Roger Bootle-Wilbraham, 7th Baron Skelmersdale

Roger Bootle-Wilbraham, 7th Baron Skelmersdale (2 April 1945 – 31 October 2018), was a British politician and Conservative member of the House of Lords.

The Right Honourable The Lord Skelmersdale
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
In office 26 July 1989 – 28 November 1990
Prime Minister	Margaret Thatcher
Preceded by	The Lord Lyell
Succeeded by	Jeremy Hanley
Junior ministerial offices 1981–1989 Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Social Security In office 25 July 1988 – 26 July 1989 Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher Preceded by Office established Succeeded by The Lord Henley Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Security In office 13 June 1987 – 25 July 1988 Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher Preceded by Michael Portillo Succeeded by Edwina Currie Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment In office 10 September 1986 – 13 June 1987 Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher Preceded by Angela Rumbold Succeeded by Christopher Chope Lord-in-waiting Government Whip In office 9 January 1981 – 10 September 1986 Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher Preceded by The Lord Trefgarne Succeeded by The Lord Hesketh
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
as a hereditary peer 8 July 1974 – 11 November 1999
Preceded by	The 6th Baron Skelmersdale
Succeeded by	Seat abolished
as an elected hereditary peer 11 November 1999 – 31 October 2018
Election	1999
Preceded by	Seat established
Succeeded by	The 15th Lord Reay
Personal details
Born	(1945-04-02)2 April 1945
Died	31 October 2018(2018-10-31) (aged 73)
Political party	Conservative
Alma mater	Eton College

He was educated at Eton College and Lord Wandsworth College.[1]

From 1972, Lord Skelmersdale and his wife Christine owned and operated Broadleigh Gardens,[2] a horticultural centre at Barr House, Bishops Hull, Taunton, Somerset.[3]

Lord Skelmersdale succeeded to the peerage in 1973 on the death of his father Lionel Bootle-Wilbraham, 6th Baron Skelmersdale.[1] He was made a House of Lords whip in Margaret Thatcher's government in 1981, holding that position until 1986. He then moved to the Department of Environment as a Parliamentary Under Secretary of State and then to the Department of Health and Social Security in 1987 before that department was split in 1988.

Lord Skelmersdale continued at the Department of Social Security until 1989 when he was assigned to the Northern Ireland Office, serving until the end of Thatcher's premiership in November 1990. He was not reappointed by John Major.[1]

With the passage of the House of Lords Act 1999, Lord Skelmersdale, along with almost all other hereditary peers, lost his automatic right to sit in the House of Lords. He was however elected as one of the ninety-two elected hereditary peers to remain in the House of Lords pending completion of House of Lords reform.

Lord Skelmersdale was, as of 2006, a Conservative Shadow Minister for the Department for Work and Pensions as a member of David Cameron's front bench team, however, he did not become a minister in the coalition Cameron ministry starting in 2010.[4]

He served as a Deputy Chairman of Committees from 1991[5] to 2003 (and Deputy Speaker from 1995), and again from 2010[6] to 2014.

Lord Skelmersdale was a bridge player and a member of the all-party parliamentary bridge group.

Lord Skelmersdale died on 31 October 2018 at the age of 73.[7]