John Richard Attlee, 3rd Earl Attlee (born 3 October 1956), styled Viscount Prestwood between 1967 and 1991, is a British

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 ...

peer and member of 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 is the grandson of

Clement Attlee Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, (3 January 18838 October 1967) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955. He was Deputy Prime Mini ...

, the

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

, who was the first

Earl Attlee Earl Attlee is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 16 December 1955 for Clement Attlee, the former Labour prime minister. At the same time he was made Viscount Prestwood, of Walthamstow in the County of Essex, which s ...

Early life

Attlee was educated at

Stowe School , motto_translation = I stand firm and I stand first , established = , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent school, day & boarding , religion = Church of England , president = , head_label = Headmaster ...

, trained with

Smiths Industries Smiths or Smith's may refer to: Companies * Smith Electric Vehicles, or Smith's, a manufacturer of electric trucks * Smith's Food and Drug, or Smith's, an American supermarket chain ** Smith's Ballpark, a baseball stadium in Salt Lake City, Utah, U ...

, and worked mainly in materials management.

Professional career

In 1985, Attlee went into business in the field of commercial vehicle recovery and repair. In this connection he is president of the Heavy Transport Association and Patron of the Road Rescue Recovery Association. He undertook a tour with the non-governmental organisation British Direct Aid in

Bosnia Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and He ...

during the winter of 1993–94, and then ran British Direct Aid's operation in

Rwanda Rwanda (; rw, u Rwanda ), officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of Central Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator ...

for most of 1995.

Military service

A member of the Territorial Army, Attlee served in

with an aid agency during 1993–1994. He has also served in the Gulf War.

Political career

Attlee inherited his title following his father's death in 1991 and entered the

in 1992, initially as a

crossbencher A crossbencher is an independent or minor party member of some legislatures, such as the British House of Lords and the Parliament of Australia. They take their name from the crossbenches, between and perpendicular to the government and oppositi ...

. Shortly before the general election of 1997 he joined the

. He is one of the ninety elected hereditary peers that remain in the House of Lords after the passing of the

House of Lords Act 1999 The House of Lords Act 1999 (c. 34) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed the House of Lords, one of the chambers of Parliament. The Act was given Royal Assent on 11 November 1999. For centuries, the House of Lords ...

. He served as an Opposition spokesman on various subjects; immediately prior to the 2010 general election he was spokesman for transport and an Opposition whip. Following the Conservative victory in that election Earl Attlee was appointed a

Lord-in-waiting Lords-in-waiting (male) or baronesses-in-waiting (female) are peers who hold office in the Royal Household of the sovereign of the United Kingdom. In the official Court Circular they are styled "Lord in Waiting" or "Baroness in Waiting" (without ...

or Government whip in the House of Lords. He continued in that role until April 2014, when he left the government. He was replaced by

Susan Williams, Baroness Williams of Trafford Susan Frances Maria Williams, Baroness Williams of Trafford (née McElroy; born 16 May 1967)Crypt Chapel of St Mary Undercroft, Palace of Westminster. Lady Attlee is the younger daughter of Mortimer Ahern, of Malvern, Worcestershire. Should Lord Attlee die without a son, the earldom will become extinct.

Arms

References

External links

* * 1956 births Living people People educated at Stowe School

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...

Conservative Party (UK) hereditary peers Hereditary peers elected under the House of Lords Act {{UK-earl-stub