Ronald Timothy Renton, Baron Renton of Mount Harry, (28 May 1932 – 25 August 2020) was a British
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
politician.
Early life
Tim Renton, who rarely used his first name of Ronald, was born in London. He won scholarships to
Eton College
Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, C ...
and
Magdalen College, Oxford
Magdalen College (, ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by William of Waynflete. Today, it is the fourth wealthiest college, with a financial endowment of £332.1 million as of 2019 and one of the s ...
, and graduated with a first-class degree in
History
History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...
.
Parliamentary career
After unsuccessfully contesting
Sheffield Park in
1970
Events
January
* January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC.
* January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...
, he was
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
for
Mid-Sussex from 1974 to 1997.
He served as a
Minister of State
Minister of State is a title borne by politicians in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a Minister of State is a Junior Minister of government, who is assigned to assist a specific Cabinet Minister. In o ...
in both the
Foreign Office
Foreign may refer to:
Government
* Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries
* Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries
** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government
** Foreign office and foreign minister
* Unit ...
and the
Home Office, and served as
Margaret Thatcher's Chief Whip
The Chief Whip is a political leader whose task is to enforce the whipping system, which aims to ensure that legislators who are members of a political party attend and vote on legislation as the party leadership prescribes.
United Kingdom
...
(
Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury
The Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury is the official title of the most senior whip of the governing party in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Today, any official links between the Treasury and this office are nominal and the title ...
) between 1989 and 1990. After Thatcher's resignation in 1990 he served in
John Major's government as
Minister for the Arts between 1990 and 1992. During this time, he came up with the idea of a
National Lottery. This was later adopted as a government policy. He launched
National Music Day (UK) with
Mick Jagger
Sir Michael Philip Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English singer and songwriter who has achieved international fame as the lead vocalist and one of the founder members of the rock band the Rolling Stones. His ongoing songwriting partnershi ...
which ran from 1992 until around 1997. He served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to
Geoffrey Howe
Richard Edward Geoffrey Howe, Baron Howe of Aberavon, (20 December 1926 – 9 October 2015) was a British Conservative politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1989 to 1990.
Howe was Margaret Thatcher ...
and to
John Biffen
William John Biffen, Baron Biffen, (3 November 1930 – 14 August 2007), was a British Conservative Party politician. A member of the House of Lords, he was previously a Member of Parliament for over 35 years, and served in Margaret Thatcher's ...
, the Trade Secretary but resigned from that position in 1981 after he refused to support the government on a vote about a retrospective windfall tax on bank profits.
After standing down from the Commons at the
1997 General Election, he was created a
life peer
In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. In modern times, life peerages, always created at the rank of baron, are created under the Life Peerages ...
in the
1997 Dissolution Honours; on 9 June 1997 as Baron Renton of Mount Harry, of
Offham in the
County of East Sussex, and took his seat in the
House of Lords
The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...
. He retired from the House on 14 April 2016.
Personal life
In 1960, he married Alice Blanche Helen Fergusson, daughter of
Sir James Fergusson, 8th Baronet
Sir James Fergusson, 8th Baronet of Kilkerran, (1904–1973) was a Scottish aristocrat, broadcaster, journalist and historian.
Life
Fergusson was born in Dailly in Ayrshire on 18 September 1904 the son of Sir Charles Fergusson, 7th Baronet of ...
of Kilkerran. The couple lived in
Offham near
Lewes
Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. It is the police and judicial centre for all of Sussex and is home to Sussex Police, East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service, Lewes Crown Court and HMP Lewes. The civil parish is the centre of ...
in
East Sussex
East Sussex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England on the English Channel coast. It is bordered by Kent to the north and east, West Sussex to the west, and Surrey to the north-west. The largest settlement in East Su ...
and had a holiday home on the
Hebridean
The Hebrides (; gd, Innse Gall, ; non, Suðreyjar, "southern isles") are an archipelago off the west coast of the Scottish mainland. The islands fall into two main groups, based on their proximity to the mainland: the Inner and Outer Hebri ...
island of
Tiree
Tiree (; gd, Tiriodh, ) is the most westerly island in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. The low-lying island, southwest of Coll, has an area of and a population of around 650.
The land is highly fertile, and crofting, alongside tourism, an ...
.
Their four surviving children are
Alex Renton, a journalist and author,
[Obituary: Polly Renton](_blank)
''The Times'', 10 June 2010 Christian Louise, Daniel Charles Antony, an environmentalist, and (Katherine) Chelsea, who is an artist and author. The couple's youngest daughter,
Polly Renton
The Honourable Polly Renton, born Penelope Sally Rosita Renton (4 March 1970 – 28 May 2010), was an award-winning British documentary film maker and proponent of ethical journalism, who played an important part in transforming political televisi ...
(Penelope Sally Rosita), a documentary film maker, died in a car accident in 2010.
Renton died from cancer at his home in Offham on 25 August 2020, aged 88.
Bibliography
*''The Dangerous Edge'', Hutchinson, 1994,
*''Hostage to Fortune'', Arrow, 1998,
*''Chief Whip'', Politico's, 2005,
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Renton, Tim
1932 births
2020 deaths
Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford
Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
Conservative Party (UK) life peers
Deaths from cancer in England
Deputy Lieutenants of East Sussex
Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
People educated at Eton College
People from Hamsey
UK MPs 1974
UK MPs 1974–1979
UK MPs 1979–1983
UK MPs 1983–1987
UK MPs 1987–1992
UK MPs 1992–1997
Life peers created by Elizabeth II