Hugo George William Swire, Baron Swire, (born 30 November 1959) is a British politician. He served as the

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 o ...

(MP) for

East Devon East Devon is a local government district in Devon, England. Its council has been based in Honiton since February 2019, and the largest town is Exmouth (with a population of 34,432 at the time of the 2011 census). The district was formed ...

from

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanist ...

until

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

. A member of the

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 ...

, he has had several ministerial roles, most recently as Minister of State for Europe and the Americas, a role he held until July 2016. Swire is currently the Deputy Chairman of the Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council. He retired from the House of Commons at the 2019 general election. Since 2022 he has been a member of the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminst ...

Early life and education

Swire was born on 30 November 1959. His great-great-great-grandfather, John Swire (b. 1793), was the founder of the

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

textile Textile is an Hyponymy and hypernymy, umbrella term that includes various Fiber, fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, Staple (textiles)#Filament fiber, filaments, Thread (yarn), threads, different #Fabric, fabric types, etc. At f ...

trading business that later became the

Swire Group Swire Group () is a Hong Kong- and London-based British conglomerate. Many of its core businesses can be found within the Asia Pacific region, where traditionally Swire's operations have centred on Hong Kong and mainland China. Within Asia, ...

, the multi-billion USD

conglomerate Conglomerate or conglomeration may refer to: * Conglomerate (company) * Conglomerate (geology) * Conglomerate (mathematics) In popular culture: * The Conglomerate (American group), a production crew and musical group founded by Busta Rhymes ** ...

based in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a List of cities in China, city and Special administrative regions of China, special ...

. He is the brother of

Sophia Swire Sophia Swire is a British social entrepreneur and impact investor. Early life Sophia Swire is the daughter of Humphrey Roger Swire, a director of Sotheby’s,Sally Williams, ”Future Brilliance charity gives Afghan women chance to make and se ...

. Swire was privately educated at St. Aubyns School, a preparatory school in

Rottingdean Rottingdean is a village in the city of Brighton and Hove, on the south coast of England. It borders the villages of Saltdean, Ovingdean and Woodingdean, and has a historic centre, often the subject of picture postcards. Name The name Rotting ...

, East Sussex, and at

Eton College Eton College () is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI of England, Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. i ...

. He studied at the

University of St Andrews (Aien aristeuein) , motto_lang = grc , mottoeng = Ever to ExcelorEver to be the Best , established = , type = Public research university Ancient university , endowment ...

for a year before attending the

Royal Military Academy Sandhurst The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS or RMA Sandhurst), commonly known simply as Sandhurst, is one of several military academies of the United Kingdom and is the British Army's initial officer training centre. It is located in the town o ...

Career

Swire served in the

Grenadier Guards "Shamed be whoever thinks ill of it." , colors = , colors_label = , march = Slow: " Scipio" , mascot = , equipment = , equipment ...

for three years, between 1980 and 1983, before working as a financial consultant. He became the first Head of Development for the

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director ...

in 1988, before working at the

auction house An auction is usually a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bids, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder or buying the item from the lowest bidder. Some exceptions to this definition ex ...

Sotheby's Sotheby's () is a British-founded American multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, an ...

from 1992, where he became a Director in 1996. He held this role when standing for election in 2001. Swire was non-executive chairman of

Photo-Me International ME Group International plc, formerly Photo-Me International plc, () based in Epsom, Surrey is a vending machine operator. The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. History The company has its ...

prior to joining the Government.

Member of Parliament

He contested Greenock and Inverclyde in 1997, finishing fourth. In 2001 he won the seat of East Devon. Two years after his election to

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

, Swire became an Opposition

whip A whip is a tool or weapon designed to strike humans or other animals to exert control through pain compliance or fear of pain. They can also be used without inflicting pain, for audiovisual cues, such as in equestrianism. They are generally ...

. In 2004, he was promoted to become Shadow Culture Minister. He joined the Shadow Cabinet on 8 December 2005, when new leader

David Cameron David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He previously served as Leader o ...

appointed him Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. Hugo Swire visits Japan

Swire was sacked in the July 2007 Conservative frontbench

reshuffle A cabinet reshuffle or shuffle occurs when a head of government rotates or changes the composition of ministers in their cabinet, or when the Head of State changes the head of government and a number of ministers. They are more common in parli ...

for suggesting his party would scrap free museum entry. He returned to the backbenches, and amongst other roles became Hon. Secretary of the Conservative Middle East Council.

Minister of State for Northern Ireland

In May 2010 he was appointed Minister of State for Northern Ireland in the newly elected Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government headed by Prime Minister

Minister of State for Europe and the Americas

Swire was made Minister of State for Europe and the Americas on 4 September 2012. On 6 September 2013, he sent letters to the ''

South China Morning Post The ''South China Morning Post'' (''SCMP''), with its Sunday edition, the ''Sunday Morning Post'', is a Hong Kong-based English-language newspaper owned by Alibaba Group. Founded in 1903 by Tse Tsan-tai and Alfred Cunningham, it has remained ...

'' and ''

Ming Pao ''Ming Pao'' () is a Chinese-language newspaper published by Media Chinese International in Hong Kong. In the 1990s, ''Ming Pao'' established four overseas branches in North America; each provides independent reporting on local news and colle ...

