Alistair Cooke, Baron Lexden Explained

Honorific Prefix:The Right Honourable
The Lord Lexden
Office:Deputy Speaker of the House of Lords
Term Start:5 March 2018
Office5:Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
Term Start5:23 December 2010
Life Peerage
Birth Name:Alistair Basil Cooke
Birth Date:1945 4, df=y
Nationality:British
Occupation:Historian
Party:Conservative

Alistair Basil Cooke, Baron Lexden, (born 20 April 1945[1]), is a British historian, author and politician who sits as a Conservative life peer in the House of Lords.[2]

Lord Lexden has been official historian of the Conservative Party since 2009; Consultant and Editor in Chief, Conservative Research Department since 2004 and official historian and archivist of the Carlton Club since 2007.[3]

Early life and academic career

Cooke was born on 20 April 1945, second son of Dr Basil Cooke and Nancy Irene Cooke (née Neal). He was educated at the private Framlingham College, Suffolk. He went on to study at Peterhouse, Cambridge, from which he graduated Master of Arts (MA Cantab) in 1970. He was a lecturer and tutor in modern history at The Queen's University of Belfast from 1971 to 1977 and was awarded a PhD from that institution in 1979.[4]

Conservative Party

Cooke worked as a desk officer within the Conservative Research Department from 1977 to 1983. During this period he served as political adviser to Airey Neave, Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, 1977–79. He joined the Conservative Political Centre in 1983 as assistant director, becoming deputy director two years later and Director between 1988 and 1997.

He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1988 New Year Honours. He was a founder, in 1997, and member since 2005 of the Conservative Party Archive Trust. He was Chairman of Trustees of the pressure group Friends of the Union between 1995 and 2003 and has been Senior Trustee of the T. E. Utley Memorial Fund since 2000.

House of Lords

Cooke was made a life peer as Baron Lexden, of Lexden in the County of Essex and of Strangford in the County of Down, on 23 December 2010 on the recommendation of Prime Minister David Cameron. He sits in the House of Lords as a Conservative.

Lord Lexden's website highlights his work in the Lords, including speeches, videos, letters and articles for numerous publications, including ConservativeHome and The House magazine.[5]

Lexden is a frequent contributor to many national newspapers, offering a historical context to modern political life.

Other activities

With the Conservative return to opposition in 1997, Cooke worked as General Secretary of the Independent Schools Council from 1997 to 2004 and later became President of the Independent Schools Association.[6] He has also been a Governor of The John Lyon School Harrow from 1999 to 2005 and Patron of the Northern Ireland Schools Debating Competition since 2001.He is a frequent contributor The Times Letters and Obituary pages.

Lexden is an occasional television guest presenter. In 2019, he presented a BBC TV programme called Prime Properties about former Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin[7]

As a member and historian of London's Carlton Club, Lexden objected to the Club's hanging of a portrait of former Prime Minister Boris Johnson on the grounds that Johnson had "brought discredit on the highest political office". The painting was duly removed and rehung in the Club's "Cad's Corner".[8]

As of 2017, he was unmarried.[9]

Publications

As well as pamphlets on Northern Ireland and constitutional issues and articles in historical journals and educational publications.

References

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Birthdays today . https://web.archive.org/web/20120426082521/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/archive/2012-4-20.html . dead . 26 April 2012 . The Telegraph . London . 20 April 2014 . 20 April 2012 . Lord Lexden, Official Historian to the Conservative Party, 67 .
  2. Web site: My introduction to the House of Lords . The Blue Blog . 18 January 2011 . 19 January 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110812143334/http://blog.conservatives.com/index.php/2011/01/18/my-introduction-to-the-house-of-lords/ . 12 August 2011 . dead .
  3. Web site: Posts by Lord Lexden. Conservative Home.
  4. Web site: Lexden, Baron, (Alistair Basil Cooke) (born 20 April 1945) . . Oxford University Press . en . 1 December 2020.
  5. Web site: Lord Lexden OBE.
  6. Web site: The President carries out his duty. 3 May 2015 . Alistair Lexden website.
  7. Web site: Watch: A visit to Stanley Baldwin's country home. 24 December 2019 . Alistair Lexden presents Prime Properties.
  8. [Private Eye]
  9. Web site: Lexden . Alastair . Same-sex wedding of fake peers . Lord Lexden OBE . 11 August 2024 . en . 26 August 2017 . In the old days, a bevy of ladies scrutinised every word in announcements submitted to The Times, but now apparently the paper tends to print whatever it is sent. I think I might give myself a dukedom if I marry..