Harold Julian Amery, Baron Amery of Lustleigh, (27 March 1919 – 3 September 1996) was a

British Conservative Party The Conservative and Unionist Party, commonly the Conservative Party and colloquially known as the Tories, is one of the two main political parties in the United Kingdom, along with the Labour Party. The party sits on the centre-right to right- ...

politician, who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) for 39 of the 42 years between 1950 and 1992. He was appointed to the Privy Council in 1960. Amery was created a life peer upon his retirement from the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

in 1992. For three decades, he was a leading figure in the

Conservative Monday Club The Conservative Monday Club (usually known as the Monday Club) was a British political pressure group, aligned with the Conservative Party, though no longer endorsed by it. It also had links to the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Ulster Unio ...

. He was the son-in-law of Conservative prime minister

Harold Macmillan Maurice Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton (10 February 1894 – 29 December 1986), was a British statesman and Conservative Party (UK), Conservative politician who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1957 to 1963. Nickn ...

. In 1945, his brother

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 E ...

was hanged for

high treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its d ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Early and family life

Amery was born in Chelsea, London, on 27 March 1919. His father was

Leo Amery Leopold Charles Maurice Stennett Amery (22 November 1873 – 16 September 1955), also known as L. S. Amery, was a British Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party politician and journalist. During his career, he was known for his interest in ...

, a British statesman and Conservative politician. He was educated at Eaton House,

Summer Fields School Summer Fields is a fee-paying boys' independent day and boarding preparatory school in Summertown, Oxford. It was originally called Summerfield and used to have a subsidiary school, Summerfields, St Leonards-on-Sea (known as "Summers mi"). ...

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

and

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1263 by nobleman John I de Balliol, it has a claim to be the oldest college in Oxford and the English-speaking world. With a governing body of a master and aro ...

. While an undergraduate, he had a brief romance with the future novelist Barbara Pym, who was six years his senior.

Military service

Before the

started, Amery was a war correspondent in the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

and later an attaché for the British

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 * United ...

in Belgrade. After the war began he joined the RAF as a sergeant in 1940, then was commissioned and transferred to the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

on the

General List The General Service Corps (GSC) is a corps of the British Army. Role The role of the corps is to provide specialists, who are usually on the Special List or General List. These lists were used in both World Wars for specialists and those not allo ...

in 1941, reaching the rank of

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

. He spent 1941–42 in the eastern Mediterranean (the Middle East,

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

) and served as liaison officer to the Albanian Resistance Movement in 1943–44 ("The Musketeers": Captain Julian Amery, Major David Smiley and Lieutenant-Colonel Neil McLean). The following year, Amery went to China to work with General Carton de Wiart, then Prime Minister's personal representative to

Generalissimo ''Generalissimo'' ( ), also generalissimus, is a military rank of the highest degree, superior to field marshal and other five-star ranks in the states where they are used. Usage The word (), an Italian term, is the absolute superlative ...

Chiang Kai-shek. Amery became a close friend of King Zog of Albania and described him as "the cleverest man I have ever met".

Political career

Amery won a parliamentary seat in the first general election held after he returned to civilian life, in 1950. He was elected as Conservative MP for Preston North, going on to hold a number of government offices, all in governments led by his father-in-law, now the Prime Minister. He began with two Under-Secretaryships of State: for War (1957–58) and for the Colonies (1958–60). He was promoted to

Secretary of State for Air The Secretary of State for Air was a secretary of state position in the British government that existed from 1919 to 1964. The person holding this position was in charge of the Air Ministry. The Secretary of State for Air was supported by ...

(1960–62), followed by a promotion to the post of Minister of Aviation (1962–64). In this role and during this two-year period, Amery was involved in the planning stages of what would become the supersonic passenger service known as

Concorde Concorde () is a retired Anglo-French supersonic airliner jointly developed and manufactured by Sud Aviation and the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). Studies started in 1954, and France and the United Kingdom signed a treaty establishin ...

. Amery lost his Preston North seat in 1966, but was re-elected to the Commons in 1969 representing Brighton Pavilion, a seat he would hold until 1992 when he retired. On 8 July 1992, 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. Life peers are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister. With the exception of the D ...

as Baron Amery of

Lustleigh Lustleigh is a small village and civil parish in the Wray Valley, inside the Dartmoor National Park in Devon, England. It is between the towns of Bovey Tracey and Moretonhampstead. The village has often been named in various publications as be ...

, of Preston in the County of Lancashire and of

Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...

in the County of East Sussex. Under the

Heath A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and is characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a coole ...

administration, Amery held three ministerial posts: Minister for Public Works (1970), Minister for Housing and Construction (1970–72) and Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (1972–74).

