Geoffrey Rippon
Encyclopedia
Geoffrey Frederick Rippon, Baron Rippon of Hexham, PC
Privy Council of the United Kingdom
Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, usually known simply as the Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the Sovereign in the United Kingdom...

, (28 May 1924 – 28 January 1997) was a British Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...

 politician. He was Chairman of the European-Atlantic Group
European-Atlantic Group
The European-Atlantic Group was founded in London in 1954 by Michael John Layton, 2nd Baron Layton , together with other members of both Houses of Parliament, Industrialists, Bankers, Economists, and Journalists and Mrs Elma Dangerfield...

.

The son of the Somerset
Somerset County Cricket Club
Somerset County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Somerset...

 cricketer Sydney Rippon
Sydney Rippon
Arthur Ernest Sydney Rippon was an English cricketer who played 102 first-class cricket matches for Somerset as a batsman between 1914 and 1937...

, Geoffrey Rippon was educated at King's College, Taunton, and Brasenose College, Oxford
Brasenose College, Oxford
Brasenose College, originally Brazen Nose College , is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. As of 2006, it has an estimated financial endowment of £98m...

 where he was president of the University Conservative Association
Oxford University Conservative Association
The Oxford University Conservative Association, or OUCA is a student political organisation founded in 1924 whose members are drawn from the University of Oxford...

. He was called to the Bar in 1948 and was Mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....

 of Surbiton
Surbiton
Surbiton, a suburban area of London in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, is situated next to the River Thames, with a mixture of Art-Deco courts, more recent residential blocks and grand, spacious 19th century townhouses blending into a sea of semi-detached 20th century housing estates...

 1951-52 and a member of the London County Council
London County Council
London County Council was the principal local government body for the County of London, throughout its 1889–1965 existence, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today known as Inner London and was replaced by the Greater London Council...

 from 1952. After unsuccessfully contesting the seat of Shoreditch and Finsbury
Shoreditch and Finsbury (UK Parliament constituency)
Shoreditch and Finsbury was a parliamentary constituency centred on the Shoreditch district of the East End of London and the adjacent Finsbury area...

 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
Hexham (UK Parliament constituency)
- Elections in the 2000s :- Elections in the 1990s :- Elections in the 1980s :- Elections in the 1970s :-Notes and references:...

 in Northumberland
Northumberland
Northumberland is the northernmost ceremonial county and a unitary district in North East England. For Eurostat purposes Northumberland is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "Northumberland and Tyne and Wear" NUTS 2 region...

 at the 1966 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1966
The 1966 United Kingdom general election on 31 March 1966 was called by sitting Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson. Wilson's decision to call an election turned on the fact that his government, elected a mere 17 months previously in 1964 had an unworkably small majority of only 4 MPs...

 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
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster is, in modern times, a ministerial office in the government of the United Kingdom that includes as part of its duties, the administration of the estates and rents of the Duchy of Lancaster...

 under Edward Heath
Edward Heath
Sir Edward Richard George "Ted" Heath, KG, MBE, PC was a British Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and as Leader of the Conservative Party ....

, 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
Secretary of State for the Environment
The Secretary of State for the Environment was a UK cabinet position, responsible for the Department of the Environment . This was created by Edward Heath as a combination of the Ministry of Housing and Local Government, the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Public Building and Works on 15...

. During his tenure the Department of the Environment
Secretary of State for the Environment
The Secretary of State for the Environment was a UK cabinet position, responsible for the Department of the Environment . This was created by Edward Heath as a combination of the Ministry of Housing and Local Government, the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Public Building and Works on 15...

 was housed on Marsham Street
Marsham Street
Marsham Street is a street in the City of Westminster in London, England. It is approximately a mile in length and runs south from Great Peter Street, near Victoria Street and Parliament Square. It bisects Horseferry Road and backs on to Smith Square, formerly home to the Conservative Party...

 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
Conservative Monday Club
The Conservative Monday Club is a British pressure group "on the right-wing" of the Conservative Party.-Overview:...

, 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)
European Documentation and Information Centre
The European Documentation and Information Centre was founded in 1952 on the occasion of a first international congress in Santander...

.

He was created a life peer in 1987, as Baron Rippon of Hexham, of Hesleyside in the County of Northumberland
Northumberland
Northumberland is the northernmost ceremonial county and a unitary district in North East England. For Eurostat purposes Northumberland is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "Northumberland and Tyne and Wear" NUTS 2 region...

.

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