Richard Spring, Baron Risby
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Richard John Grenville Spring, Baron Risby (born 24 September 1946) is a former Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom. He served as Member of Parliament (MP) for
Bury St Edmunds Bury St Edmunds (), commonly referred to locally as ''Bury,'' is a cathedral as well as market town and civil parish in the West Suffolk District, West Suffolk district, in the county of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer map 211: Bury St. Edmunds an ...
from 1992 to 1997, and for
West Suffolk West Suffolk may refer to the following places in Suffolk, England: * West Suffolk (county), a county until 1974 * West Suffolk District, a local government district established in 2019 * West Suffolk (UK Parliament constituency), an electoral di ...
from 1997 to 2010. He joined the
House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...
in 2010.


Biography

Spring was born into the prominent
Spring family The Spring family is a Suffolk Landed gentry, gentry family that has been involved in the politics and economy of East Anglia since the 15th century, as well as holding large estates in Ireland from the 16th century.Joseph Jackson Howard, ‘Spri ...
, in 1946 in
Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...
, South Africa where he attended
Rondebosch Rondebosch is one of the Southern Suburbs of Cape Town, South Africa. It is primarily a residential suburb, with shopping and business districts as well as the main campus of the University of Cape Town. History Four years after the first Dutch ...
and
Cape Town University The University of Cape Town (UCT) (, ) is a public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university status in 1918, making it the oldest university in South Afri ...
. He subsequently studied at
Magdalene College, Cambridge Magdalene College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1428 as a Benedictine hostel, in time coming to be known as Buckingham College, before being refounded in 1542 as the College of St Mary ...
. He married Hon. Jane Henniker-Major, daughter of
John Henniker-Major, 8th Baron Henniker John Patrick Edward Chandos Henniker-Major, 8th Baron Henniker (19 February 1916 – 29 April 2004), known as Sir John Henniker-Major from 1965 to 1980, was a British peer, civil servant, and diplomat. Early life and military service Henniker ...
, in 1979. They divorced, having had two children.


Career


Finance

Lord Risby has more than 20 years' experience in the financial sector. Following his graduation from Cambridge University, Spring started his career in the
City A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...
. He joined Merrill Lynch in 1971 and was appointed as vice-president in 1976, a position which he held until 1986. He has furthermore worked with E F Hutton, Lehman Brothers and Furman Selz.