Monday Club

For 30 years, Amery was an active member and later a patron of the

, where he became friendly with General Sir Walter Walker, subsequently writing the foreword for Walker's anti-Soviet book, ''The Next Domino''. He was guest of honour at the club's annual dinner at the Cutlers' Hall in 1963. In 1965, he wrote the foreword for club activist Geoffrey Stewart-Smith's book, ''No Vision Here''. On May Day 1970, he was one of the club's principal speakers at its ''Law and Liberty'' rally in

Trafalgar Square Trafalgar Square ( ) is a public square in the City of Westminster in Central London. It was established in the early-19th century around the area formerly known as Charing Cross. Its name commemorates the Battle of Trafalgar, the Royal Navy, ...

, held in answer to the ''Stop the Seventy Tour'' campaign, designed to stop the South African cricket tour. Amery was the Monday Club's guest of honour at its annual dinner held at the

Savoy Hotel The Savoy Hotel is a luxury hotel located in the Strand in the City of Westminster in central London, England. Built by the impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte with profits from his Gilbert and Sullivan opera productions, it opened on 6 August 1 ...

, London, in January 1974 and again at the dinner at the end of the club's two-day conference in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

in March 1975.

Political views

Amery was in favour of entry to the European Common Market and also of the

nuclear deterrent Nuclear strategy involves the development of doctrines and strategies for the production and use of nuclear weapons. As a sub-branch of military strategy, nuclear strategy attempts to match nuclear weapons as means to political ends. In addit ...

. Both caused some discord between himself and his old friend

Enoch Powell John Enoch Powell (16 June 19128 February 1998) was a British politician, scholar and writer. He served as Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Wolverhampton South West for the Conservative Party (UK), Conserv ...

but for many, he was seen as an archetypal Conservative from the "God and

Empire An empire is a political unit made up of several territories, military outpost (military), outposts, and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a hegemony, dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the ...

" school. In 1948, Amery opposed

GATT The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is a legal agreement between many countries, whose overall purpose was to promote international trade by reducing or eliminating trade barriers such as tariffs or quotas. According to its p ...

, arguing that it limited imperial preference. In late 1962 Amery made these comments after Egypt sent troops to

Yemen Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...

to prevent an insurrection:

"The prosperity of our people rests really on the oil in the
Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf, sometimes called the Arabian Gulf, is a Mediterranean seas, mediterranean sea in West Asia. The body of water is an extension of the Arabian Sea and the larger Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.Un ...
, the rubber and tin of Malaya, and the gold, copper and
precious metal Precious metals are rare, naturally occurring metallic chemical elements of high Value (economics), economic value. Precious metals, particularly the noble metals, are more corrosion resistant and less reactivity (chemistry), chemically reac ...
s of South- and Central Africa. As long as we have access to these; as long as we can realize the investments we have there; as long as we trade with this part of the world, we shall be prosperous. If the
communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...
s r anyone elsewere to take them over, we would lose the lot. Governments like Colonel Nasser's in
Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
are just as dangerous."

In 1963, Amery took charge of Quintin Hogg's campaign for leadership of the Conservative Party. In early 1975, he took part in a

debate on the

Trades Unions Congress The Trades Union Congress (TUC) is a national trade union center, national trade union centre, a federation of trade unions that collectively represent most unionised workers in England and Wales. There are 48 affiliated unions with a total of ...

's invitation to Alexander Shelepin, the former Soviet

KGB The Committee for State Security (, ), abbreviated as KGB (, ; ) was the main security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 to 1991. It was the direct successor of preceding Soviet secret police agencies including the Cheka, Joint State Polit ...

chief, to visit Britain. He stated that "more and more people are beginning to look upon the TUC as a Communist-penetrated show and this invitation must strengthen that view." According to

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...

's 1995 memoir, '' The Path to Power'', when

Harold Wilson James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx (11 March 1916 – 23 May 1995) was a British statesman and Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, from 1964 to 1970 and again from 197 ...

's Labour government proposed

devolution Devolution is the statutory delegation of powers from the central government of a sovereign state to govern at a subnational level, such as a regional or local level. It is a form of administrative decentralization. Devolved territori ...

for

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

in 1976, "Julian Amery and Maurice Macmillan proved effective leaders of the anti-devolution Tory camp." Although he was Harold Macmillan's son-in-law, he did not defend him when Count Nikolai Tolstoy published '' The Minister and the Massacres'' in 1986, focusing the ultimate burden of blame sharply on Macmillan for the 1945 Bleiburg repatriations and the Cossack repatriations. Amery stated that the repatriations were "one of the few blots on Harold that I can think of".

Personal life

On 26 January 1950, he married Catherine Macmillan (19 November 1926 – 27 May 1991), daughter of Harold Macmillan. The couple had one son and three daughters. Amery died from heart failure on 3 September 1996, aged 77, at his home in

Eaton Square Eaton Square is a rectangular, residential garden square in London's Belgravia district. It is the largest Squares in London, square in London. It is one of the three squares built by the landowning Grosvenor family when they developed the main ...

