942 Wirral, Cheshire, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 2 June 2025(2025-06-02) (aged 83) London, England[citation needed] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Party | Conservative | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alma mater | Balliol College, Oxford | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Roger Norman Freeman, Baron Freeman,PC (27 May 1942 – 2 June 2025) was a British politician. A member of theConservative Party, he served asChancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in theCabinet ofPrime MinisterJohn Major from 1995 to 1997. He was aMember of Parliament (MP) representing the constituency ofKettering from the1983 general election until his defeat in1997. He was made alife peer in 1997.
Freeman was born in theWirral on 25 May 1942,[1] and privately educated atWhitgift School inCroydon.
He then studied atBalliol College, Oxford. When he was at Oxford, he was the President of theOxford University Conservative Association in Hilary Term 1964. Before entering Parliament, he was achartered accountant working for an investment bank.
After an unsuccessful attempt to be elected as MP forDon Valley at the1979 general election, Freeman was elected as MP forKettering in1983. Before joining the Cabinet, he served asParliamentary Under Secretary of State for the Armed Forces (1986–88),Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Health (1988–90), andMinister for Public Transport (1990–1995) ranking asMinister of State.[2] In that post he was responsible for steering through the House of Commons the Railways Bill, providing for theprivatisation of British Rail and enacted as theRailways Act 1993. At the time he achieved a degree of notoriety with his comment on a "cheap and cheerful" rail service being provided for typists.[3][4]
In the1993 Birthday Honours, Freeman was sworn of thePrivy Council.[5]
In 1995, he was brought into the Cabinet byJohn Major asChancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. In this role, he made a ministerial visit toLancaster Royal Grammar School in 1995.
He also inaugurated the process ofprivatisation ofHM Stationery Office (HMSO), though as a former minister forMOD Procurement, one of HMSO's major customers, he could be adjudged to have had aconflict of interest. He therefore misjudged the effect of privatisation on HMSO, which, rather than preserve the business as a whole, and protecting jobs, hastened the already-established process of splitting the business into its various parts, resulting in the destruction of some, and the sale of others to foreign owners. The loss of jobs has been massive. TheNational Audit Office later denounced the whole process as a debacle. It could be argued that he, along with his colleague Lord North in the other place, may have misled the house.[citation needed]
He did his best to make the dying days of the Major government more colourful by appearing on Channel 4's 'bottom up' television programmeThe People's Parliament. Appearing by video link, he was quizzed by the female Scots host on the alleged unapproachability of politicians "in grey suits". Freeman quipped: "Well, I can't just start turning up to work in a jumper!". Freeman's remark though was better-judged than any viewer might have realised at the time. TheMajor government's strategy weekend where Cabinet members arrived wearing jumpers was much lampooned.
Narrowly defeated in the1997 general election, he was shortly afterwards raised to the peerage asBaron Freeman,ofDingley in theCounty of Northamptonshire in the1997 Prime Minister's Resignation Honours.[6] He sat in theHouse of Lords until his retirement on 1 October 2020.[7]
Lord Freeman was the chairman of the charitySkillForce from 2004 to 2016. He was later a Patron ofSkillForce and theIndependent Transport Commission.
His wife, Jennifer Freeman, is a former Secretary of theVictorian Society and is a specialist developer of architecturally historic buildings. He died following a stroke and a protracted illness on 2 June 2025, at the age of 83.[8]
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| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
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| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forKettering 1983–1997 | Succeeded by |
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| Preceded by | Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster 1995–1997 | Succeeded by |
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