Parliament

Spring contested
Ashton-under-Lyne Ashton-under-Lyne is a market town in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England. The population was 48,604 at the 2021 census. Historic counties of England, Historically in Lancashire, it is on the north bank of the River Tame, Greater Manchester, ...
at the
1983 general election The following elections occurred in the year 1983. Africa * 1983 Cameroonian parliamentary election * 1983 Equatorial Guinean legislative election * 1983 Kenyan general election * 1983 Malagasy parliamentary election * 1983 Malawian general elec ...
. He was first elected as an MP at the 1992 General Election, representing
Bury St Edmunds Bury St Edmunds (), commonly referred to locally as ''Bury,'' is a cathedral as well as market town and civil parish in the West Suffolk District, West Suffolk district, in the county of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer map 211: Bury St. Edmunds an ...
. Spring served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Sir Patrick Mayhew as Secretary of State for
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...
(1994–95). Spring resigned from this position in 1995, after ''News of the World'' published a story detailing a sex encounter he had allegedly been involved in. The publication of the story was attacked as an example of paid
entrapment Entrapment is a practice in which a law enforcement agent or an agent of the state induces a person to commit a crime that the person would have otherwise been unlikely or unwilling to commit.''Sloane'' (1990) 49 A Crim R 270. See also agent prov ...
, and on the grounds that it served no public interest. ''News of the World'' columnist
Woodrow Wyatt Woodrow Lyle Wyatt, Baron Wyatt of Weeford (4 July 1918 – 7 December 1997) was a British politician, author, journalist and broadcaster, close to the Queen Mother, Margaret Thatcher and Rupert Murdoch. For the last twenty years of his life, he ...
, writing in ''The Times'', stated that " at anyone is entitled to privacy in their homes, in their cups or in their beds is a wholly alien concept to the ''News of the World''. The ''News of the World'' has as good as asked for a privacy law. The Government and Opposition should no longer hesitate to produce it". Even the ''News of the Worlds proprietor,
Rupert Murdoch Keith Rupert Murdoch ( ; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian - American retired business magnate, investor, and media mogul. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of List of assets owned by News Corp, local, national, a ...
, privately criticised the story as "over the top". Spring's resignation was seen as a blow to John Major's Back to Basics campaign. Spring subsequently served as PPS to
Tim Eggar Timothy John Crommelin Eggar (born 19 December 1951) is a British businessman and former politician. He holds positions on the boards of multiple organisations including Shiplake College and Cape plc, and was the Conservative MP for Enfield ...
as Minister for Trade and Industry (1995–96) and to
Nicholas Soames Arthur Nicholas Winston Soames, Baron Soames of Fletching, (born 12 February 1948) is a British Conservative Party politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Mid Sussex from 1997 to 2019, having previously served as the MP fo ...
and
James Arbuthnot James Norwich Arbuthnot, Baron Arbuthnot of Edrom, (born 4 August 1952), is a British Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party politician. He was Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Wanstead and Woodford ...
as Ministers of State at the Ministry of Defence (1996–97). In 1997, Spring was elected as MP for
West Suffolk West Suffolk may refer to the following places in Suffolk, England: * West Suffolk (county), a county until 1974 * West Suffolk District, a local government district established in 2019 * West Suffolk (UK Parliament constituency), an electoral di ...
. Between 1997 and 2000 he was Opposition spokesman for Culture, Media and Sport. He was Opposition Spokesman for Foreign Affairs between 2000 and 2004 and Shadow Minister for the Treasury between 2004 and 2005. On 23 November 2009, Spring announced that he would stand down at the 2010 general election. He served as a Governor of the
Westminster Foundation for Democracy The Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD) is a United Kingdom non-departmental public body set up to support democratic institutions overseas. It was established on 26 February 1992 and registered as a company limited by guarantee in the U ...
from 2000 to 2009. Between 2005 and 2010 he was a vice-chairman of the Conservative Party and vice-chairman of Conservative Business Relations as well. In 2005 he was appointed co-chairman of Conservative City Circle and in 2007 he founded Conservative City Future, of which he is Patron with Sir John Major. He was also Director of the
British Syrian Society The British Syrian Society is an association set up to promote relations between the former Ba'athist government of Syria and the United Kingdom. It was established in 2003 by Fawaz Akhras, father-in-law of Bashar al-Assad. Its current directors i ...
between 2003 and 2011, and featured on a 2012 Dispatches programme on the
Assad Asad (), sometimes written as Assad, is an Arabic male given name literally meaning "lion". It is used in nicknames such as ''Asad Allāh'', one of the by-names for Ali ibn Abi Talib. People Among prominent people named "Asad" or "Assad" a ...
regime. On 24 December 2010, Spring 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 Risby of Haverhill in the County of Suffolk. Lord Risby sits as a Conservative in the House of Lords. From 2011 to 2015, Risby was the vice-chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for East Asian Business. In November 2012, Lord Risby was announced as one of nine prime ministerial trade envoys, with responsibility for Algeria and, in 2019, Lebanon. Lord Risby was on the EU External Affairs Committee in the Lords between 2015 and 2018. In 2020 to 2022 he was a member of the International Agreements Committee.


Other interests

In 1994, he chaired a parliamentary enquiry into the taxation of horseracing. Risby is co-chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Ukraine. In his capacity as the then Chairman of the British Ukrainian Society, he co-chaired the Scenarios for Ukraine programme for the
World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental organization, international advocacy non-governmental organization and think tank, based in Cologny, Canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German ...
in Davos. Since May 2022 he has been on the Russian Government black list. In November 2023, Risby initiated a parliamentary debate to persuade the UK Government to declare the Ukrainian Holodomor as genocide. Risby has been a director of several businesses and organisations, including Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd and Minexco Petroleum Inc, and was the president of the
Association for Decentralised Energy The Association for Decentralised Energy (ADE), formerly the Combined Heat and Power Association, is an advocate of an integrated approach to delivering energy locally. The ADE was founded in 1967 as the District Heating Association, becoming ...
. He is also the Deputy Chairman of the Small Business Bureau. In 2016, he was made a Government appointed director the Horserace Betting Levy Board. He is a Patron of the London Magazine and of the Open Road charity, and is a member of the Advisory Board of the Council on Geostrategy. In 2007, he was nominated for a
British Computer Society image:Maurice Vincent Wilkes 1980 (3).jpg, Sir Maurice Wilkes served as the first President of BCS in 1957. The British Computer Society (BCS), branded BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, since 2009, is a professional body and a learned ...
award for accessibility. In 2009, he was awarded the Parliamentary Award for Road Safety in recognition of his community campaigning."Parliamentarian awards"
''Brake – the Road Safety Charity''. Accessed 15 July 2016.


References


External links

*

* ttp://www.conservativebusinessrelations.com/contact_area.asp?ref=2 Conservative Business Relations
TheyWorkForYou.com – Richard Spring MP

The Public Whip – Richard Spring MP
voting record
BBC News – Richard Spring
– Profile * {{DEFAULTSORT:Risby, Richard Spring, Baron 1946 births Living people Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1992–1997 UK MPs 1997–2001 UK MPs 2001–2005 UK MPs 2005–2010 Alumni of Magdalene College, Cambridge Alumni of Rondebosch Boys' High School
Richard Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language">Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'st ...
Conservative Party (UK) life peers Life peers created by Elizabeth II