Geoffrey Rippon

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The Right Honourable
The Lord Rippon of Hexham
PC
Geoffrey Rippon (1970).jpg
Geoffrey Rippon (1970)
Shadow Foreign Secretary
In office
4 March 1974 – 11 February 1975
Leader Edward Heath
Preceded by James Callaghan
Succeeded by Reginald Maudling
Secretary of State for the Environment
In office
5 November 1972 – 4 March 1974
Prime Minister Edward Heath
Preceded by Peter Walker
Succeeded by Anthony Crosland
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
In office
25 July 1970 – 5 November 1972
Prime Minister Edward Heath
Preceded by Anthony Barber
Succeeded by John Davies
Minister of Technology
In office
20 June 1970 – 25 July 1970
Prime Minister Edward Heath
Preceded by Tony Benn
Succeeded by John Davies
Shadow Secretary of State for Defence
In office
1969 – 20 June 1970
Leader Edward Heath
Succeeded by George Thomson
Member of Parliament
for Hexham
In office
31 March 1966 – 11 June 1987
Preceded by Rupert Speir
Succeeded by Alan Amos
Member of Parliament
for Norwich South
In office
26 May 1955 – 15 October 1964
Preceded by Henry Strauss
Succeeded by Christopher Norwood
Personal details
Born (1924-05-28)28 May 1924
Penn, United Kingdom
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Political party Conservative

(Aubrey) Geoffrey Frederick Rippon, Baron Rippon of Hexham, PC (28 May 1924 – 28 January 1997), was a British Conservative politician. He was Chairman of the European-Atlantic Group.

Early life

The son of the Somerset cricketer Sydney Rippon, Geoffrey Rippon was educated at King's College, Taunton, and Brasenose College, Oxford, where he was president of the University Conservative Association. He was called to the Bar in 1948 and was Mayor of Surbiton 1951-52 and a member of the London County Council from 1952.

Parliamentary career

After unsuccessfully contesting the seat of Shoreditch and Finsbury in both 1950 and 1951, he became MP for Norwich South in 1955. In 1964 he was defeated, but moved to the constituency of Hexham in Northumberland at the 1966 general election and remained MP there until retiring in 1987. Among his posts in the Shadow Cabinet was that of Shadow Defence Secretary from 1969 to 1970.

In 1970 he became Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster under Edward Heath, and being in favour of the Common Market was given the responsibility of negotiating Britain's entry into it. In 1972 he moved to become Secretary of State for the Environment. During his tenure the Department of the Environment was housed on Marsham Street in tower blocks of appalling ugliness, nicknamed 'the three ugly sisters'. Rippon is supposed to have commented to his civil servants that the view from the top floor was the best in London, as one could not see the towers themselves.

He was at one time a prominent member of the Conservative Monday Club, for whom he authored a booklet entitled Right Angle, and was guest-of-honour at their Annual Dinner in 1970. The Club was, however, divided on the EEC (European Community) issue, and at their conference in October 1971 members moved and carried a resolution opposing Britain's entry.

From 1979 to 1982, Rippon was President of the European Documentation and Information Centre (CEDI).

House of Lords

He was created a life peer on 5 October 1987 taking the title Baron Rippon of Hexham, of Hesleyside in the County of Northumberland.[1]

References

  • Copping, Robert, The Story of The Monday Club - The First Decade, (Foreword by George Pole), Current Affairs Information Service, Ilford, Essex, April 1972, (P/B).

External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Norwich South
19551964
Succeeded by
Christopher Norwood
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Hexham
19661987
Succeeded by
Alan Amos
Political offices
Preceded by Minister of Technology
1970
Succeeded by
John Davies
Preceded by Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
1970–1972
Succeeded by
John Davies
Preceded by Secretary of State for the Environment
1972–1974
Succeeded by
Anthony Crosland
Preceded by Shadow Foreign Secretary
1974–1975
Succeeded by
Reginald Maudling