, Westminster, London. He is buried with his wife (who predeceased him) at the Church of St John the Baptist in

, Devon, along with his father

Notes

;Citations ;Bibliography * Amery, Julian, PC, MP et al., ''Rhodesia and the Threat to the West'', London, Monday Club, 1976. * Amery, Julian, PC, MP, ''The Next Four Years'', in the '' Primrose League Gazette'', vol. 87, no. 4, October 1983, London. * Amery, Julian, MP, The Rt. Hon., ''Facing up to Soviet Imperialism'', in the Monday Club's October 1985 Conservative Party Conference issue of their newspaper, ''Right Ahead''. * Amery, Julian
ALBANIA IN WW II by Julian Amery, from ''Oxford Companion to the Second World War'' (1995), pp.24–26
* Byrne, Paula, ''The Adventures of Miss Barbara Pym'', London, William Collins, 2021, * Clark, Alan, ''The Tories – Conservatives and The Nation State'', London, 1998, p324–5, * Copping, Robert, ''The Story of The Monday Club – The First Decade'', April 1972; and ''The Monday Club – Crisis and After'' (Foreword by John BiggsDavison, MP), May 1975, pp.12, 24, published by the Current Affairs Information Service. * ''Dod's Parliamentary Companion 1991'', London, Vacher Dod Publishing Ltd, p.394, * Dorril, Stephen, ''MI6: Inside the Covert World of Her Majesty's Secret Intelligence Service'', New York, The Free Press, 2000 () * Faber, David, ''Speaking for England: Leo, Julian and John Amery - The Tragedy of a Political Family'', London, Free Press, 2005, * Gash, Norman, with Donald Southgate, David Dilks, and John Ramsden; introduction by Lord Butler, KG, PC, ''The Conservatives – A History of their Origins to 1965'', London, 1977, pp.268–9. * Heffer, Simon, '' Like the Roman: The Life of Enoch Powell'', London, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1998, * Horne, Alistair, ''Macmillan, 1894–1956'', (volume 1 of the official biography), London, Macmillan, 1988, , pp.81, 253, 275, 326, 388, 441. * ''The London Gazette'', https://www.thegazette.co.uk * Messina, Anthony M, ''Race and Party Competition in Britain'', Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1989, p.138, * Smiley, Colonel David ''Arabian Assignment'' London, Cooper, 1975. MI6 – Oman and Yemen. * Smiley, Colonel David ''Albanian Assignment'', London, Chatto & Windus, 1984. Foreword by Sir

Patrick Leigh Fermor Sir Patrick Michael Leigh Fermor (11 February 1915 – 10 June 2011) was an English writer, scholar, soldier and polyglot. He played a prominent role in the Cretan resistance during the Second World War, and was widely seen as Britain's greate ...

. SOE in Albania (1943–44). * Smiley, Colonel David ''Irregular Regular'', Norwich, Michael Russell, 1994 (). Translated into French as ''Au cœur de l'action clandestine, des commandos au MI6'', L'Esprit du Livre Editions, 2008. The Memoirs of an SOE officer (Albania, Asia) and MI6 agent (Poland, Malta, Oman, Yemen), brotherinarms of Julian Amery. * Weale, Adrian, ''Patriot Traitors – Roger Casement, John Amery and the Real Meaning of Treason'', London, Viking, 2001,

Primary sources

* Amery, Julian
The Life of Joseph Chamberlain, Vol, Four, 1901–1903
At the Height of His Power, London: MacMillan, 1951. * Amery, Julian
The Life of Joseph Chamberlain, Vol. Five, 1901–1903
And the Tariff Reform Campaign, London: MacMillan, 1969. * Amery, Julian
The Life of Joseph Chamberlain, Vol. Six, 1903–1968
And the Tariff Reform Campaign, London: MacMillan, 1969.

External links

*
The Papers of Julian Amery
held at

Churchill Archives Centre The Churchill Archives Centre (CAC) at Churchill College at the University of Cambridge is one of the largest repositories in the United Kingdom for the preservation and study of modern personal papers. It is best known for housing the papers ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Amery, Julian 1919 births 1996 deaths Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford Julian British Army General List officers Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Amery of Lustleigh, Julian Amery, Baron Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom People educated at Eton College People educated at Summer Fields School Royal Air Force airmen Royal Air Force personnel of World War II British Army personnel of World War II Secretaries of State for Air (UK) UK MPs 1950–1951 UK MPs 1951–1955 UK MPs 1955–1959 UK MPs 1959–1964 UK MPs 1964–1966 UK MPs 1966–1970 UK MPs 1970–1974 UK MPs 1974 UK MPs 1974–1979 UK MPs 1979–1983 UK MPs 1983–1987 UK MPs 1987–1992 Politics of Preston Presidents of the Oxford University Conservative Association English people of Hungarian-Jewish descent Jewish British politicians Ministers in the Macmillan and Douglas-Home governments, 1957–1964 Life peers created by Elizabeth II Deaths from congestive heart failure in the United Kingdom English political writers