Choosing a parallel career in politics, Howe stood as the Conservative Party candidate in Aberavon at the 1955 and 1959 general elections, losing in a very safe Labour Party seat. The report argued that the unions had become too powerful and that their legal privileges ought to be curtailed. Standing on the touchline was a young Eddie Howe, taking charge of his third match as Bournemouth manager, and his first since his permanent appointment. In the Lords, Howe continued to speak on a wide range of foreign-policy and European issues, and led opposition to the Labour government's plans from 1997 to convert the second chamber into a largely elected body[39][b] – a position reiterated in the face of Coalition proposals in 2012. [29], Howe then had to give up the Foreign Secretary's country residence Chevening. [18] However, by the time of his last budget shortly before a general election there were early signs of a recovery, which Howe used to justify a cut in taxes. Howe was Margaret Thatcher's longest-serving Cabinet minister, successively holding the posts of Chancellor of the Exchequer, Foreign Secretary, and finally Leader of the House of Commons, Deputy Prime Minister and Lord President of the Council. He masterminded the development of new economic policies embodied in an Opposition mini-manifesto The Right Approach to the Economy through dogged patience and quiet determination. [8] He sat as deputy chairman of Glamorgan quarter sessions. The report had a wide impact on mental health provision in the UK, beginning a process that led to the widespread closure of large mental hospitals. The shift from direct to indirect taxation, the development of a medium-term financial strategy, the abolition of exchange controls and the creation of tax-free enterprise zones were among the most important decisions of his Chancellorship. More politically significant was work on the Latey Committee tasked with recommending a reduction in the voting age. Howe subsequently stated that the "last thing that people want to see here are clones of the clowns in the Commons", and served on the joint committee on the proposed legislation in 2002–03. He did a six-month course in maths and physics. For example, Cookies that enable you to log into secure areas of our site or use a shopping cart. PSG vs Manchester United, Champions League: What time is kick-off, what TV channel is it on and what is our prediction? ©2020 The Athletic Media Company. [27][page needed], In the following month of July 1989, the then little-known John Major was unexpectedly appointed to replace Howe as Foreign Secretary, and the latter became Leader of the House of Commons, Lord President of the Council and Deputy Prime Minister. But at the Rome Summit in October 1990, Thatcher was said to have exclaimed, in a fit of pique, "no, no, no" to the Delors Plan, and repeated the government's policy at Paris summit on 18–20 November. These Cookies allow us to understand how visitors use our site. Howe had told Brian Walden (a former Labour MP) on ITV's Weekend World, that the "government did not oppose the principle of a single currency", which was factually inaccurate. Richard Edward Geoffrey Howe, Baron Howe of Aberavon, CH, Kt, PC, QC (20 December 1926 – 9 October 2015), known from 1970 to 1992 as Sir Geoffrey Howe, was a British Conservative politician. [38] He published his memoirs Conflict of Loyalty (Macmillan, 1994) soon after. Howe returned to the bar. [21] The trip opened the way to further discussions with Mikhail Gorbachev, with whom he believed Thatcher shared "extraordinary chemistry. Lord Howe was a patron of the UK Metric Association and the Conservative Foreign and Commonwealth Council. (Simon & Schuster, London 2009), p. 148, 1975 Conservative Party leadership election, Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Services, Minister of State for Trade and Consumer Affairs, Cambridge University Conservative Association, Conservative Foreign and Commonwealth Council, Companion of the Order of the Companions of Honour, "Devolution (Time) Bill [HL] — Second Reading", "Geoffrey Howe: One of the architects of the Thatcher revolution who became one of the primary factors in her downfall", "Why the Ely inquiry changed healthcare forever", "House of Commons debate: 'Economic Situation, "Toxteth riots: Howe proposed 'managed decline' for city", "Yes, Prime Minister: Why we will never be without spin doctors", "Watch Margaret Thatcher Explain Why the Euro Is a Terrible Idea in 1990", "Geoffrey Howe, the close cabinet ally who became Thatcher's assassin", "Address in Reply to Her Majesty's Most Gracious Speech", "House of Lords reform: Tory grandees turn on David Cameron", "Former chancellor Geoffrey Howe retires from House of Lords", "Contributions to the Expert Witness & Legal Professions Recognised", "Remembering Ian Gow MP, murdered 25 years ago today", "Dead Sheep review – extremely entertaining bellwether politics", "Oral history: HOWE, Geoffrey (1926–2015)", "Baron Howe of Aberavon interviewed by Mike Greenwood", "Ex-Tory chancellor Lord Geoffrey Howe dies aged 88", contributions in Parliament by Geoffrey Howe, Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Deputy Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom, Foreign Secretaries of the United Kingdom, Book:Secretaries of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Shadow Chancellors of the Exchequer of the United Kingdom, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Geoffrey_Howe&oldid=983968876, British Secretaries of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Chancellors of the Exchequer of the United Kingdom, Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies, Leaders of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, Members of the Order of the Companions of Honour, Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom, Permanent Representatives of the United Kingdom to the United Nations, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from April 2020, Articles with unsourced statements from June 2018, Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from March 2019, Articles with unsourced statements from March 2017, Articles with unsourced statements from October 2017, Wikipedia articles with SNAC-ID identifiers, Wikipedia articles with SUDOC identifiers, Wikipedia articles with WorldCat identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 17 October 2020, at 10:39. [citation needed], In June 1989, Howe and his successor as chancellor, Nigel Lawson, both secretly threatened to resign over Thatcher's opposition to British proposed membership of the exchange rate mechanism of the European Monetary System. The first of five budgets in 1979, promised to honour Professor Hugh Clegg's report that recommended a return to pre-1975 pay levels in real terms, conceding Howe's point about "concerted action". He delivered the principal appreciation of Gow at the latter's memorial service after Gow was assassinated by the IRA in July 1990. His macro-economic policy was designed to liberalise the economy and promote supply-side reform. A high-earning barrister, he was made a QC in 1965.[6]. At the time, his decision was fiercely criticised by 364 academic economists in a letter to The Times, who contended that there was no place for de-stimulatory policies in the economic climate of the time, remarking the Budget had "no basis in economic theory or supporting evidence". Thatcher reminded him: "On your own head be it, Geoffrey, if anything goes wrong," commencing an often tense and querulous working relationship. [36], Although Howe wrote subsequently in his memoir Conflict of Loyalty that his intention was only to constrain any shift in European policy by the Cabinet under the existing prime minister, his dramatic speech is widely seen as the key catalyst for the leadership challenge mounted by Michael Heseltine a few days later. However the human rights questions over South African sanctions and trade embargo coupled to his deep concern over Thatcher's strident style in Europe, increasingly drove a stressful wedge between Nos 10 and 11. The option to leave cost Britain billions in 1992. [10] He was responsible for the Industrial Relations Act that caused immediate retaliatory union strikes. On Howe's insistence, the inquiry's remit was expanded to cover the treatment of patients with intellectual disabilities within the National Health Service. At the Madrid inter-governmental conference the tensions were ratcheted higher as Thatcher emphatically renounced any advance in British policy over the European agenda for "ever closer union" of political and economic forces.