| Honorific-Prefix: | The Right Honourable |
| The Lord Wakeham | |
| Honorific-Suffix: | PC DL |
| Office: | Leader of the House of Lords |
| Primeminister: | John Major |
| Term Start: | 11 April 1992 |
| Term End: | 20 July 1994 |
| Predecessor: | The Lord Waddington |
| Successor: | Viscount Cranborne |
| Office3: | Secretary of State for Energy |
| Primeminister3: | Margaret Thatcher John Major |
| Term Start3: | 24 July 1989 |
| Term End3: | 11 April 1992 |
| Predecessor3: | Cecil Parkinson |
| Successor3: | Office abolished |
| Office4: | Lord President of the Council |
| Primeminister4: | Margaret Thatcher |
| Term Start4: | 10 January 1988 |
| Term End4: | 24 July 1989 |
| Predecessor4: | The Viscount Whitelaw |
| Successor4: | Geoffrey Howe |
| Office5: | Leader of the House of Commons |
| Primeminister5: | Margaret Thatcher |
| Term Start5: | 13 June 1987 |
| Term End5: | 24 July 1989 |
| Predecessor5: | John Biffen |
| Successor5: | Geoffrey Howe |
| Office1: | Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal |
| Primeminister1: | John Major |
| Term Start1: | 11 April 1992 |
| Term End1: | 20 July 1994 |
| Predecessor1: | The Lord Waddington |
| Successor1: | Viscount Cranborne |
| Primeminister2: | Margaret Thatcher |
| Term Start2: | 13 June 1987 |
| Term End2: | 10 January 1988 |
| Predecessor2: | John Biffen |
| Successor2: | The Lord Belstead |
| Office6: | Government Chief Whip in the House of Commons Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury |
| Primeminister6: | Margaret Thatcher |
| Term Start6: | 9 June 1983 |
| Term End6: | 13 June 1987 |
| Predecessor6: | Michael Jopling |
| Successor6: | David Waddington |
| Office7: | Minister of State for the Treasury |
| Primeminister7: | Margaret Thatcher |
| Term Start7: | 6 April 1982 |
| Term End7: | 9 June 1983 |
| Predecessor7: | The Lord Cockfield |
| Successor7: | Barney Hayhoe |
| Office8: | Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Trade and Industry |
| Primeminister8: | Margaret Thatcher |
| Term Start8: | 15 September 1981 |
| Term End8: | 6 April 1982 |
| Predecessor8: | Michael Marshall |
| Successor8: | John Butcher |
| Office9: | Lord Commissioner of the Treasury |
| Primeminister9: | Margaret Thatcher |
| Term Start9: | 9 January 1981 |
| Term End9: | 15 September 1981 |
| Predecessor9: | David Waddington |
| Successor9: | Tony Newton |
| Office10: | Member of the House of Lords |
| Status10: | Lord Temporal |
| Term Label10: | Life peerage |
| Term Start10: | 29 April 1992 |
| Office11: | Member of Parliament for South Colchester and Maldon |
| Term Start11: | 28 February 1974 |
| Term End11: | 16 March 1992 |
| Predecessor11: | Brian Harrison |
| Successor11: | John Whittingdale |
| Birth Date: | 22 June 1932[1] |
| Children: | 3 |
| Party: | Conservative |
| Alma Mater: | Christ Church, Oxford |
John Wakeham, Baron Wakeham, (born 22 June 1932) is a British businessman and Conservative Party politician.[2] He was chancellor of Brunel University between 1998 and 2012, and since then has been its chancellor emeritus.[3]
Wakeham was a director of Enron from 1994[4] until its bankruptcy in 2001.[5]
Wakeham was educated at two independent schools in Surrey: Aldro School in Shackleford, and Charterhouse near Godalming. He became a successful accountant and later a businessman.
Wakeham stood unsuccessfully in Coventry East in 1966[6] and in Putney in 1970[6] before his election to the House of Commons at the February 1974 general election as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Maldon[6] in Essex. He became a minister following Margaret Thatcher's victory in 1979.
During the late 1980s he served as Leader of the House of Commons, in which capacity he was responsible for the televising of Parliament, and as Energy Secretary (1989–92), where he drew up plans for the privatisation of electricity supply. Following a recommendation by John Major, he was created a life peer on 29 April 1992 taking the title Baron Wakeham, of Maldon in the County of Essex, serving as the Leader of the House of Lords until 1994.
Wakeham became chairman of the Press Complaints Commission in 1995, retiring in 2001. In 1997 he was appointed a Deputy lieutenant of Hampshire. Tony Blair appointed him in 1999 to head a Royal commission on reform of the House of Lords – the resulting Wakeham Report suggested a mainly-appointed Lords be maintained, with a small elected component.
His first wife, Roberta, was killed in the Brighton hotel bombing in October 1984 and he was trapped in rubble for seven hours, suffering serious crush injuries to his legs. The couple had two children. Wakeham married his secretary, Alison Ward MBE, in 1985[7] and they have a son of their own. Before being Wakeham's secretary, Ward had been Margaret Thatcher's secretary.
| Style: | "clear: none;" |
| Crest: | A Greyhound statant Or, crowned with a Mural Crown chequy Azure and Argent, and supporting by the dexter foreleg a Cross Raguly Argent, nailed of three Or. |
| Coronet: | A Coronet of a Baron. |
| Escutcheon: | Per fess embattled Azure and Argent, a Pale counterchanged, in the azure a Lion's Head guardant Or, langued Gules, and in the argent, a Bugle Horn Azure, garnished and stringed Or. |
| Supporters: | Dexter: a Sea-Lion Azure, Mane and Head in trian aspect Argent, langued Gules, crowned with a Crown Tridenty Gold; Sinister: a Sea-Horse Azure, Head and Neck Argent, and crowned also with a Crown Tridenty Gold, the whole upon a Compartment consisting of three Bars wavy Azure, Argent and Azure, in front thereof a Grassy Mount growing therefrom three Double Roses Argent, upon Gules, barbed and seeded stalked and leaved proper. |
| Motto: | Vigilo (I watch) |