'', commenting on the

universal suffrage Universal suffrage (also called universal franchise, general suffrage, and common suffrage of the common man) gives the right to vote to all adult citizens, regardless of wealth, income, gender, social status, race, ethnicity, or political sta ...

Hong Kong SAR Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

, emphasising the importance of democracy. Moreover, he added that he would provide any support towards the establishment of universal suffrage in Hong Kong. In January 2015, Hong Kong's leaders caused diplomatic outrage after declining to meet him to discuss political reform. Swire believed the Chinese government feared it would cause pro-democracy unrest, though the purpose of the visit was also to support trade. He resigned from his ministerial post on 15 July 2016, following the sacking of several other ministers who were considered to be close to David Cameron. He had tweeted: "Not a good time to be a Cameroon. The tumbrils are rolling again!" Swire was made a

Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George IV, Prince of Wales, while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George III. It is named in honour ...

in the

2016 Prime Minister's Resignation Honours The 2016 Prime Minister's Resignation Honours are honours awarded following the July 2016 resignation of Prime Minister David Cameron. The life peerages and other honours were issued as two separate lists by the Cabinet Office on 4 August 2016 and ...

Conservative Middle East Council

Swire became Chairman of the Conservative Middle East Council (CMEC) in September 2016, having previously been a member of the group. In June 2016, he accepted a donation of £10,000 from the wife of a billionaire with links to the leadership of Saudi Arabia. The journalist

Peter Oborne Peter Alan Oborne (; born 11 July 1957) is a British journalist and broadcaster. He is the former chief political commentator of ''The Daily Telegraph'', from which he resigned in early 2015. He is author of ''The Rise of Political Lying'', ''Th ...

has criticised the direction of CMEC away from its earlier focus on Palestine, to greater interest on the Gulf States, including Saudi Arabia.

Expenses

Various aspects of Swire's parliamentary expenses have generated adverse comments from critics. He was criticised for having the joint highest Additional Cost Allowance in the country in 2002/03, but argued that it was legal and that he had not financially benefited from the arrangement as he only rented the property in his constituency that the bulk of the costs related to. He was featured in articles on questionable expenses claims in ''The Telegraph'', ''The Guardian'' and the BBC website in 2009, with attention made to his claims for a designer laptop case, an opera booklet and a satellite navigation system. Swire argued that the claims were sound and that he had not been asked to pay any of them back. Although Parliament banned new MPs from employing family members from June 2017, Swire continued to employ his wife as his Senior Researcher/Parliamentary Assistant until his retirement. He stated in 2009 that family members could add value and that his wife has an 'extraordinary knowledge of the constituency having worked for me'.

Other

Swire correctly predicted in November 2016 that Donald Trump would win the election for President of the United States of America. Although a

eurosceptic Euroscepticism, also spelled as Euroskepticism or EU-scepticism, is a political position involving criticism of the European Union (EU) and European integration. It ranges from those who oppose some EU institutions and policies, and seek refor ...

, Swire supported the official position of his party and campaigned for the United Kingdom to remain in the European Union before the EU membership referendum on 23 June 2016. After the result was announced, Swire continued to support the party leadership and advocated leaving the European Union.

House of Lords

It was announced on 14 October 2022, that as part of the

2022 Special Honours As part of the British honours system, Special Honours are issued at the Monarch's pleasure at any given time. The Special Honours refer to the awards made within royal prerogative, operational honours, political honours and other honours awarded ...

, Swire would be appointed a life peer. On 1 November 2022, he was created ''Baron Swire'', ''of Down St Mary in the County of Devon''.

Personal life

Swire married Alexandra (Sasha) Nott, the daughter of Sir John Nott (former Conservative

Secretary of State for Defence The secretary of state for defence, also referred to as the defence secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with overall responsibility for the business of the Ministry of Defence. The incumbent is a membe ...

, whose tenure included the

Falklands War The Falklands War ( es, link=no, Guerra de las Malvinas) was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and its territorial ...

) in December 1996 in

Kensington Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensington Garden ...

. The couple have two daughters (born May 1997 and August 2001).

Julian Nott Julian Franklin Keith Nott (born 23 August 1960) is a British composer and conductor, mostly of animated films. He is known for his work on ''Wallace and Gromit'' and ''Peppa Pig''. Biography Nott was born in Marylebone, London, and was edu ...

is one of Swire's brothers-in-law. Swire is distantly related to Australian musician

Rob Swire Robert Swire-Thompson (born 5 November 1982) is an Australian musician, singer, songwriter, record producer and DJ, best known as the founder and vocalist of the drum and bass and electronic rock band Pendulum, as well as DJ and co-founder of ...

References

External links

Hugo Swire MP
''official constituency website''
Profile
at the

Foreign and Commonwealth Office The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) is a department of the Government of the United Kingdom. Equivalent to other countries' ministries of foreign affairs, it was created on 2 September 2020 through the merger of the Foreig ...

website * * , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Swire, Hugo 1959 births Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for East Devon Alumni of the University of St Andrews Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Graduates of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst Grenadier Guards officers Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Living people Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom People educated at Eton College People educated at St. Aubyns School UK MPs 2001–2005 UK MPs 2005–2010 UK MPs 2010–2015 UK MPs 2015–2017 UK MPs 2017–2019 Hugo Politicians awarded knighthoods UK MPs who were granted peerages Conservative Party (UK) life peers Northern Ireland Office junior ministers Life peers created by Charles III