Mark Noel Foster Robinson (born 26 December 1946) is a former

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

Early life and family

Born in Bristol to John Foster Robinson,

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

, TD, and Margaret, née Paterson, Robinson's father was High Sheriff of Avon in 1975. John Robinson's family ran ES&A Robinson, the paper and packaging conglomerate that later became Dickinson Robinson Group. Apart from paper, the Robinsons were famous for cricket: Robinson's grandfather, Sir

Foster Robinson Sir Foster Gotch Robinson (19 September 1880 – 31 October 1967) was an English first-class cricketer, horse owner and businessman. Robinson was born in Sneyd Park, Bristol, the son of Edward Robinson and grandson of Elisha Smith Robinson. ...

, was captain of

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

; other members of the family played for, and captained, Gloucestershire. Robinson was educated at Harrow and

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, '' ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is uniqu ...

, where he read Modern History.

UN and Commonwealth

Robinson spent six years at the United Nations: at the UN Relief Operation to Bangladesh; in the Office of the Under-Secretary General; and in the Office of the Secretary General,

Kurt Waldheim Kurt Josef Waldheim (; 21 December 1918 – 14 June 2007) was an Austrian politician and diplomat. Waldheim was the Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1972 to 1981 and president of Austria from 1986 to 1992. While he was running for th ...

. From 1977 to 1983 he was assistant director in the Office of the Commonwealth Secretary-General, who was then Sir

Shridath Ramphal Sir Shridath Surendranath Ramphal (born 3 October 1928), often known as Sir Sonny Ramphal, is a Guyanese politician who was the second Commonwealth Secretary-General, holding the position from 1975 to 1990. He was also the foreign minister of ...

. He is currently: Chairman of the Commonwealth Organisations' Committee on Zimbabwe; the UK Chairman of the Commonwealth Consortium for Education; a Council Member of the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust; Hon. Treasurer of the Commonwealth Round Table: the Commonwealth Journal of International Affairs; and a Trustee of Concordia UK.

Member of Parliament

Robinson was elected Conservative Member of Parliament for the notionally safe Labour seat of Newport West in 1983. Owing to his background at the UN and the Commonwealth he was appointed to the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, a position he held until in 1985 when he was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Welsh Office, by

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. S ...

. Despite achieving an increase in his share of the vote, he lost his seat at the 1987 general election to Paul Flynn. He was re-elected in 1992 for the Somerset seat of Somerton and Frome. He was Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Minister for Overseas Development, Baroness Chalker, and the Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary,

Douglas Hurd Douglas Richard Hurd, Baron Hurd of Westwell, (born 8 March 1930) is a British Conservative Party politician who served in the governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major from 1979 to 1995. A career diplomat and political secretary to P ...

, but was defeated at the 1997 general election by David Heath. He has since served as a Commonwealth election observer. From 1987 to 1995 he was a director of Leopold Joseph, a merchant bank, and from 1988 to 1992 he was a member of the board of the Commonwealth Development Corporation.

References

*''Times Guide to the House of Commons'',

Times Newspapers Limited News Corp UK & Ireland Limited (trading as News UK, formerly News International and NI Group) is a British newspaper publisher, and a wholly owned subsidiary of the American mass media conglomerate News Corp. It is the current publisher o ...

, 1987 and 1997 editions. 1946 births Living people People educated at Harrow School Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford Presidents of the Oxford University Conservative Association Conservative Party (UK) MPs for Welsh constituencies Politics of Newport, Wales UK MPs 1983–1987 UK MPs 1992–1997 Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Politicians from Bristol {{Wales-Conservative-UK-MP-stub