David Trefgarne, 2nd Baron Trefgarne

David Garro Trefgarne, 2nd Baron Trefgarne, PC (born 31 March 1941), is a British Conservative politician. He is currently the longest serving member of the House of Lords.

The Lord Trefgarne
Official portrait, 2020
Minister of State for Trade
In office
25 July 1989  23 July 1990
Prime MinisterMargaret Thatcher
Preceded byAlan Clark
Succeeded byTim Sainsbury
Ministerial offices
1979–1989
Minister of State for Defence Procurement
In office
21 May 1986  24 July 1989
Prime MinisterMargaret Thatcher
Preceded byNorman Lamont
Succeeded byAlan Clark
Minister of State for Defence Support
In office
2 September 1985  21 May 1986
Prime MinisterMargaret Thatcher
Preceded byoffice created
Succeeded byoffice abolished
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Armed Forces
In office
14 June 1983  1 September 1985
Prime MinisterMargaret Thatcher
Preceded byJerry Wiggin
Succeeded byRoger Freeman
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Security
In office
6 April 1982  14 June 1983
Prime MinisterMargaret Thatcher
Preceded byThe Lord Elton
Succeeded byJohn Patten
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
In office
14 September 1981  6 April 1982
Prime MinisterMargaret Thatcher
Preceded byRichard Luce
Succeeded byMalcolm Rifkind
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Trade
In office
5 January 1981  15 September 1981
Prime MinisterMargaret Thatcher
Preceded byNorman Tebbit
Succeeded byIain Sproat
Lord-in-waiting
Government Whip
In office
9 May 1979  5 January 1981
Prime MinisterMargaret Thatcher
Preceded byThe Lord Wallace of Coslany
Succeeded byThe Lord Skelmersdale
Member of the House of Lords
as a hereditary peer
3 July 1962  11 November 1999
Preceded byThe 1st Baron Trefgarne
Succeeded bySeat abolished
as an elected hereditary peer
11 November 1999
Election1999
Preceded bySeat established
Personal details
Born (1941-03-31) 31 March 1941
Political partyConservative

Biography

The son of George Trefgarne, 1st Baron Trefgarne, Trefgarne succeeded his father as 2nd Baron Trefgarne in 1960 at the age of 19, having attended Haileybury and Imperial Service College. He took his seat in the House of Lords on his 21st birthday in 1962. In contrast to his father, who was a Liberal and later Labour politician, he chose to sit on the Conservative benches.

Trefgarne was an opposition Whip from 1977 to 1979 and then served in the Conservative administration of Margaret Thatcher as a Government Whip from 1979 to 1981 and as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department of Trade in 1981, at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office from 1981 to 1982, at the Department of Health and Social Security from 1982 to 1983 and at the Ministry of Defence from 1983 to 1985. The latter year he was promoted to Minister of State for Defence Support, a post he held until 1986, and then served as Minister of State for Defence Procurement from 1986 to 1989 and as a Minister of State at the Department of Trade and Industry from 1989 to 1990. In 1989 he was admitted to the Privy Council.

He was president of the Institution of Incorporated Engineers when they merged with the Institution of Electrical Engineers in 2006.

Lord Trefgarne is still a member of the House of Lords as one of the ninety hereditary peers elected by their colleagues to remain after the passing of the House of Lords Act of 1999. According to the Electoral Reform Society, he has since blocked further reform of the Lords, tabling 'wrecking' amendments to a draft Bill to abolish by-elections for hereditary peers, proposed by Lord Grocott in 2018.[1]

He became the longest-serving member of the House of Lords on 26 April 2021 after the retirement of Lord Denham.[2]

In 2011, Trefgarne was widely criticised for visiting the newly-appointed Libyan Minister of Foreign Affairs in the midst of the 2011 Libyan Civil War. Trefgarne claimed that the visit was personal in nature, and did not relate to suggested developments relating to the Russian Federation becoming an active agent of pressure on Muhammad Qadaffi to leave office.

Arms

Coat of arms of David Trefgarne, 2nd Baron Trefgarne
Crest
On a mount Vert a tree Proper suspended therefrom an escutcheon Or charged with a portcullis Gules.
Escutcheon
Or a dragon rampant Gules over all on a bend Azure a leek of the first between two thistles Proper.
Supporters
On either side a Herefordshire bull charged on the shoulder with an escutcheon Or thereon a portcullis Azure.
Motto
Ratione Et Concillio[3]

References

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